Cooperation Interview: PropTech Capmo and partner MBN
In the video interview with Ambivation CEO Christoph Baier, Florian Biller, co-founder of Capmo GmbH, talks about digitalization in the construction and real estate industry and provides valuable tips for collaboration between startups and companies. The PropTech startup Capmo offers a software-based all-in-one solution for digital construction site management. The startup’s successful collaborating partners include the medium-sized construction company MBN Gmbh. Gregory Budnizkiy, Innovation Manager at MBN, reports in the interview about his experiences in the cooperation with Capmo. Here you can watch the interview in full length.
Christoph: Welcome to the video interviews with Proptech and ConTech startups and their collaborations with the construction and real estate industry. My name is Christoph Baier from Ambivation and today I would like to welcome Florian Biller from Capmo.
Florian: Hello Christoph, greetings.
Christoph: First of all, why do we conduct the interviews? On the one hand, we want to give startups a stage to present their innovation potential, and on the other hand, we want to show the real estate industry new solutions for existing challenges and problems and build a bridge between the innovative startup world and the successful, established corporate economy. Let’s get straight to the first question. Florian, if you say once to the start, who are you and what do you do?
Florian: Yes, Christoph, my name is Florian, I am one of the founders and managing directors of Capmo. And at Capmo we make a construction site management software that helps architecture and engineering firms, but also construction companies or the client side to successfully implement their projects. And successful usually means in the desired quality, in the desired time and at the desired cost.
Christoph: Great, can you perhaps give us a very concrete example of how you work together with one company? Or maybe two, one company each from the real estate and construction industry?
Florian: I’d be happy to. So as I said, we have both really very large customers like a company Max Bögl or Zechbau, Zech Sicherheitstechnik or also a bit from the other area a Covivio. On the other hand, we also address the classic small and medium-sized architectural firms, construction companies, engineering companies and so on. Because most people know this, I would now simply take an example from one of our larger customer partners, such as the company Max Bögl, which is very innovative and very strongly drives the topic of modular construction. And one of the most important topics, especially in modular construction, where a great deal is standardized, is collaboration, cooperation and agreements, which must be top-notch. And with Capmo, which works both on the computer and on mobile devices, people can document what is happening on site, what the status is, can keep daily construction reports, but can also record and take into account the client’s wishes or even manage defects. And they can clarify this directly with all their colleagues and, to some extent, also with the partners, i.e. with the associated architect’s office, the builder or the future landlord. And all this is done via a central platform, so that paperwork and project managers who spend two days a week chasing people and information are a thing of the past.
Christoph: Great! Can you perhaps talk about two strengths where companies say that is a special added value, that they find particularly good with you?
Florian: Yes, I think there are three things that are very important. Now we all know, and you certainly know best of all, that the construction and real estate industry is still in its infancy in many areas as far as digitization is concerned. That’s why we make a point of ensuring that our software solution is very easy to use. It can do a lot, but we always make sure that the users on site can also use it quickly and easily. That as soon as you have decided to use it and use it for five minutes, you immediately know how everything works. The second important point, I believe, is what our customers tell us again and again and what we see ourselves, namely that we are an all-in-one solution in English or a complete solution. And we don’t map various individual processes with a bunch of isolated systems, but we really help to map the construction site as a whole and to make it all-in-one.
And last but not least, and I think this is crucial for many people who are starting out with digitization, we also see ourselves as a provider that does more than just software. We always say that we are the partner at our customers’ side and place a great deal of value on customer training and customer service. If someone has a problem or a question, they can actually reach us within a few minutes by phone or get an answer within an hour by e-mail.
Christoph: Perfect, good to know! And we’re going to hear an audio commentary on that right now. Today we also have Gregory Budnizkiy with us, who tells us from MBN how the cooperation with Capmo is going. Gregory, first of all it’s good to have you here. Maybe you can introduce yourself right away, tell us briefly how the cooperation is going and who you are personally.
Gregory: I’d be happy to. I’d like to start with the company I work for, MBN GmbH. We are a medium-sized construction company and active in the German region. We have our headquarters in Georgsmarienhütte near Osnabrück and thirteen branches all over Germany. I myself am based here in Berlin, for example. We do full quarry construction, i.e. practically everything that is above ground, and are active there in the areas of industry, residential construction and office buildings, for example. We have about 630 employees and about 470 million in sales this year. I myself am responsible for the digitization of construction sites, and here we work together with Capmo, among others. We are very happy to have a partner like Capmo at our side. We use it primarily for recording defects or remaining work, for communication, and then ultimately also with our subcontractors or partner companies and our clients.
Of course, we also use it for internal purposes, for example, to manage tasks on a construction site and simply have a central database that everyone can access. In other words, a single source of truth for all employees on the construction site, and we are trying to integrate more and more construction sites. And also programs that have been used up to now, such as WhatsApp or the usual e-mail communication, more or less to contain and to do it entirely via Capmo. One of the strengths of Capmo is precisely this collaborative. This means that all project participants can work together via a central platform, exchange photos, distribute tasks, and now, for example, with the new construction schedule function, we have added another tool that we can also integrate into our everyday work. And so far, I also have to report that Capmo’s support is great. If you have a request or perhaps a change request, it is implemented almost within hours and I am definitely happy to welcome Capmo in more and more construction projects with us.
Christoph: Great Gregory, thanks for your insight your personal experience there and thanks for taking the time. Florian, what tips and tricks for the collaboration of startups can you give the audience?
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Florian: I would now deliberately focus on the construction and real estate industry in collaboration with companies and startups, and there is one thing that is very important. I don’t think there’s any point at all in developing a solution that is also designed for the users, such as in our case for construction managers, project managers, and of course managing directors, but above all also for the users, if you only develop it in consultation with the management. If you don’t pick up the users who are going to operate the software in the end, regardless of whether it’s in the introductory phase or in the product development process, where we’re thankfully already far beyond that, but especially at the beginning it’s crucial that you not only pick up the decision-makers and talk to them, but also always get feedback from the end users. Because especially in the construction industry, a software can be so great and can do so much, but if it is not used by the users, then it doesn’t help much. I think we got the tip ourselves or the hint that usability in English or user-friendliness is crucial. And I think that’s a very big key to success for all companies, especially for us.
Christoph: Very good point, I think that’s very important. Is there anything else where you would say you have tips for startups on how they can get in touch with companies even better?
Florian: I think, on the one hand, trade fairs and events, which was important in the past and which will become more important again in the future. But what’s very crucial, you can’t just rely on that, because that’s often also coincidence when you meet there. You should be very clear about who your target group is. In our case, it’s clearly small and medium-sized companies, compared to, for example, Hochtiefbau. And then consciously approach them and focus on a customer group, which simply helps. Because one of these Hochtief companies may have different requirements than Gregory from MBN has just described well in the original speech.
Christoph: Perfect, great. If we now talk about the future, what will move you in the next few years?
Florian: What we see at Capmo is that the construction industry is one of the most important and largest, but unfortunately also most undigital industries in all of Europe. And our big goal is for the construction industry to make progress in terms of digitalization, not only in German-speaking countries, but in Europe. To achieve this, we are building the all-in-one solution for construction site management. And very important in addition to this product breadth, that we offer everything from a single source, is for us in the next few months, because we are growing so strongly right now and onboarding hundreds of customers, that we don’t lose touch with our customers and can also continue to offer the excellent service that we have today, even in our strong growth.
Christoph: Important points. What is the best way to reach you and you? If you say now, this all sounds exciting, I would like to learn more.
Florian: If you want to learn more the easiest way is to stop by our website at capmo.de and there are two things there. On the one hand, you can get a lot of information. We have a big section called Construction Knowledge, where subject matter experts share their bestpractices and knowledge, all around the topic of digital construction and process-oriented work. On the other hand, if you want to take a look at the software, you can try Capmo for free for two weeks. As I said, we want to offer more than just software. That means that if you register for a trial, everything is free of charge. One of our customer advisors, our digital experts, will also take you by the hand to clarify some questions in advance. So that you can take full advantage of the test phase and see live on the project what is suddenly possible with Capmo.
Christoph: That sounds great. Otherwise, I think you’ll be at Digitalbau next year, if Corona allows it, so maybe we’ll see each other in person.
Florian: We’ll be there again at Digitalbau, that’s right. At most of the trade fairs, too, but as I said, we are super-equipped with video conferencing tools, telephone and e-mail, so we can give our customers great advice even during the pandemic, even if you might not be able to see each other.
Christoph: Perfect! From my side, thank you Florian for taking the time. Very exciting to hear from your experience, but also the tips and tricks. I look forward to meeting you in person again soon, perhaps at Digitalbau, and see you soon!
Florian: Thank you Christoph, too! see you at Digitalbau or otherwise on our website capmo.de
Click here to visit the Capmo website.
Click here to visit the website of our cooperation partner MBN GmbH.
Click here to visit the website of th immobilienmanager: https://www.immobilienmanager.de
About Ambivation
Ambivation connects innovative companies and startups for cooperation and innovation partnerships. As an innovation consultancy and matchmaker, Ambivation promotes cooperation between established companies and startups within the framework of concrete customer, supplier and research partnerships. We support companies in the identification of needs, startup identification, startup evaluation and cooperation initiation with startups. Formats such as research on relevant startups, startup monitoring, strategic cooperation consulting or event formats such as startup tours serve this purpose. Our monthly newsletter also provides information on current examples of cooperation and events.
