Driving a Construction Industry Renaissance with René Morkos, Ph.D.

Listen to René Morkos talk about the construction industry and more on this podcast from Entrepreneurs on Fire by Fire Nation.

Driving a Construction Industry Renaissance with René Morkos

Entrepreneurs on fire's (EOF) host, John Lee Dumas, chats with René Morkos, Phd., ALICE founder and CEO, about his entreprenurial journey with ALICE and more.

 

  Tune in to the podcast episode


Show's timestamps (provided by EOF, visit episode website here)

[1:28] – René shares something he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

  • He believes that no matter your position, the upside and downside tend to be similar.

[3:03] – How did you get your start in the construction technology industry?

  • He worked with a reconstruction company as his first job in Afghanistan.
  • He realized that construction is complicated, and he thought about having a computer-based tool that could help make construction planning easier.
  • He got to the US and discovered that there was no technology available for what he was thinking of.
  • He then studied, researched, and used his construction experience to build the tool.

[5:33] – What is ALICE Technologies, and how does it increase construction efficiency using AI?

  • ALICE Technologies helps the construction industry by converting construction problems into algorithm terms.
  • They can simulate the construction project in different ways.
  • They provide optimal and fast results.

[7:25] – What kinds of companies use ALICE, and how do they benefit?

  • France’s leading and largest construction company uses ALICE for its projects worldwide.
    • ALICE helped them shorten the time that people needed to be onsite.
    • By using the software, they saved a massive amount of money.

[8:32] – What do you think most people miss in AI when it comes to construction and making things more efficient?

  1. Most people should see the number of options available in the building, and you can use the computer to generate all those different methods.
  2. You do not need an advanced degree to run the software.

[9:50] – Advertisements

[12:20] – Why did your investors bet on ALICE?

  • Back in 2017, the construction renaissance emerged. Construction is the second most digitized industry in the world.
  • Approach investors by telling them your story and what you can offer to their business.

[15:51] – What are the top two most significant challenges you’ve faced in building ALICE?

  • René’s biggest challenge is rapidly changing as a human to meet and provide value to company changes.

[18:40] – What would be the two most important pieces of advice that you could offer to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

  • Do not take the high’s so high and the low’s so low; be gentle with yourself. Do not tie your self-worth to the success of the company.

[22:23] – Conclusions

 

Key takeaways from the session (as summarized by the organizers here)

  1. No matter your position, the upside and downside tend to be similar.

  2. Do not take the high’s so high and the low’s so low; be gentle with yourself. Do not tie your self-worth to the success of the company.

  3. Do not quit, and keep building.

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