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Five Questions With Suffolk Technologies' Community Manager Carly Joos

Writer's picture: Randall WoodsRandall Woods

With the world’s construction companies erecting the equivalent of a new Manhattan every month, technologies that can increase efficiencies and reduce carbon emissions are increasingly important. Suffolk Technologies, the venture capital affiliate of Suffolk Construction, is creating conditions for these innovations to thrive as it invests in startups, leveraging bleeding-edge tools, including AI, data analytics, and generative design, to drive productivity and sustainability in the built world.


In this Q&A, Suffolk Technologies' Community Manager Carly Joos shares her perspective on the firm's role in this evolution. She discusses what drew her to this position, how she facilitates connections across Suffolk's industry network and the technologies that starred in BOOST 5 Demo Day on November 6, part of a larger Boston Built Week.


Startup Boston (SB): You’ve had an impressive and diverse career, so I’m curious about what attracted you to your current role at Suffolk Technologies.

Carly Joos (CJ): That's a great question. I got my MBA at the University of Vermont, which is a program that really focuses on business through the lens of sustainability, and how we can use and harness business as a force for good. That’s when I started to really consider venture capital as a potential career path for myself.


As I was preparing to graduate, I was very much focused on getting a role within the startup support ecosystem, looking at VCs, accelerators, and incubators. It was actually through my work at the Cleantech Open accelerator that I was introduced to the Suffolk Technologies team. And ultimately, my dream was to land a role at a venture capital firm. My entire career, I've been really focused on building community in various ways, whether through customer success, sales or partnerships. So I think all the puzzle pieces just fit together for this role in particular.


SB: Can you walk me through what it means to be a community manager at Suffolk Technologies?

CJ: Suffolk Technologies is affiliated with Suffolk Construction, which is a large general contractor. There's a natural ecosystem of folks, whether it's trade partners we work with on job sites, or clients like building owners and developers, who are all impacted by things like supply chain issues and rising costs, but also very much impacted by innovation.


So in my role as a community manager, I really think about the natural connection points and how we create connections between all of these folks – whether it's between a startup founder and a potential customer or channel partner, or leveraging our network of 36 industry operating partners across the U.S. and internationally. It's a lot about marketing, communications, partnerships, and business development on behalf of both the fund and our startups.


SB: Changing gears a little bit, what can you tell me about Boost 5 Demo Day – what kind of companies presented, and was the overall objective to help them land funding, or expand their network?

CJ: This year's Boost Demo Day was particularly special as it marked the fifth anniversary of the program; this was a milestone for us.


The five companies in this year's Boost program are all working on built-world technologies. We had everything ranging from generative design tools for structural engineers, to an ERP-like platform purpose-built for architects and engineering firms, to technologies enabling embodied carbon management and construction data analytics.


A lot of these startups are leveraging AI and data-driven solutions to drive productivity and sustainability improvements across the construction industry. For example, one company called Genia is using generative AI to auto-generate physically valid structural drawings from floor plans. Another, called Kroo, is aggregating data from different construction systems to provide better project insights and visualizations.


The diversity of technologies and applications we're seeing in the built world space is really exciting and a big focus area for us at Suffolk Technologies.


It’s also worth noting that we hosted the inaugural “Boston Built Week” in tandem with Demo Day. Suffolk and Suffolk Technologies are excited to make Boston a hotbed for built-world innovation. This is something we’re very excited to grow next year and have more and more people and organizations involved, including local universities, architecture, and engineering firms, and more participate in a city-wide celebration of built world innovation.


SB: I heard a lot about AI in what you were describing. How big of a role is AI playing in what you're doing at Suffolk Technologies?

CJ: AI is huge, especially with the startups we're seeing. To give you a sense of the scale – last year, over 40% of the 200-plus applications we received for our Boost program indicated they were using some form of AI in their product. This year, that number was over 92% of the roughly 200 applications.


Now, you do have to dig a little to see what's truly AI versus just being marketed as AI. But it's definitely something we're seeing a lot of in this industry. And it has huge potential to drive productivity and innovation in construction.


That said, one of the biggest things we focus on is building trust in how these AI technologies are implemented. Reassuring people that it's not going to replace their jobs or mishandle data is crucial. There's a lot of opportunity with AI, but also a need to be thoughtful about the processes and applications.


SB: Looking forward to 2025, is there anything you'd like to highlight or that's on your radar?

CJ: We'll definitely be doing another Boost program next year. That's something we're always looking to expand and improve upon on an ongoing basis. I'm not sure of the exact changes yet, but it's always a focus for us.


In addition to the accelerator, we also do a lot of thematic events through Suffolk Technologies. Going forward, we'll likely be honing in on some new themes for these events.

One area we're particularly interested in is exploring infrastructure technologies. As the built world continues to rapidly expand – with the equivalent of a new Manhattan being built globally each month – ensuring the grid and other infrastructure can support this growth will be crucial.


So we'll be diving deeper not only into construction tech and prop tech solutions but also looking at ways to make infrastructure such as the grid or sewer systems more resilient and ready to handle the build-out happening over the next few years. There are a lot of interesting challenges and opportunities in that space that we're eager to explore further.


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About the author: Randall Woods is a former editor at Bloomberg News and currently is a Senior Vice President at SBS Comms, a communications agency for technology companies and startups.



2 Comments


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aincynical
Nov 27, 2024

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