This edition of the Nexus Newsletter is brought to you by SkySpark and Jaros, Baum & Bolles.

Hey friends,

Last year, with Nexus Lore, we defined the future state we’re working towards. We united around the concept of a horizontal architecture—which will give building owners flexibility, control, cybersecurity, and the robust technology infrastructure required to enable the business outcomes they need.

But that view is missing the ecosystem required to get to that future state. Buildings (and the industry supporting them) are transformed by humans and organizations of humans.

Today’s newsletter kicks off a series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem. Here’s where we’re headed:

• Part 1: The smart buildings ecosystem: where do you fit?
• Part 2: The buyer personas
• Part 3: Voices of the buyer personas
• Part 4: The seller-side ecosystem; launching our Partner Hub for sellers

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We at Nexus Labs believe we can help transform the smart buildings industry in three ways:

1. Education—We increase awareness and understanding of new technologies, which drives adoption.
2. Technical assistance—Our content, whitepapers, workshops, and courses can help technology buyers navigate the market and make informed buying and deployment decisions.
3. Network-building—Our community of stakeholders creates a supportive environment for overcoming barriers to market transformation.

In other words, we’re creating transparency between buyers and sellers. We already cover why we need technology, how technology works, which vendors specialize in which technologies, and more. In the future, we’ll double down on transparency by crowdsourcing standards for each type of technology and our partner program will highlight those sellers that meet those standards.

So who are those buyers and sellers?

Our buyers have “jobs to be done” that technology can help with. That’s what they’re buying: better occupant experience, zero carbon, or better maintenance. They need—but don’t have—a unified technology stack that helps with those jobs.

Our sellers are looking to support those buyers in the transformation of their real estate operations. Tech Vendors sell products; the Vital Roles sell services; Grid & Market Connectors sell access to value streams on the grid; Certifications & Rating Systems sell plaques and status; Workforce Builders sell upskilled workers who get stuff done; Venture Capital sells startups; and Market Transformers pave the way via policy, R&D, and financial assistance.

Take a look at that graphic again... Where do you fit?

When an industry is in the midst of transformation, the role of sellers isn’t only to, well, sell stuff. It’s to be the experts. It’s to share best practices among their customers. It’s to innovate. It’s to embody the champion mindset and figure out where they fit. It’s to establish partnerships and interoperability with others so we can knock down silos.

The market won’t transform if we put sellers into a corner and make them pay for sponsorships to get their voices heard. The market also won’t transform if we let sellers say “we do everything”— rather than “we do this one thing really well”.  

Likewise, the role of buyers isn’t just to, well, buy stuff. It’s to learn best practices from their peers and share what they’ve learned. It’s to create standards, processes, and specifications that change organizational processes. It’s to shepherd their organizations toward better ways to do things.

Buyers must engage with the right sellers and build a team that gets them to their goals. Buyers gotta “manage up” and show the C-suite how the business can transform and thrive with technology. Buyers must work with each other internally—across silos in the organization. Buyers need to be the team captain.

This is the “Nexus” that we’re sitting in the middle of. It’s not antagonistic—both sides are vital in the transformation. Moving forward, our free content (supported by our Partner Program, which launches soon!), will fill a gap that’s not been filled before:

• Buyers don’t want sponsored content. I’m not sure they ever did.
• But sellers have vital things to say and teach.
• A third party needs to sit in between with full editorial control and with an educational mission in mind.

Similarly, our Partner Hub (launching soon) will fill a gap that’s not been filled before:

• Narrow the seller marketplace down—only the best, only those that align with this community’s philosophy
• Put the sellers in the correct category—they might do a lot, but where are they world-class?

That’s just the beginning! Next week, in Part 2, we’ll unpack who the buyers are. Stay tuned!

—James Dice, Founder of Nexus Labs

P.S. The Nexus Framework is used by buyers all over the world to understand exactly what vendors do. Have you seen it?

️️🏢 A message from our sponsor, Jaros, Baum & Bolles 🏢

Building intelligence engineering allows OT and IT systems to seamlessly and securely integrate with each other and onto common platforms. Creating a successful building intelligence strategy entails translating the owner’s goals to outcomes, use cases, intelligent building technologies, and enhanced MEP systems.

To learn more about what JB&B is calling “MEP 3.0” and the value of building intelligence design, as well as the difference between smart and intelligent buildings, listen to JB&B’s Division Lead’s conversation with the global certification company WiredScore.

✖ At the Nexus

Here’s everything worth sharing from Nexus HQ this week:

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★ PODCAST: 🎧 #135: Transforming the market, with regulation and without—Episode 135 is a conversation with Cliff Majersik, Senior Advisor at the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit that’s focused on regulatory and nonregulatory ways to push the economy toward decarbonization.

We talked about how market transformation works, the policy levers that we in the United States have for requiring decarbonization, and finally, we dove into how building performance standards work and what building owners can expect from those laws as they spread throughout the US and the world.

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★ MEMBERS-ONLY EVENTS THIS MONTH:

• Australia/APAC Pro Member Gathering: This is a NEW monthly event that we are doing with our friends from Australia/APAC. Pro Member and Building Optimization Manager at AMP Capital, Tom Balme will provide a deep dive on AMP Captial's smart buildings program. Rob Huntington will be hosting! February 7th @ 3pm MT / February 8th @ 9am Sydney
• New Member Orientation: Nexus Founder, James Dice, hosts an introduction to the Nexus Labs Community and how you access and take advantage of all the resources that come with your Pro Membership. This is for new members or those who've not taken advantage of all the resources at the Nexus Community. February 13th @ 9 am MT.
• Subject Matter Expert Workshop: Pro Member and Founder and CEO of WattCarbon, McGee Young, will dive deep into Carbon Accounting. February 15 @ 9am MT
• North America Member Gathering: TBA

​Join Nexus Pro now to get the invites and access to the recordings.

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★ ON LINKEDIN: One of my favorite recent building owner interviews was with a huge US-based REIT.

☁️ A message from our sponsor, SkySpark ☁️

SkySpark is a comprehensive software platform for connecting, storing, analyzing and visualizing data from smart devices and equipment systems. SkySpark’s automated analytics, KPIs, Energy and GhG Apps, turn your data into actionable intelligence providing improved performance, reduced downtime, and operational savings.

Head over to SkyFoundry.com for insightful white papers, case studies, and blog posts, as well as a link to sign up for a free demo.

★ JOBS: Are you hiring? Searching for a job in smart buildings?—Check out the Nexus Labs Jobs Board.

🔥🔥🔥 Hot Jobs in Smart Buildings

👉Gridium is looking for a US-based Technical Product Manager to manage their data services and design new product offerings. They are also seeking a Sales Executive based in California.

👋 That's all for this week. See you next Tuesday!

Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways Nexus Labs can help you:

1. Take our shortcut to learning the Smart Buildings industry here (300 students and counting)

2. Join our community of smart buildings nerds and gamechangers here (400 members and counting)

3. (NEW) Join the Nexus Labs Syndicate for opportunities to invest in the best smart buildings startups that cross my desk each month.

4. (NEW) Our Partner Hub is launching soon. This is an opportunity to be featured on our website, get original content, and tap into the Nexus community. Email us at partners@nexuslabs.online