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Salar al Khafaji is the CEO and founder of Monumental, a company building autonomous robots that assemble buildings, starting with its bricklaying system. After selling his previous software company to Palantir, Salar took time to explore big industries ripe for disruption before landing on construction—a sector that represents a significant portion of GDP yet has seen decades of productivity stagnation.
We explore:
Why construction represents a massive opportunity for technological innovation
How Monumental's system of three robots works together to lay bricks autonomously
Why Europe's severe bricklayer shortage has created wages as high as €80/hour
The post-WWII shift away from beautiful architecture and how to bring it back
Why operating as a subcontractor rather than selling robots makes business sense
The challenges of building a hardware startup in Europe's tech ecosystem
How Palantir's "cult-like" culture influenced Monumental's approach to company building
The balance between structure and productive chaos in scaling a startup
Why the best robotics companies solve specific problems rather than building general-purpose machines
How to foster ambition in Europe's startup ecosystem
Explore the episode
Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction to Salar
(04:44) Overview of Monumental’s work and mission
(06:25) Salar’s journey after selling his company to Palantir
(11:46) Stagnation in the construction industry
(14:21) The mental shift from software to hardware entrepreneurship
(16:10) Salar’s funding framework
(18:21) The post-WWII decline in constructing beautiful buildings
(20:23) Choosing bricklaying as the first construction trade to tackle
(25:20) Why Monumental operates as a subcontractor
(28:38) The limitations of 3D printing and prefab construction
(33:15) The technology and pricing bets Salar made
(33:45) Lessons from Palantir's culture
(39:35) Monumental's company culture
(42:31) An overview of a construction job from start to finish
(45:50) Precision and tolerances
(47:50) Surprising challenges in the construction industry
(49:10) The current state of Monumental and what’s next
(54:00) Why humanoid robots don’t make sense for Monumental
(56:16) Building an ambitious company in Europe
(01:00:56) Monumental’s approach to hiring
(01:03:10) The state of European tech and what needs to change
(01:06:00) Salar’s optimistic take on the current state of tech in Europe
(01:10:46) Final meditations
Follow Salar al Khafaji
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salark/
Website: https://sal.ar/
Resources and episode mentions
Books
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX: https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-like-State-Certain-Condition/dp/0300078153
The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Big-Number-World-about/dp/0691166528
People
Émile Durkheim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim
Torsten Reil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/torstenreil/
Other resources
Monumental: https://www.monumental.co/
Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/
Palantir acquires data visualization startup Silk: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/10/palantir-acquires-data-visualization-startup-silk/
Waymo: https://waymo.com/
Art Deco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco
How Anduril Is Reimagining the Defense Industry: Faster Tech, Ethical AI, and a New Kind of Deterrence | Trae Stephens (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Anduril): https://www.generalist.com/p/how-anduril-is-reimagining-the-defense-industry-trae-stephens
Helsing: https://helsing.ai/
Europe’s Great Founders Must Unretire: https://www.generalist.com/p/europes-great-founders-must-unretire
There’s no speed limit: https://sive.rs/kimo
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