So today we have Shanti Rayhan. Okay. What does she do? She is CEO and founder of LineArc. She works with cloud-based collaborative construction management tools. So basically software for contractors, ah like project management, things like that to help the contractors be more efficient, document things, et cetera. And Would that at all relate to you and your business? Well, this is this is an AEC thing, so obviously this is more on the C side of it, the construction side. So uh I mean engineers and architects also deal with project management and um so we we could use that software and because we deal with the construction side, we are involved with the software packages That the contractors use as well. We we get impacted by these. In other words, the contractor might have documents and things that they submit to us through the software. And so we have to learn how to use these different softwares as well as the contractor. Right. You know, in order to be to help make the project move through successfully. So Do you have the curve ball figured out? This was a good one. This is uh you believe that taking risk is part of the entrepreneurial experience. What is the scariest risk you've taken in building line art that ended up paying off? Hm. Yeah. And then I could see how you could relate to that too, like what's risks you've taken in business. Um, okay, and then we're gonna from that we'll go into like typical background about her and how she got into AEC, how she got into program like software and things like that. Does she have construction background or is it just like the software? I'm not sure if she has a construction background, so we can find out a little bit about that. Well, my name is Annie Richardson, and this is our producer, Madeline, and this is the Enhanced Podcast. We're in a little different format today, so hope you enjoy that. But this is an enhanced podcast where we interview architects, engineers, and contractors and find out their why and their story. Let's jump to the intro. Welcome to Enhance, an AEC podcast, where we learn the why behind AEC professionals so that you can learn your why. Hey Shanti, welcome to the Enhanced Podcast today. Hi Andy, I'm glad to be here and thank you for having me today. Yeah, it's a pleasure. So I've got just a couple of questions just to break the ice a little bit and start us off. So first of all, um you know, we we were just looking at your background a little bit and it says you really like to be a morning person. So what is your ideal what is your ideal morning look like? So I'm a morning person, so my brain starts fighting to up. But sadly enough, with the work that I'm doing today, uh my day right now, I'm in New York. It starts at 6.30 for my very first call. The morning routines are, you know, they change a lot. ah But before, when I was really a morning person, my morning would be to, know, cordon off like an hour and a half, focus on things that are super important. and also get my workout in right away. So I would frame my day around, want to accomplish this today or some product things that are running in the back of my mind. I try to bring that out and solve a lot of those very early in the day and then go do my workout and that kind of settles what I've been thinking on um and then come back to picking up my daily rhythm. But nowadays, um my morning starts with the first call at 6.30. So it's a little bit different. Yeah, and you're you're quartered you're headquartered in New York City, you said? No, I'm right now in New York City, but it's out of California, in Los Angeles. Okay, so because of the time shift you have to start 'cause it would be I mean that's already nine thirty Eastern time, basically, right? Yeah, so So now I start at 6.30 because I work with my engineering team is based out of India. So to work with them I start early in the morning. Yeah, okay. Well that makes sense. So yeah, because uh any later and they're they're ready to go home and go to bed, right? So um The biggest change with this company is it changes, the rhythm changes, but I still like to adhere to a morning pattern which I will fall back into when I go back to LA. Yeah, okay. Well very good, very good. And so you like to work out, do you like more at uh cardio or do you like more working out like with weights? um I do, I run so that's something that I really enjoy so it's usually long and short runs you know mixed in in the week so Saturday is usually a definitely a long run day so as and stay out and keep running that's kind of the motto. So But other than that weight, because it's important to keep your muscles up as well. So I do have a trainer who takes me through that. just show up and it's up to him to take me through it. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, I I enjoy I enjoy running. It's it's uh I like that dopamine hit, you know. That's what I look for. It's free it's free drugs basically. It is, it is. That understanding. so real. So well and you mentioned, you know, things change with business, uh and sometimes you're just trying to go along for the ride, so to speak. But with being an entrepreneur, that's part of that's part of it, right? is target taking risks and what is the scariest risk that you've taken while building your business with line art? with Linarc. um This is my third company. you kind of understand the part for the course with these uh when you start a company. um The biggest risk in one was, know, which I did mitigate early on is to really it's a complex industry trying to have a statement like I'm building a platform for the industry that is the biggest risk. because we cover a lot of ground in the platform and we've taken the time to build it. But when I first said it, that was probably one of the first statements I had that turned down as my vision for this. uh That was a big statement to make and uh it's taken its time to play out and come together really well. But that I think was both the opportunity and the risk. Yeah. Yeah. So that's a big statement that to say that you have a platform that serves the the construction industry basically. That's a big statement to digest. right. So yeah. So what what um do you feel like you're fulfilling that statement? It's work in progress and we are fulfilling it to a very large extent today and also building on top of what we have. that's still the um vision and mission. uh And instead of saying it for the entire industry, we are now more more segmenting it towards a subset of the entire industry. More like we target a lot of smaller contractors, more like companies that have 150 or less employees. That's where we are looking at. So the larger companies, cetera, that's not in our view frame at this moment. Okay, is there a reason why you think you can help the smaller contractors right now more? um Yeah, a couple of reasons. They're still underserved by the m industry when you look at some stats and data, which my marketing team always gives me. But you know, in this large 10 plus trillion global industry, still bulk of contractors fall in this space, m having, you know, somewhere between 20 to 50 employees in the team. So that is the largest market segment as well. And the higher the bigger companies, the ANR, m 400 plus all of those They're taken up by bigger players who are chasing them. So it gives us a wide open space where our platform mindset uh as well as the wide scope of what we offer play very naturally well. um we're all with a lot of onboarding support, everything that caters to smaller companies that don't have a big team to maintain a system. So our motto is zero administration and we stand by it. Once you're onboarded, The only time you need to come in to administering your hiring an employee or know buying a piece of equipment otherwise it runs seamlessly behind for you. Okay. And what so y this you're the entrepreneur, you're the lead of of Linark. Yeah. And what is this software? What is this a platform exactly? Yeah. So um it's a full life cycle construction management platform. It um covers from big to close out. That's an easy way for people to understand. It covers everything in between, whether it's documents or schedules or m managing your budget or field work, quality, as well as what happens on the field, from work completion to images coming in, all of that. um All of that is covered in the platform. ah But also the biggest um differentiation I would say is we don't take a company perspective. What I mean by that is project is the core of uh how data is collated in Enaut. So what that means is um GC owner, SC architect, all of them are um sharing the same data fabric and they get views of the data as they need. the rules within the engine permits them to do the actions that they are supposed to do. So that's how the core architecture is. What that means is like, you know, data can seamlessly flow from, you know, four men on a field updating a progress on a line item can traverse all the way to telling the GC how the project is moving. So And what's what's the impact of that? The impact first is, mean, um if you see um very less data having to be moved from one system to the other, everything is connected in one system and workflows become very natural. So um if a progress update doesn't happen, it can trigger something for the GC to look at, take action and the same thing for the... subcontractor as well, right? If I didn't get my payments on time or my schedule is lagging or my procurement has not happened, all of those connect into saying how the project is performing. So if you're an owner uh or a general contractor or a subcontractor, a connected fabric means um you get to have um workflows that go easily throughout the system. So even for the subcontractor, right, um you don't have to have time card in a different system. uh looking at cost codes that sitting in your accounting system, you know, uh how do you connect those, right? In Lennar, all of those are connected uh easily. So we pull from your accounting system, set it up for you, it's connected to the work that is being planned, and that's what time is recorded again. So when you push it upwards, and that's connected to your budget. So suddenly knowing somebody worked 10 hours on this particular task, literally means you know the cost of it versus what you budgeted for it. Hm. Yeah. So being able to manage the finances, the project, the data, this does it all. Yeah, it does it all. You don't have to. I mean, we have heard so many customers tell us, oh, you pull this from QuickBooks or, you know, some other software, recording software they use. We pull it into Excel. We upload from this system. And then just now we finished a demo call yesterday where this was the exact scenario. We're pulling from three books, we're pulling from another, I won't the system, and then we're putting it in Excel, we're trying to print that report out. And their question was, do you have a report like this? All I had to do was open the screen and say, is this the report? Why? Because all the data is connected. For us, building a report is super easy, and we let the customers do it. We have like 100 plus reports in our system. And then if you want, If you have a report that doesn't fit this, open the screen and build it. It takes like, you know, five minutes to do that. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, it sounds really helpful. I mean, and I think we're in a place in construction and correct me if you disagree, but I think we're in a place in construction where pretty much all construction businesses, from what I can tell, are using some kind of project management construction platform. would you agree with that? Yes and no. Large percentage of them are using even from when we first, when I first started about eight years ago, um I would walk into a field and then somebody was asking me, oh, when I asked them like, what is your network connectivity? How do you like send your data across? They were like, why? I the phone and talked to my PM, right? I mean that's all I I started learning, like that was my motivation to like, how could you, how could you function like that to now where everybody's using something. um But it's not a fully connected project management system. That's where they might be using something for estimation or they might be using something for their time card um or they might rely on their accounting system for their financial needs, but um not all the time. project management system. That's where we are seeing Excel might still be their project management system, you know. So just keep doing that. th to them they're using something and to them the phone is their project management. Yeah. was before, like eight plus years ago, right? That's not the case anymore. We never hear that from even companies that are starting out. have oh companies that are just, you know, they just put their name board up and one project uh and they are like, hey, can you start with your system? That is the power of our system. You can start small just as you're starting out and you can grow into our platform as the scope increases of what you need. Yeah, and I think yeah, I mean may maybe par part of that is uh you're getting your name out there and I think also people are starting to feel more comfortable with these different platforms that are available. wha what do you think the biggest or maybe it's the age of the entrepreneurs that are coming out, but what do you think the and reason for the adoption of of a project management software, the growth there is? Yeah. Yeah, that's an interesting one. um I think the biggest thing is awareness. um More more contractors are very aware um that there are systems out there and their peers are using it too. So you'll end up going to a conference, you you hear all the peers saying that, you know, they are using something. And if you are on a project, the higher probability of um other subcontractors on the system using it is high. um Some system or the other they're using. So then it points to something. not there in your company. ah So you go back and think about it and then you start researching and then you start looking at what you should consider. So I think it's the overall awareness that's gone up. There's a lot to be said about different technology companies coming in, calling a whole bunch of contractors and telling them they should consider a system. So that's also created a lot of awareness um and the value that it provides. I think um as a lot of companies are having more professional management or younger people coming in for management, all of that is happening. All of these are coming together to create this impetus to, hey, let's get a system going. And a lot of controls that you thought you had. I have spoken to contractors where, you know, even bigger companies where they didn't realize, you know, that the controls they thought they had was not, you know, providing the... a cover and the backup that they need. They were losing money, not just because projects were run poorly, it's because the company was not managed properly. I've heard a lot of stories like that. So when you simply point them out, if you had a system that tracks these two things and tells you um the fact that um you're spending more than you should, and it at least points you to certain areas that you can start looking at. you are on top of ah what should be done. So that is also happening. um When people look at controls um and realize that there's a lot of gaps there, all of this are solved by project management systems. Yeah. Okay. So what what is your background and how did you get into this software? So I come from a technology background. Prior to this, had built and exited two product companies. So that's kind of my strength. So when I started looking at this industry, came by way of two different angles. After my last company was sold, I had taken some. time off, my daughter was young, know, um I had the pleasure of devoting all my time to her for a while before I started looking at um what to do next and I was working on some hardware piece about network connectivity on the field and things like that and I started meeting. uh Construction seems like a natural fit for a tool like that at that time and when I started talking to contractors that's why one of them said we just pick up the phone and talk you know. Well it made me realize uh the need really is for a software and I started just digging. uh But construction is always a very fascinating field okay. There are architects and engineers like who drops something and then people are able to build it out of just those blueprints that they get on the site, right? It's always fascinating to see how that conversion happens. So uh in the early days, I had a hard hat and a boot and I visited a lot of sites and, you know, spent some time talking to contractors on the field. know, the foreman, the guys working on the field, and that's how I got more more interested in, you know, how the process happens. um It still took me about, I don't know, probably three years to comfortable enough to say I'm going to build something for this industry. um Because there's a lot going on, um I would talk to one contractor and think that I understand it and talk to another contractor. Their processes are very different, you know. So for the same thing, I remember talking to like five concrete contractors, one after the other, with copious notes and still couldn't find common ground immediately, you know. So because that's how different um they approach the problem and how their internal processes work. So that's the challenge, uh as well as, you know, um it got me excited. um And at some point, I started to prototype and get to think of building a platform. Yeah. Was there a was there a light bulb moment, a watershed moment when you decided you were gonna go forward with this or was it more progressive? A little bit progressive because the more comfortable I got with understanding um the language and contractors by themselves. by the way, found them, it was something different. I wasn't exposed to that many contractors before. But then when I started getting, um talking to a lot of them, um I found the process itself very pleasant. Most of them were very open, willing to talk to someone who was still learning, right? mean, half the time I probably said things that were you know, uh make you pause. But that was one thing that ah was very very something that I really enjoyed. um I think over a period of time I started getting very very comfortable with what I wanted to what I thought was I wanted to build and that's what once I had uh one prototype I showed it to one contractor he said he was he liked what he saw um and he said yeah if you build this out maybe I would instead of buying it. So that was kind of the tipping moment for me to think, okay, I seem to be on the right path with pursuing and see where I can take this. And the rest of it is because I'm used to even in my previous product company, um was a couple of ideas and visions that came together to build out a big platform. So um that was one of my core strengths. So I was very comfortable once I crossed a threshold that I would be able to do this. Yeah. And um I'm intrigued by your, you know, willingness and tenacity to go, you know, to the job sites and just talk to people. So there's a couple layers there. obviously being a lady in the construction field is is a challenge I imagine. and you know, culturally that could be a challenge. So uh did Can you speak to that? I mean it takes takes some um courage to to do what you did, so can you speak to that? um When I think about it like that, yeah, don't like what you're saying, but I don't think I was thinking about it like that at all. was something that I wanted to do, ah and the only way to get over that is to really understand what's going on. the only way to do that is to visit the site, and that's why I said I was pleasantly surprised. There were some sites where they said, sorry, you can't come in. It's just not allowed, whatever. But there were a lot of sites which were like, because I had a hard-hat and boots with me, they were like, okay, what do want to do? It's not like could visit the entire site area, but they were willing to, you know, sit down and talk to me. um And in some, would just walk in and say they would be very busy then say, hey, can I bring donuts tomorrow? And would you be willing to give me 10 minutes? So um I think um I didn't find that, find a lot of resistance when I went and spoke to people. They were willing to talk um and um they were pleasant about it, those two things. And I didn't see a lot of pushback in just talking. I was not there working with them or, uh you know, um on the field as part of the team, but more like an outsider coming in out of curiosity. I think the longer I maintained the curiosity mindset, um was, most of them were welcoming enough to answer. ah And I don't think I was... Yeah. afraid or thought about it as me being a woman in this really big um you know world of men I didn't think about it like that. I remember I come from tech that's a very natural mindset. To succeed in tech you have to be more than Right. Well, um that's encouraging in a in a couple of different ways and uh t to just get out there, y you know, the worst thing that they could say is no, right? And yeah. And they did a few times, but I mean, you know, you were able to to get out there and and get some data, get some information that helps you build this uh software where we're yeah to really solve problems. Do you still do that or do you mostly get your information from current customers? Yeah. um Yeah, current and prospects, you know, we do a lot of customer demos, right? And a lot of them are recorded. So just listening to that um gives me, which I continuously do um as my AEs, you know, take on calls, everything is recorded and time and again, I would listen. And they're also very good at pointing out, I heard something in this demo that the customer wanted. I didn't know how to answer it, right? All of those points towards something that we should address. So. Both of those help existing customers telling us what they want as well as all the demo calls. And sometimes I still um like it if a site would let me, um I would still just walk in to see what is happening. um That is something, uh not doing it as much as I should, but I do do that. Yeah. Awesome. Um so Madeline and I, the producer, were talking a little bit before the show about, you know, what what is Linark and what does it help do? And communication, the word communication came up, which I think this program helps do some, but what do you think the key to communication is? So are we talking in the context of construction or um is it a general? l I left it open ended for you. Okay. Yeah, so um so um keep communication, um I um do things, um you coming in with the clarity of, know, um what you want to communicate um and keeping it open for the other side to, you know, uh express what they want to communicate, know, listening on both sides. That is essentially the um key to it. And, um and it gets better if you can, you know, come to a point of where you do listen. um and can take it into um what you're trying to do. Whether it be personal or at work, um that's the essence of my entire system. If you see the platform that's built, um and it does meet a lot of people's um requirements, it's because of the simple thing that I could listen. take it back with me and then sit with it and understand what you are trying to say, communicate to me and convert that into a system. So ah that's what is the power of being able to communicate is two things. Listening, which is very, very anchoring to that and then sitting on what you listened and being able to convert that into something meaningful afterwards. Yeah. And do you feel like the software kind of tying it to the software, do you feel like that helps with that communication between the different parties involved in the construction? Yeah. Yeah, m definitely um construction processes in the beginning it's all things that have been set up for the field gets pushed to them but after that, know, everything that happens on the field needs to be um pushed back to people sitting in the office so they know what's going on. um So when a system facilitates both sides um just as easily and effortlessly for the people involved, um then they're able to go about their daily work and let the recording happen um easily. And the system can in turn now interpret. That's the same part about listening and converting it into something meaningful. um That's the essence of what m a system can do. And that's what LINARC also does. Whether it be the plan sheet or the schedule or the budget, everything that's set up, then how does it convert into meaningful information for the fee. and bringing it to an extent where the field can use it. You know, don't have to dump all this data on them, right? ah So at the same time, what if the field is working on, how do you make it super easy for them to record that and connect it to the existing data so you can draw meaning out of it. yeah, communication, how you communicate is... um and what the system can communicate to both sets of people is very important. um And keeping it all on the same plane, it's the same project that everybody is talking about, whether it's electrical or the mechanical or the GC or the owner, we are all talking about the same project. um So we should be able to weave the data that is flowing properly and present uh it in a way that it makes sense to the other side. Yeah. Yeah. What what would you say to somebody who's still using the phone as a tool for project management? I mean you c I so it's like Excel, okay? Get rid of Excel all that easily. so if that is your comfort zone right um I would simply ask the question why that is your comfort zone why do you think you can't because we have the same data running on the phone so instead of picking up the phone and talking why can't you open this screen and just look at it and you know get what you want m I would look at it as why are you doing this what is missing what has made it difficult for you to do that so it's a question that my um you know um creative director needs to answer. um Why are the people in the field not uh using the app? What did we miss? Yeah. I mean you could still use the phone, right? And You want to talk about something else, please feel free to text or talk, do all of that. uh But I'm like today, I don't know how many people even uh talk on the phone. mean, we do. oh do zooms because we have to, but otherwise the primary mode? Yeah. Yeah, I mean it it's definitely gone down a lot, but I mean I definitely think picking up the phone it helps uh you know, especially in certain situations or you know, speaking of communication, um I heard it I heard it said once, you know, uh f a conversation is for communication and emails and things are for documentation. So like this this program to me is exactly that. It's a documentation. It's pr I mean it's definitely project management. You can communicate, you can say uh what's going on, you know, for example, scheduling and who's in the f who's on the field to text or call and say who's gonna work on this project tomorrow or something like that, that's kind of a waste of time when you could just pick up the app, right? And look at it. So um let's save time where we can and pick up the phone when we need to is probably What how I would adopt a program like this, you know? Yeah, definitely. um definitely you can. think construction is still a people industry because you're on the field, you have so many uh people there. It's not like um you're going to text someone who's like, uh So that conversation is natural on the field. ah But when it comes to, you know, office, what's going on, if you want something from the office, it might make sense just to use the app and, you know, drop a note and wait for the response to come back. Unless, of course, it's crucial, critical, it be answered now, right? So um I think it more aligns with like I'm here, my entire team is wherever they are, use Slack and uh Zoom to do all the work we do, right? And uh so it works to some extent. I mean, it works to a large extent, but there are instances where you must have a meeting, you must meet people face to face and get things oh addressed. Yeah, it can definitely help save time i in the right context. So Yeah. so what is next for Linark? What what is the next big thing that that you have on the horizon? um I mean, um the platform is expanding. We have that whole, you know, depth into various parts of the product that's happening. But the next big thing, of course, is we have, you know, we building in AI um adoption within the platform completely. So that work is um going on. That's something um It's kinda of like one of those where if you don't, lots and lots of contractors are using AI today, okay? Whether it's there in a system or not, they are still experimenting with it. um you know, look, when you think of the issues of, you know, data security, all of that, right? It makes sense for a platform like Linark to offer a very comprehensive solution for that as well. So that's the next um big thing um that we are working on. And as... um slightly um different, um I won't call it approach or anything, but a different way in which we are putting it all together. um One thing about that is um we call it as augmented process right now in the sense, even though we can automate it, we let a human see and click a button to say, move this forward. We have a whole bunch of AI agents, um but a lot of it surfaces the information for the... Does the background work and surface as the information for the human to review and say, this is good, just uh take it forward? Simple example is AI agent can answer your RFI from all the data that is existing in the project right now. then ah you can, um whoever is supposed to answer will look at it and say, yeah, it's good, let's move it forward. So that's one thing that's a little bit different. um And uh even though we do have a chatbot like interface, are working a lot on creating a whole um list of prompts that make sense um for different user roles and different types of projects. You don't have to type anything, just click one of those. uh do the AI agent will pull the data and even trigger some processes for you. So those are two things that are slightly different, which is really geared towards companies that are already overworked with the limited amount of time. You don't want the PM thinking about how do I prompt this, right? um And even though AI is getting a lot better. If you don't prompt it the right way, uh what you get back uh could be very different responses. So that's why we are working on creating a whole big list of prompts that covers a whole bunch of things that the different user personas would need. Yeah, it de definitely sounds like you're embracing AI and even you're not just staying stagnant in twenty twenty six and beyond. Um no I don't think it's I don't think we anyone can afford to do that at this point. Yeah. That contractors, LPM is just paying 20 bucks to one of these companies and you know, they're putting data in there and trying to, you know, make their lives simple, right? So that's what they're doing with it. So if we don't adopt AI and bring it meaningfully, right? That's the most important thing. But you must be experiencing that in your work as well, right, Andy? of course, yeah. I mean you have to you have to embrace it, you have to understand it. And there's so many different angles of AI that we're all trying to figure it out. I mean, and then not to mention the fact that it's changing every single day. and it's like, okay, you know, chat GPT Astra, you know, and that's out now and it seems like the modeling and in my world that's a big deal, you know, modeling and three D three D aspects, so not to mention of course Claude and all it's doing, but um but just AI in general as well. And uh but it's exciting to see it's always exciting to see what's next. So Yeah, it's always exciting to see what is next. um And this one, the way it's come out, um I think they made it very accessible from the get-go. there was um something really good that RGPT did by just putting it out. um So more more people got comfortable before it a um formal technology that people can use. Yeah, definitely. Um so, you are the winner of a of a pretty significant award, twenty twenty four International Women's Entrepreneur Award. Congratulations on that. Well thank you. And um yeah, I mean as as if I were somebody who wanted to be an entrepreneur in the tech industry, particularly a woman, what what advice would you have? um I um think if you take on something that you really enjoy doing, then it becomes natural for you to persist with it and go through all the challenges and come out of it strongly. that's probably the first thing I would say. Pick something that you really enjoy building. Can be tech or in your case, buildings. So it has to be something that you're passionate about. So um for me, life is a blend of work and living. it's never work and never life. It's so very, very blended. um And I'm able to do that because I really, really enjoy what I do. And it lets me put in the hours as needed. And when things are down, you still can lift yourself because the work itself is not something that I don't like. That's the first thing I would say, um be passionate about what you do. uh That's going to come out in everything, the way you talk about it, the way you um approach the problems that you face. Your employees will feel it and they'll go the extra distance for you. So if you have the passion, a lot of things become, for what you're doing, it becomes easier. And then um the um next thing is, you know, knowing what you're good at and knowing what you need from your team. You know, that's the next big thing. So if you have a good team that complements a lot of um your skills, then you know, ah over time you can start, you know, focusing on what you are good at and developing a team that carries the rest of the load of building a company. So it's very, very different from when I started this with just me prototyping, um you know, with small tools and, you know, trying to understand, right? Now our organization is also very big and... uh you are able to do that only because you have good talent. People who are willing to walk with you. How do you how do you know when you have good talent or not? Um it's um I think more and it's an art rather than a science at all. uh Sometimes, uh of course, we have a very formal process. We go through it. Like any other um company that's recruiting, of course, we use a lot of tools, AI, all of that to do all of that. That's science part. But at the end of the day, are you the right fit, right? uh Is something... you learn through talking to them enough uh to understand their motivation, why are they joining your company versus another company, uh you know, and what makes them take, um what do they do when they're presented with a huge challenge. So when you talk through all of those, if you have met all the qualifications, then the final gate is always with me, I um talk to them to understand um where their mind is at and what their lifestyle is also like, you know. Sometimes as, ah you know, yes, I would still categorize us as a really small company when compared to the other giants in the industry. ah Sometimes we are just under pressure. have three customers coming in for whom we have promised four features. None of all of this are going through built now. That means my ah engineering team is working, you know, ah backwards to accommodate that. ah So. Do you have the bandwidth to do that uh is something, it's more a mental bandwidth. So we talk through all of those. So that part is the art of really figuring out are you the right fit. So. Yeah. Yeah, that's a that's a challenge and and actually I think your contractors can relate to that challenge, right? Because you know, they're hiring all obviously and they're and I'm I'm in the same boat too because we want to please everybody. Right. We want all we want all the work and we want to be able to say, Yeah, we can handle that. Uh And sometimes you have to push your your envelope a little bit and you have to work a little bit later to meet that 'cause it might be a nice job or a nice client or the one that's always a challenge for me, and you could probably relate to this too, is you probably have some clients that are a little bigger than others, a little more and you definitely want to or maybe they've been there not necessarily the biggest, but they've been there a long time. So you if they come to you and say, Hey, I I need you to do this, you can't just say no. I mean and I r I rarely tell people no, um, but I will tell them maybe it's gonna take a little bit longer than what you would like, you know. And that that's always a challenge too.'Cause in in the construction industry everything is yesterday. I need it yesterday. Yeah, we needed it yesterday, yeah. Um that kind how it is for my engineering team as well, especially when the sales guys are doing some motion and they say, can you do it? So my first question is how will I do this client? If it is, then it becomes so much on the top of can we get this through? um So while the engineering team is facing a lot such requests that comes in, same thing with the sales team. The push and the pressure is there all around the company as we are growing. um So finding the right person who is willing to do what it takes to get the job done is the bigger challenge and that is not just about their skill set. Yeah. Yeah. as far as construction at large, we talked about what's next for L Linark, but construction at large and construction management software, do you see any any changes coming that are going to be significant? um I think this AI wave is going to go um throughout the industry, um whether um the company management, contractor management, they are looking at it from the perspective of we need to have a say in before every PM puts 20 bucks down and uses AI. So that's going to be a sweeping impact throughout the system. But most of this is now sitting in the office and little bit on the mobile apps as well. But I think um the industry as such, I think it's probably at a point where we'll see more. um I think I said this for maybe two plus years ago as well, that we'll see a lot of machines come in that are, know, robotics, et cetera, that are going to um change how field work happens. um mean, I think um the possibilities are really high for those and there are lot of interesting technologies coming there as well. So that means literally how construction management, software that is sitting out here, they all have to rethink too. So it's not some human clicking and doing something. Which of these works are going to become completely machine dependent, right? So um that's going to have a different impact on how work gets done. So that's going to be an interesting thing to adopt and uh see how the software can still provide good data for what's going on in the field. Yeah, and I mean that could be something where do you see that as something that would impact your software? I mean Yeah, because if a lot of your, um I mean today it's already there by way of telematics and a lot of equipment and all of that, right. You don't need to tell about how long did this machine run and you know, what did it do, etc. A lot of that is captured, right. So, and a software like ours where we do uh provide this kind of data. Yeah. ask the foreman to re-enter that. I mean, it just doesn't make sense, right? So when you extend that um analogy forward, um as some part of the field work is being done by um those kind of machine-driven processes, then we need to be able to connect to it and get the data of what was done, rather than having the foreman or someone on the field come and tell us, yeah, we did this today, you know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And and another one too would be the the three D data, you know, um such as scanning equipment. I mean I was at it seems like now, you know, I was at a job site recently and the foreman said or I guess he was a project manager, he said, you know, my one of my roles throughout the day is to go through the job site and scan the whole site with the with the scanner. So Bigger companies are already doing that today. um I've seen that um 3D scanning and trying to fit it back into the model for the as-built, et cetera, and to pop out issues. That part is something um I think bigger companies and bigger projects are doing that. um I I've also seen that happen in some of the construction sites I've been on. I've already seen that m walking around taking the 3D pictures, so scanning happening. I mean it depends on the size of the company and the size of the project where it is still expensive endeavor today. Yeah, that's true. It sounds like a lot of exciting things are happening in the construction industry and and with your company as well. So one of the things that we like to get into though is just, you know, we this is called the enhanced podcast. We like to find out how how you're enhancing the world around you. what what is it that you're doing to enhance the world around you? Yeah. Well, that's a good question. So some practices have been lifelong for me, um you know. um One thing is I don't like waste. uh it's kind of a culture I grew up in to know every day get out into the New York states, I see no stacks of waste. So we are just I'm just used to not creating that much of waste. That's something um I think which is um Just a habit, that's the way I grew up and I still keep that. um That's one thing, whether it be in, know, like even clothes I wear or whatever, you know, it's basically um recycling all uh those kinds of things that helps our environment, et cetera. um That's more like a, um that one as well as, you know, a few things like, um I had two dogs, they have moved on, know, um animal welfare is something um that I'm very, very committed to. um I've been a vegetarian my whole life, so that goes without saying. then uh contributing to, you know, animal charities is something that I do quite a bit. And of course, um women's causes, I um all the way, I used to live in the Bay Area a long time now, too. LA as well, um there isn't. enough work that you could do that could mitigate the challenges that uh women face. um So especially if you're um not economically sound as well. um that's something um that's part of something that I do every now and then, whether it be just monetary or time contributions, that works fits into my uh daily life. Well, I'm sure that a lot of women definitely look up to you and and what you've accomplished, so that's definitely something to be proud of, Janti. do you mind if I ask where where you are from? I'm from India. Wh which part though? of India? South India. Okay. yeah, I was just curious. I do have s some connections to various parts of India through community here that I'm in and then also uh some some of our engineers are there, but I was just curious. So but thanks for sharing that. I do have a friend that is from the uh southern part of India, Hyderabad area. Is that Yeah. Well, it is in South India. um I um have not been to Hyderabad, but I have employees from Hyderabad. They super far or anything. Yeah. Fair enough. Well, um was there anything else that you wanted to share with the uh enhanced podcast today? uh Yeah, no, it's been a wonderful talking to you and you enjoyed this conversation, you know, getting to know us little about you more about me. You do and I think the messages, you know, if you're a contractor and looking for a solution, right, that is um we are a good fit. um So and it's For me, it's like a work of passion that uh I want to deliver a very meaningful solution to contractors. That's what drives me and most of my team members too. So um I want to uh stop with that note uh as a message to your listeners too. Yeah. Do you have any engineers or architects that use this for their s project management or is it just c construction? Only in the build process, as the construction process is going on, architects are part of a platform for um answering RFIs or looking at issues or, know, um looking at pay apps, um submitters, uh even uploading plan sheets and being part of that in the big time if you want to discuss something, all of those are part of the platform. So, yes, you could be using our platform from that. um Yeah. Yeah, exactly. oh Yeah, so my daughter is the producer, Madeline, and she was asking me earlier today, uh during the preview, what if if contractors ever have questions for the engineers, you know, during the construction. And I said yeah all the time. So uh those are called RFIs, right? Requests for information. So uh You I shared I shared that acronym with her. Most people that are listening to the show would know what an RFI is, but but yeah, RFI they they come in quite a bit, right? Our platform is where they could ask it and it will come to you if it was meant for you uh and you could just answer it and then forget about it because the system moves it along. Yeah, and I was telling her, you know, like the nice thing is it'll have, you know, an in it it's in your court uh or assigned to you. So it Exactly. And if it's assigned to me, for example, then I'm holding up the whole job, right? Yeah. And the T will know that the engineer is holding up for the progress. Yeah, you'll know that, yes. Yeah, so guess what I'm gonna get? I'm gonna get one of those phone calls we were talking about earlier. Yeah. Talking to him, I have as an advisor to CFO of a large company. That's what so when I was asking, why do you even pick up the phone and talk? I was not sent me their pay apps yet. I pick up the phone. So I said why would you not just, you know, send them a message or let the system alert them that they haven't done it. No, it's never as effective as me picking up the phone and... No. So I guess that's what the G C is going to do to you. you don't answer it, don't die. Yeah, old school. That's a old school mentality, right? But I think it is helpful, but I will say and I haven't had a contractor use Lenark yet, but maybe that'll happen soon. But I have had other programs, construction management programs, but they will uh th this is my this is like a pet peeve of mine actually, is the contractor will put it in put an RFI or a submittal or whatever into the program and we know all the programs, right? Yeah, in all the programs, yeah. So I won't say it today. But uh but they'll put it into the program and immediately they'll either email the exact same question or call about the exact same question. And to me that's I get I get the mentality of pick up the phone or email, but why not like your to your point, why not let let give us a little bit of time to digest it and perhaps we'll respond to it quickly. uh I don't know, that's just a pet peeve. I don't know you have any feedback or any advice for that. Yeah, so we track one piece of data that can put the contractors mind at ease, oh which is uh your login, like how often you're on the system. So if you're someone who's never on the system, in fact, we do it automatically. We know you're never on the system, so we send you an email. So if you know you're someone who's on the system a lot, then the email is just overkill, right? oh That's what it means by to understand the user. So for me, uh in fact, I forbid any of my employees from emailing me. I'm on Slack. 80 % of whatever you want is something I can answer very quickly in Slack. And in Slack, if I want somebody else to come into it, I bring in and we talk in real time and it's resolved. So I don't want emails. So we've heard that a lot. So no. If you don't want an email at all, have two levels of control. This intelligence is there in the system. The other one is you can type out the and then send it to you. I can't stop, but we can tell them as well that we tell that this what we do. We know that this person is on the system, so we have taken care of it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, you can't y y you just have to roll with it though, you know and and I think you just put a filter on top of it and then you move it aside and get to it when your work when you plan to do it. Yeah Yeah, very good. Well Shanti, it was a pleasure having you on today. I just really uh enjoyed learning about your program, Lane Lynark, and um also just an inspiration, what you've done to grow this business. Uh how do people find you? um My LinkedIn is there, uh just you know, LinkedIn slash you my name um that you should be able to find it. um Shanti Rajan, should be able to find it. Or um go to linark.com, that's our website. um Or my email, shanti at linark.com. Any questions? Yeah. S-H-A-N-T-H-I. And at Lynark at L-I-N-A-R-C dot com. So you can reach out to her on LinkedIn or her email, uh which she will check that email. No, that's why since no employee emails me, I ca I do look at all my emails. Yeah, I'm the same way. I'm like, look, we have Slack for internal, so but yeah, she'll check your email though,'cause you're external. So um thanks everybody and uh thanks Shanti. Take care. God bless. Thank you, Wendy. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to today's episode of Enhance. And please leave a like, a subscribe, or follow, and we'll see you next time.