Hey friends,

Let's start this week with a quick announcement before we move onto the goodies:

👉 A week from today, we're delivering our first 1-day private team workshop based on our Nexus Foundations course curriculum! 👈

Our client, a global technology company, is pulling together a roster of team members from the IT department, the real estate department, the smart buildings group, and the networking team.

We'll introduce the industry newcomers to why buildings aren't so smart, get them up to speed on where the industry is headed, and talk through their specific challenges so they can get on the same page as a team. I can't wait!

In July, we're doing our second workshop, this time with a global HVAC OEM. Similarly, they're pulling together a cross-functional team and we'll tailor our curriculum for their unique goals.

If you have a large team (10 minimum, 15+ recommended) and would like us to create a tailored, private, vendor-agnostic workshop for you, hit reply and let me know.

We're only doing these once per month, so if you're interested ya gotta get on our calendar stat.

—James

P.S. If you have less that 10 people and/or want to engage with the unparalleled Nexus community, our biannual Nexus Foundations course is still your best bet for taking advantage of our curriculum. Get on the waiting list for Cohort 3 (starting in September) to learn more.

At the Nexus

Here’s everything we published this week:

​🎧 #055: Ruairí Barnwell on designing and commissioning smart buildings and IAQ—We talked about how building design and commissioning are changing these days due to new technology in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Specifically, Rauirí makes the argument that the Commissioning Agents' role should expand into Smart Building Consultant.

We went through another insider look at indoor air quality, and he took me through the keys to success today, as well as some of the unproven snake oil out there.You live or die by the data at the end of the day, not the sticker on the front door.”

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​Live Broadcast: A data driven approach to Indoor Air Quality (Recording)—The first Nexus Live Broadcast, featuring Pro members Aaron Lapsley, Alex Grace, and Christian Weeks, was a success... drawing a not-too-shabby 125 live attendees.

[Reminder: as I said in the announcement, this monthly Live Broadcast series will be once per month, will remain unsponsored and focused on education, and is free to live attendees. If you want recording access, you can join Nexus Pro. Stay tuned for July's Broadcast announcement.]

Signal vs. Noise

Only the best smart building resources we consumed this week…

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​Product-led Growth's Failure—In February, I wrote about how analytics can go mainstream by providing a "whole product". In May, I wrote in slight contradiction to myself that we don't have enough API-first companies.

This article looks at two companies from outside our industry who took each approach... and the who ultimately won."Despite having everything that modern go-to-market (GTM) theory is built upon (growth loops, channel sales partnerships, and product lead growth) they failed and they failed hard."

For us, I think the distinction is clear: if you're best at providing the outcome, then be full stack and partner where you can. If you're not best at the outcome, be API-first.

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​Utility-Enabled Whole Building Data Access: The Problems, Processes and Possibilities—I had the pleasure of meeting Calico Energy CEO (and Nexus Pro member) Colleen Morris last week and she introduced me to a huge tech barrier to scaling energy efficiency and building/grid interaction. Put simply: electric utilities' tech stacks don't have a concept of "whole building".

"The result of all these barriers? Utility solutions for data access and aggregation are often manual and time-consuming for all."

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​JE Dunn spins off smart buildings specialist firm, dubbed Aptitude—I love seeing this and think we'll see more of it from the major construction firms. The normal construction process does not produce smart buildings, so it must be modified if we're going to get the outcomes we need. Those modifications will come in different shapes and sizes.

Aptitude managing director (and Nexus Pro member) Sam Holt said of the spin-off:"Often, we were seeing clients engaging the technology integration components too far down the path of construction or in silos. We are spinning off as a separate entity with the goal of engaging with clients earlier in the process."

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That's all for this week! Thanks for reading. 👋