So… What’s next?
It’s been a month since the announcement of our Series A and the tone has slowly shifted from the exuberant “Wow! This is so exciting! Congratulations!” to back to the curious “So… what’s next?”.
That “what’s next” question isn’t foreign to startups — during our fundraise, VCs have asked us that question countless times. My answer every time was “Scale and Execution.”
Now, thanks to Fifth Wall and our amazing cohort of investors, that question is no longer a hypothetical one — it’s what we are actually doing. We are commencing execution on our first projects and scaling every aspect of our business.
“What’s Next?” Let’s start with where we’ve been.
Before we dive in and outline our roadmap, it’s worth giving a brief recap of Assembly’s history to contextualize this milestone in our startup journey.
Assembly was born out of SHoP Architects, who, for over two decades, have pioneered the use of model-based delivery to create architectural icons around the world. We build on their history, strong intellectual property, amazing talent, and deep experience (both in what works and what hasn’t).
For the last few years, we’ve built the foundation of a separate company (with a whole lot of SHoP DNA). In our own version of an aerospace-style Skunk Works, we’ve designed, engineered, and tested systems that perform, built digital technology for high-fidelity models, and developed manufacturer relationships and assembly processes which avoid the traditional pitfalls of Modular 1.0 (i.e. 461 Dean Street which many of our team lived through on the architectural, construction and development side).
The culmination of that phase was the creation of our first production unit — a full-scale proof of concept that set the foundation for the company.
What do I mean by “Scale and Execution?”
You might be thinking…
“Andrew, come on… that is as cliché of an answer as you could possibly give.”
I’ll be the first to admit … “scale and execution” is a quite buzzwordy answer, but with a bit of detail, it encapsulates our focus in this post-Skunk Works phase of the company.
Scale
Scale is a really broad and nuanced thing to define because every company needs to “scale” in some way. For us, scale is both internal and external.
Internally, scaling means growing our digital technology to provide additional operational leverage to our team as we add projects to our pipeline. These digital tools are elements of our software stack that turn low-fidelity concept plans (think loosely sketching out a building’s design and massing on a napkin or iPad) into high-fidelity manufacturing models with the click of a button or those that programmatically coordinate penetrations for risers — each tool increases the number of projects that we can do at the same time.
Externally, scale is about continuing to build our network of suppliers and developer clients. Unlike a traditional modular company that do everything in their facility (think “construction under a roof,” the way 461 Dean Street was built), we are building a multi-sided ecosystem of suppliers (making everything from bathroom pods to structural chassis) on one side and developers on the other — connected and enabled through Assembly’s platform.
Because we have this multi-sided approach, scaling isn’t simply adding more customers to increase unit economics (Assembly isn’t your Econ 101 “Economies of Scale” style business). Our scaling model is about building network effects — growing the supplier ecosystem in lockstep with the developer ecosystem and overcoming the “cold start problem” (Andrew Chen’s book describes it incredibly well). For us, scaling involves the same set of challenges as companies like Uber — how do you create an incentive structure so just enough drivers are on the platform for the number of riders (in our case, suppliers and developers), or who do you prioritize in that ecosystem, or how do you start from zero?
Despite all the challenges with ramping up a networked business, the upside is extreme. Once started, there is an incredibly powerful flywheel that generates a level of cost savings and resiliency that most companies pursuing a vertically integrated business model are unable to achieve.
Execution
Execution is a bit more straightforward, it means building projects! The internal conviction we’ve developed over the last few years, and the external validation we’ve received from our investors and potential customers, unlocks our ability to deliver on our value proposition — certainty, speed, cost, sustainability, and quality.
Practically, this means we are expanding our manufacturing and supply chain teams (we’ve welcomed all-stars like Elson Matos and Barrett Turner in the last few months), retooling our current plant in New Jersey to get ready for production, and designing new assembly facilities in our first markets. (If you know any amazing manufacturing or supply chain candidates send them our way!)
It also means we’ve been getting developers (large and small) up to speed on our processes. It’s not an insignificant lift to overcome the stigma associated with prior modular companies and show that partnering with Assembly provides a fundamentally different experience and product.
I won’t show all our cards today, but, I’ll just say, there are a few big projects that are coming down the pipeline with developers you’ve definitely heard of!
Let’s go!
With the right investors onboard and a talented (and growing) team, it’s time to address the inherently linked climate and housing crises (the subject of a future post!) and start building! Let’s go!
