Heather Widman: Championing Disruptive Ideas For a Better Built World at Building Ventures

Uh, so if I weave together a story that sounds coherent as to how I ended up here, it's only because , uh, I'm doing it from, from the future, looking back and, and not that much of this was , was planned, but I'll start from, was a present day.

Um , I came from before joining building ventures and switching to , um, to the financial side of things, the venture side of things , uh, I came from startups, myself , uh, more generalist background working at several different , uh , software startups . And my ground was really in product and , uh , marketing. So I had, you know, a , a big focus on, on go to market .

And most importantly , uh, the customer sort of everything, if there is a thread throughout my career, it's been, you know , roles that have been , um, very customer centric focused . Um , some might say customer obsessed , uh, and, and actually that is sort of what appealed to , uh, the co-founders my GPS at , uh , at building ventures , uh , Jesse Devit and Travis Connors , uh, when they recruited me to join the team.

And we, we can definitely talk about this more later, but so many of the teams we work with are, you know, challenged , uh, with , um, complex , uh, go to market in our industries. And , um, you know, it's a skillset that I love to be able to continue to bring, to bear , uh , to help our teams.

And also I think in a , in evaluating opportunities , um, it's really important to understand how teams are thinking about it, albeit, you know, they may not have , uh , go to market fully fleshed out yet, but being able to screen for that centricity and obsession , um, was one of the things, you know, that I think led me to, to this career. That's less obvious.

I think when, when folks are thinking about a career and venture, but the truth of the matter is, is at those startups that I had worked at most recently , um, the common thread was an investor by the name of, of Travis Connors. Uh, so one of our, one of our GPS here at building ventures , uh, Travis over time , uh, became a mentor and a friend of mine, an advisor. And , um, that was, you know, my entry point into venture.

And to be quite honest, I, I hadn't really thought in the moment , uh, when he approached me with this opportunity, I hadn't thought that my time to kind of make this switch was, was at this, was at that distinct moment in time. I really thought maybe a few years down the road, that would be something I would consider, but, you know, maybe I needed , um, you know, to move, you know, found my own thing first or so opportunity really just presented itself. And , and, and I left.

And I think that is, you know, a critical thing when we're talking about women and, you know, underrepresented , uh, folks in both venture and our industry, it , it , it does take, you know, allyship , um, you know, from those who, you know, have maybe fit, you know, the, the earlier patterns , um, to step up and, and recognize talent and surround themselves the diverse talent to choose from.

So , uh , that's certainly, you know, a , a , a first principle here that we're, we're trying to , um, do even more in that, in that regard , um, beyond just high me at building ventures, but with both our teams and , um, and as we grow our team in the future , um, but before that, yeah , before that, if anyone looks at my, you know, my , uh, LinkedIn, or if you know me better than that, and you're looking at social media or know, you know, what I majored in it's, you're gonna be like, how, how

the heck did, did she, you know, take these twists and turns , um, to be, you know, in construction in real estate tech, let alone venture. But , um, honestly, even as a kid, I was like obsessed with cities. I grew up in suburban Connecticut , um , which put me luckily in very close training proximity to , uh, to New York city. I'm a Boston girl now.

So, you know, don't get it twisted, but , um, but, but I spent a lot of my, a lot of my youth , you know , going in and out of the city, I was very involved in the arts . Um, and even then, you know, I would look around and be, you know, very fascinated and obsessed with this kind of mix of glass and steel and, you know , um , old brown stones and, you know, the vibrancy of, of, of cities and all that they had to offer.

And , uh , and the diversity that it fostered and over time, you know, really coming to understand and think, and be somewhat , um, obsessed with how our cities and our buildings really impact , um, the betterment of humanity or the opposite , uh, you know, the impact that our buildings have on our outcomes in life and the disparities that we see.

So it really was this opportunity, joining building ventures to merge , you know, something that had been just kind of a passion on the side for me , um , with my actual work life . So , um, pretty much I , I , I left out,

Um , but I've done that Metro north train ride and you know, and it's interesting how it goes from, as you , as you leave Connecticut and then you go through, you know , Westchester county and it just gets more and more and more and more urban and, and then, you know, then you kind of go underground after 120 fifth street. So no , I know it well and I know how never gets old. So just,

And I , and I almost think that especially now , um, having that fluidity and, and being able to just take each opportunity as it comes , um, and you know, it's scarier, I think for people, but I think you end up, you know, doing things that kind of put , you know, push you you a little bit and, and enrich you. So I, I , I , your career makes total sense to me

And because you come from the customer-centric side of it, which is, is I think, you know , something that sometimes, you know, founders, miss they're so focused on product and solving a problem. And, and if they don't kind of understand that customer piece or the go to market piece , um , you know, it doesn't matter how great the product is.

And so I'd love to hear, you know, just how you work with some of your companies and some of the portfolio companies , uh, you know, feel free to name drop . And I , I know you can't, you know, play play favorites, but we'll assume you love, you know, all your children equally, but you know, I'd love to hear about a few of them .

Um, but you know, we say that we, as a team are seeking, you know, a startup with transformational impact. We're not just, you know, that's why we, don't kind of focus on the trans the , uh , transactional side of like the real estate part of investing. We really want things that are gonna, you know, change the world and for the better , um, we're also looking for, you know, the right stage, which we can come back to later.

And we say truly visionary founders who are, you know, relentlessly resourceful , uh, cuz you have to be in the startup world and highly formidable and that echos without saying, because there's a steep road ahead and we need really smart people , um, who can, who can, you know, withstand everything that's, that's thrown their way.

Um , but you know, personally I've given part of it away already is, you know, I'm screening to understand how well do you know your customer at this moment in time, whether you're still, you know, we're , we're at that kind of seed series a line. So you likely already have , um, a product underway, even if it's an MVP, but you know , you said from the product perspective, of course you need to imbue what you're building with your customer to solve the problem.

And that should go without saying, but also, you know, how are you thinking I'm looking for, how are you thinking about pricing that pricing model may change, but are you thinking about your costs when you're building that pricing model or are you thinking about your customer and how they operate and what's their willingness to pay and you know, what are their budgetary cycles like?

And, and just seeing how, you know, founders are thinking about these things, whether or not they have them fully fleshed out already or not. Um, I think it is very telling and the other thing I'm really screening for, and this comes more from my, from my product side is this idea of kind of design thinking.

And again, not just on the product, not just on the future prioritization and the roadmap , but , um, one thing I think that's often very telling , uh, to me is how you're designing your team and your broader , the broader like fabric of your culture.

And if a founder is giving that level of thought , um , especially Amy , everything, you know, you teed up at the beginning, like, are , are you thinking about diversity on your team because we know , um, the facts show us that a diverse team is a stronger team. Um, and how are you building that into the, into the fabric of, of your design of your organization for , um, for future growth and a media impact?

Um, those are always kind of two things that for me, separate out, you know, the kind of creme Delore , um, from a lot of otherwise great potential all solutions.

Well, welcome back to the podcast. I'm here with Amy Peck and Amy, we have time for just one last question. So tell me this , if you could project yourself 20, 25 years into the future, and if you could bring with you, you know , any product or service that would make your life better, what would it be and what would you do?

Um , but that I can just see data when I think it, or like if I, I say see someone on the street and I kind of know who they are that they'll quickly like, give me the bullet points of what the conversation was, the last one we had. Um, so that it's, and , but, but that it's like, I don't have to ask for it. Right. It just sort of knows what I'm thinking. And it gives me that in information. So that's really what I want.

Uh , so I wanna give my first shout out , um , to our first investment out of fund two , which is an , an amazing company called , um , animated insights, which they are a digital twin, really an operating system , uh , for building and what really stood out amongst the team there , not just , uh , their incredible depth of experience in both , um, entrepreneurship and the controls , uh, industries, which sometimes, you know , you don't have have that mix of experience, but, you know, really is

, was the way that they were attacking the problem. So going back to , um , this idea of, you know, leading with the problem you're trying to solve and customer centricity , um , they completely understand the operational use cases of a digital twin and how it really can make an impact in the day to day operations of , you know, and, and workflows of chief engineers and facilities managers.

Um, and that really look at, you know, categories of technologies that really stood out to us and, and, you know, really leading with , uh , with those workflows first. And I just , since we were talking about New York city, it's the perfect one to mention first because they didn't start, you know, out going after, you know, an easy building with, I have to say, you know , for AVS sake with , with a great BIM , uh , that they could just plug into and create the 3d rendering.

No, they started with like the Chrysler building, you know, one of the oldest buildings in New York where they they're like, you know, pulling together , um , you know, PDFs , uh , to create, you know, to create the 3d model. And, and , um, so I, I love, I love a team that's that starts with a , with a big challenge. Wow. I

And, you know, these guys are thinking about, you know, how do we reduce friction at kinda every point and, and plug in , um, you know, we were talking about, you know, before we even started filming, you know, that partnership and API centric thinking that I think can really change the , the way people operate , um, our built world, you know, with technology at their backs. But , um, but it's, it's people and processes that ultimately will deliver real change.

And I think that team is one of many that's , uh , that's enabling that. Um ,

are particularly, you know , passionate about sustainability, and I know that that's, you know, drives some of the way you look at , uh , your investments . So what are some of the companies that are working to, to solve that both, you know, with, with, you know, new, new buildings, but retroactively.

Um, but you know, basically what it comes down to is that buildings and, and building , uh , account for 40% of CO2 emissions, 40% of global energy usage, same on raw material usage and the waste in our landfills. So that's like four strikes were out, not three. And so it's, it's critical that we need to be tackling this from every angle. And, you know, Amy, as you know, on , on the breakout of like responsibilities and focus on our investment team, I tend to focus.

Um , I'm one of , I lead along with Travis, the , um, existing buildings efforts. So more of what's traditionally thought of as , as prop tech . Um, but that doesn't mean we're all, we're all very focused and concerned with the entire life cycle , but , uh , my, my cohort , um, on the, the west coast lead up , uh, the, and , and design sourcing , uh , of, of our opportunities. But so, yeah , so we're thinking about this from every angle.

And , um, you know, for me, one of, one of the , uh, tickets to actually having an impact is, you know, adaptive reuse and making our spaces more flexible and reusable from both the materials , um , reuse and sourcing side , um, and just the ability for spaces to grow and flex and change with the teams or, you know, groups that are utilizing them.

And our portfolio company Canoa is a perfect example of this, you know, not only are they able to go into , um, any kind of property type and rethink what that usage might be. So hopefully there's a future where , um , building codes allow us to be much more , uh , flexible in usage can converting , you know, one asset type to another , um , um , and they'll be ready for that.

But right now, you know, what they're really focused on is taking office fitouts and making them sustainable in a way from every angle, from every angle, like I said, they're , they'll source , um, the, the most , um , sustainable materials you'll be able to reuse and move walls , uh , in your design, everything is imbued with flexibility and , uh, and sustainability from the design through , um , the furniture that you're using.

So that's a , that one covers almost every phase of the life cycle , which is what stood out to us when we, when we met fed Nera, the , uh , the , uh , CEO and founder there,

I think it's, it's like if you are , if you are actively trying to solve these problems, as you're designing your products and services, it becomes much less of a heavy lift than where we are now with, you know, existing buildings, which is now having to figure out how we can retrofit them and, and , you know, make them more sustainable in the areas where we can make an impact. And , and I think that's probably one of the bigger challenges ,

And, you know, I think it was , um, I heard Stacy , uh, medley of Scansca , you know, she articulated that, you know, we, we have enough building stock really right now to , uh, to service everything we need and, and fed of Canoa likes to , um, also remind us that, you know, we need to build less , uh, to, to help save the planet, but it was even Mark Reynolds , the CEO of , um, a general contractor over in the UK, a very important firm called mace , uh , who was recently talking to our investor

network. And he said the same thing. So when the general contractor community is saying, you know, how do we use what we have better? And then of course, we're not going to stop building. We have , we have to build, we have a massively exploding population that we need to take care of, and we're not even taking care of, you know, all those that we, that we have on the planet today.

Um, but if we can build more sustainably new construction and then really take advantage of the existing building stock , um, maybe we'll, we'll be able to make an impact.

I mean, we're , you know, we're, we're, we've been struggling with productivity and profitability in our industries for a while and I hate to sound like a broken record, but isn't part of that because we have, haven't been listening to our customers and , um, you know, and , and that'll take me down, you know, away from the path of, of sustainability and into, you know, this notion of , um, buildings as a business or, you know, space as a service.

But, you know, that's the other, I think macro trend that, you know, we're really thinking about and investing in is, you know, how real estate, especially, but, but construction as well. You know, how do we approach this? Like any other business with the end user in mind, instead of just thinking about what's needed to, you know, continue to secure that, you know, 10 year lease , um, that only the CFO really cares about. I mean, that those days are gone.

So just put it from your mind that's that is not what you do anymore owners. Yeah .

you mentioned kinda the thesis of how you are looking at companies and, and you know, what, what you're looking for. Um, and, and, you know, in combination with what you , what we've been talking about, which is, you know, what are some of the new business models and what are some of the new trends and, and ways that, you know, owners can sort of, you know, maximize space.

So can we talk about some of those business models and, and just what you're seeing and, and what you is , is really viable now?

um , flexible lease terms and , uh, co-working and co Reliv . And that I , we felt like that was one of the first chips to fall, to really force owners to , uh, take a step back and, and think about, you know, these traditional ways of, of, of how they've been operating. So, you know, when we think about this thesis, we say kind of , you know , the old way is obviously my is a financial asset and therefore, who am I beholden to? Well , I'm , I'm a re my investors.

Um, but also, you know , the customer I'm serving is, you know, the CFO or whoever is taking out, you know, the checkbook and signing that long term lease. And what are the features that I, I have to deliver or , well, you know, besides, you know, the , the most basic of amenities, you know, is location, location, location, because everyone is gonna commute to a single , uh, centrally located city based , uh , location. And so what do I have to worry about?

Well, we all know because of the curfuffle even before, no, even even before this was, this was, you know, this, this trend was well underway, but the has accelerated this tremendously. And, and again, giving so much power to the individual to say, you know, whether or not they're, they're going to go into that , um, perfectly located, perfectly located office or not.

And, you know, what terms , um , workplaces and, you know, more than ever, you know, peop heads of people and , um , heads of work workplace, you know, some titles that didn't even exist are, are really calling the shots and, and demanding flexibility and, you know, all types of new amen is for, for their customers.

Like, you know, I think rolling the tip of the iceberg when we're thinking about like indoor air quality and , um, and what comfort , uh, really means, and what's important comfort wise , uh , for, for tenants , um, in workspaces. So, and again, I'm , I'm trying to get too much in here at once, but , um, so, so that's the sort of stuff that we're seeing , um, on, on, you know, the, the real estate on, on the buildings as a business side.

And the model is really, again, that owners have to service all stakeholders. And , um, this is not just the CFO and, and their investors, although those are still stakeholders, but those end users, the communities that they're in , um, their own employees , uh, you know, so much labor is a whole other topic, you know, both on attracting folks on the real estate side and attracting , um, workers on the construction side.

And if, if, if you think your organization isn't being a steward of the planet in their communities, like you don't, you don't really wanna be employed there anymore. So , um, there's so much for them to demonst great , and so many opportunities , uh, for them to provide, you know, you know, the services that, that occupiers , um, really want , um, a totally different sort of example of this , um, and portfolio company of ours , um, that we think kind of epitomizes. This is connectivity.

Um, I think for a long time owners have, have thought, you know, kind of , this is, this is an amenity. This is, you know , um, something that is behind the , uh , the tenant door. So it's not anything that, that we need to to think about, but as we are, you know, bringing buildings online, as we are finally moving towards smart buildings , um, the connectivity that, that you provide in your own it OT world , um, with all the devices we're putting in security is, is critical.

As you are changing your business model and offering flex space , this is service that is expected , um, that you provide. And , uh, we've a company joined digital that converged network as a , as a service , um, that, you know, really has made this turnkey for both owners and occupies if they choose to take it on, on themselves. But I feel like no more is kind of connectivity , you know , a tenant responsibility as part of the fit out .

I think we're gonna see more and more owners taking responsibility, both because they want to and have to, and it all, you know, boils back to the security of the building itself and , um, what the new amenities set really is.

Um, but we're definitely taking a larger and larger chunk as time goes on. Um , and, but, you know, you reach out to us , um , you know, through our website , um, and that will come directly either , um , at , until we , uh , hire analysts and associates to , uh , myself or my, my colleague on, on the west coast, Craig .

Um, and, and, you know, we're, we're looking for, you know, exactly what we talked about , uh, earlier that transformational impact , um, you know, hitting on those themes , uh, that we touched on earlier today.

Um, we can't, we can't, you know, state overstate the importance of everything that we're investing in technology wise , you know, at least, you know, not having a detrimental impact , uh, on , on climate and our planet, but, you know, that's really a lens , uh, that we're looking through and, and that prior we kind of prioritize , um, opportunities that, you know , make us more efficient , um, and, and are, are beneficial to moving to a net zero , um, planet.

And, you know, we're looking for those founders who, like I said, are, are, are visionary who , um, who are resourceful and formidable and are , are looking to change the world with, with their teams , um, and , uh, and, and build a , a better built world. I mean, that's our slogan, not just for marketing purposes, that really is like the, the first and ultimate lens of how we, of how we measure whether an investment is, is a fit for us or not. Uh , it's, it's not lip service .

That really is , um , what drives us as a team.

And If they're , if they're really doing something great, you are really going to be, like I said, more of a strategic partner , um, than just writing checks. And, and I think that that is critically important now , um, especially since there are such lofty goals and there are so many boxes that need to be ticked to, to that really make a great company that truly, you know, we it's the Silicon valley , um, joke, but that , but that are really making the world a better place.

And , and I think you guys are doing that. And so I really, I applaud your work

And we feel, you know, every day , you know, it's , we're lucky to be surrounded by all these amazing entrepreneurs , um, you know, and I wish we could invest in them all . Um, but you know, we, we ha we can't, we're limited in our resources, but, you know, you feel the, the passion, the excitement and, and , um, and truly the drive right now, you feel it accelerating.

And, you know, you hate to, to say thing , you know, good comes from this curfuffle, but , um, I think it really lit a fire under all of our collective asses.

Um, why is now the , the moment where we can actually find traction with solution and, you know, sometimes that's because a technology has come to , um, come to the right age. Um, sometimes it's because a technology has been broadly adopted, like think mobile phones enabling , um, you know, the rise of car sharing. We could never, we couldn't have embrace that opportunity. We not all have, you know, that device in , in our hands.

Um, and you know, I think something that's very important, but we don't like to talk about is regulation. I have all the faith in the world that many owners are going to choose to , uh, adopt technology and implement amazing sustainable sustainability practices, because it's in the goodness of their heart. Some of them are in need regulation. Yes ,

You know, I mentioned Mark Reynolds from mace , these leaders have changed their belief. They're like we do have a responsibility to , uh, to be more sustainable. We do have a responsibility to , um, have safer job site . We do have a responsibility to delight , uh , our customers and be better stewards , um, of our communities. And you feel it from every angle. So that makes, that makes every day very exciting.

So , uh , we're happy to do that. Um , so I , this brings us to the last question that I ask everyone , uh, which is, you know, if you could project yourself 20, 25 years into the future, and you could bring with you any product or service that just, you know , made you happy or in some way your life better, what would it be and what would it do?

So, you know, the old star Trek , uh, transporter beat me up Amy sort of thing, because I love that. I mean, just the ability to, to get from one place to another , uh , immediately , um, would be absolutely amazing. Um, and then I could travel a lot more. Yeah,

And it's made me think like, you know, and I know that there are, are , are people that are, that are studying this and working on this and have been for a long time, but I wanna record my dreams and like for better or worse, like be able to watch them back or read them back because I know I have good ideas, like actual, practical, good ideas. Sometimes some stuff is just insane. It could make like a really insane HBO special or, or series. I like that.

And some of it is like, wow, that really taught me something like dark and scary about myself that I , yeah,