Founder Note

Hey friends, Smart buildings are created by long-term programs, not individual technologies or projects. But in our interviews with 50+ smart buildings technology buyers, we uncovered an inconvenient insight that is holding back our industry: 

University of California, Irvine (UCI) is a 36,000-student, 224-degree public university in Irvine, California. UCI has partnered with Altura Associates, an engineering advisor and trusted master systems integrator (MSI). Since 2016, these two entities have been collaborating on a campus-wide project to bring the campus facilities technology to the forefront of the industry. 

Episode 161 is a Nexus Labs Update featuring James Dice speaking on the shifts in focus of Nexus Labs. Enjoy!

Hey friends, This week we have a thought-provoking, future-looking guest essay from Drew DePriest, Director of Real Estate Operations Technology at McKesson.

Did you miss our January Pro Member Gathering? Catch the replay here!

Hey friends, Thank you for all the feedback on last week’s first-of-its-kind newsletter. In case you missed it, we helped two different Buyers narrow the vast occupancy counting marketplace down to a shortlist of the 2-3 best vendors for them.

Hey friends, Today, let’s change it up around here with a new type of newsletter. ✨ Nexus Labs has just completed two vendor selection processes for Buyers. Now, we’re sharing the results

Episode 160 features Nathan Morris from KIPP, Stephen Dawson from Normal Software, and Terry Herr from Intellimation. This conversation explores KIPPs partnerships between Normal Software and Intellimation to better manage school facilities and increase savings to bring money back into the classrooms. Enjoy!

Building owners have many opportunities to decarbonize their own buildings to meet their carbon targets, but sometimes their money can be better spent decarbonizing other people’s buildings. That’s WattCarbon’s thesis, and one we believe in too. So much so that we (along with dozens of you) invested in their seed round last year.

Happy New Year! It’s delightful to be back at it after unplugging from work over the holidays. I needed some rest—and found it in the form of movies, TV shows, and of course, English Premier League soccer. 

The software operating commercial buildings hasn't changed much since before I was born. The first Building Automation Systems came about in the 1980s, with the ability to schedule equipment operation, create setpoints, and program sequences of operations. They could also store data (“trends”), display that data on a graphic, and alert operators to alarming readings (“alarms”).

Episode 159 features Thano Lambrinos from Quadreal and Wayne Kim from Andorix. This conversation explores the partnership between Quadreal and Andorix and how the implementation of a new network has made an impact on Quadreal. Enjoy!

We’ve been convening the changemakers of the smart buildings industry for 4 years. In 2024, it's time to finally meet up in person—at the very first NexusCon.

Watch the recording of our November Pro Member Gathering with Skylar Huth.

This case study discusses the Empire State Realty Trust's systematic approach to building retrofits and technology deployments with Kode Labs.

Episode 158 features Richard Davis from Limbach Holdings. This conversation explores how Limbach Holdings is integrating FDD and energy management softwares into their HVAC and plumbing services. Enjoy!

The Nexus Pro community manager, Eric Larsen, posed a compelling prompt to our 600-member community: “Many of us agree that “Use Cases” are the building blocks of a Smart Building. However, I haven’t heard a single, significant, concise definition. How can that be if they’re so important?!”

Episode 157 features McGee Young from WattCarbon, Alan Greenberg, and DR Richardson from Elephant Energy and is our 7th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. This conversation explores how WattCarbon can bridge the gap for property owners and vendors, while simultaneously validating their decarbonization efforts. Enjoy!

The filterable Nexus Labs content library on our website tells me that since 2020, we’ve published 21 podcasts, 16 newsletters, and 10 members-only events on the independent data layer, building operating systems, digital twins, or single “pains” of glass. What do all these buzzwords topics have in common? They’re all used to describe the technologies at the data layer of the smart buildings stack. They’re all used to bring data from multiple silos together so it can be leveraged in software applications for better outcomes. 

This case study explores how Sleep Country responded to challenges by deploying “AI-enabled thermostats” in its 214 stores.

We have a funny saying in our industry: “Every building is a snowflake”. Have you heard it? It’s used to describe the complexity of scaling smart building technology.

Episode 156 features Mary de Guzman from Sleep Country and Omar Tabba from BrainBox AI and is our 6th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. Mary and Omar discuss the benefits of installing AI enabled thermostats in several hundred retail stores. Enjoy!

Last week, we summarized the ‘Category First’ buyer—the ones who start the buying process by assessing an entire category of technology vendors. Only after validating that the category moves the needle do they engage the marketplace in a serious way.

We’re back with another installment of our Marketplace series of newsletters. In the smart buildings technology marketplace, there’s a type of buyer I call “Category First” buyers. They start the buying process by assessing a category of technology vendor. And only after validating that the category moves the needle do they engage the marketplace. 

Watch the recording of our October SME Workshop with Mandi Wedin.

Episode 155 features Dana Schneider from Empire State Realty Trust and Etrit Demaj from KODE Labs and is our 5th episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. These are not marketing fluff stories, these are lessons from leaders that others can put into use in their smart buildings programs. Dana dives into their systematic approach to building retrofits, leading with The Empire State Building, and why they publish what they do. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

We’re back with another installment of our Marketplace series of newsletters. One of the unfortunate truths holding back the smart buildings industry is that buying technology takes so much work that it could be a full-time job. For each new technology added to the program, here are the steps it takes:

Carrie Denning Jackson gives the Nexus Pro Community a candid run-down of all her efforts across the forward-thinking organization.

Episode 154 features Joseph Fleshman from University of California, Irvine and Jim Meacham from Altura Associates and is our fourth episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. Joe and Jim talk in depth about the systematic overhaul of University of California Irvine’s building automation system, operational technology networking, and deploying fault detection and diagnostics software. Enjoy!

Watch the recording of our September Pro Member Gathering with Carrie Denning Jackson.

Episode 153 features Ben Cooper from BGO (BentallGreenOak) and is our third episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies. Ben talks about the asset type due diligence and rate of adoption for their new infrastructure platform, the overall efficiencies created, and the future proofing abilities with a cloud connection application layer. Enjoy!

Buyers: This new ‘Marketplace’ newsletter series is written just for you. Being a Buyer in the smart building technology market requires you to start thinking in categories. The Nexus Marketplace currently has 47 different categories—and counting!

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

The August Pro member gathering doubled as Nexus Labs' second debate. See how Liam Bates, Tom Balme and David Sciarrino argued for and against recurring fees for IoT sensors.

“The most effective form of return on investment (ROI) that is tangible and measurable is operational expenditure (Opex) savings”

Watch the recording of our August Pro Member Gathering with Tom Balme, Liam Bates, and David Sciarrino.

Episode 152 is the second episode in our new workforce series, In The Field. In The Field features people working boots on the ground in the built environment, giving real-life perspectives on their roles, backgrounds, and aspirations. Episode 152 features Stacks+Joules graduate and senior controls technician Nathanseth Cruz of Dual Fuel and Stacks+Joules Founder and Executive Director Michael Conway.

Episode 151 dives into what James and Rosy do at Nexus Labs beyond the podcast. From the pro membership community, to the courses platform, partnerships, and the marketplace, this episode brings you up to speed on all things Nexus Labs.

Edge cloud has the promise of both the benefits of full cloud, and all the benefits of staying on-premise. This is the middle ground—that Goldilocks sweet spot of not too big, not too small. Not too flat, not too on-prem. ‍

The story of a 5-year effort at LONG Building Technologies to integrate fault detection and diagnostics, or FDD, into their service operations.

Here's something to ponder: Do we have any apps that 'assure the success' of smart buildings technology? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Today, I want to tell you a quick story about my career.This will help explain the changes I made 6 years ago that I credit for helping me make an impact in smart buildings industry—changes that might help others trying to find their feet as the industry blazes forward.

The 150th Nexus Podcast Episode! Episode 150 features LONG Building Technologies and is our second episode in the Case Study series looking at real-life, large-scale deployments of smart building technologies.

Tyrone Mawing joins our APAC/Australia Monthly Pro Member Gathering for a discussion on the integration challenge of smart buildings.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

This edition of the Nexus Newsletter is brought to you by Butlr and Tietoa. Hey friends, When I was growing up, I loved road trips. Jumping in my mo

Mandy Omrani of Infrastructure Ontario tells the Nexus community what’s working and how.

Cybersecurity is critical to protect the confidentiality and integrity in the data from both our IT and OT systems. Mike MacMahon from Newcomb & Boyd tells us everything we need to know and where to find out more.

Watch the recording of our July SME Workshop with Michael MacMahon.

June’s Nexus Pro Member Gathering featured a comprehensive breakdown of LinkedIn’s Smart Building program from leading engineers Cristal Ortiz and Andrew Knueppel

Watch the recording of our June Pro Member Gathering with Cristal Ortiz and Andrew Knueppel.

Mahmoud Shouman from JB&B gives an insightful presentation about how to integrate smart building technology and data into the design and construction process and why it makes perfect sense.

Watch the recording of our June SME Workshop with Mahmoud Shouman.

Join us for lively debates with Nexus Pro Members live in the audience. Engage in thought-provoking discussions on controversial topics within the world of smart buildings. Prepare to have your perspectives challenged and expanded! And of course we had to start with today’s ultimate debate: The Independent Data Layer!

Immerse yourself in expert-led monologues focused on a single topic. We’ll share their wisdom and knowledge, giving you the tools to build a solid foundation in key areas of interest. This season, yours truly tackles The Horizontal Architecture.

Dive into fascinating interviews with experts who explore the boundaries of "smart buildings." From cutting-edge to established technologies, we'll uncover the latest trends and innovations in the field. This season, we dive into the overlaps between Audio Visual Systems and smart buildings.

Get ready for insightful boots-on-the-ground interviews with changemaking facility managers, technicians, and more. We're hitting the ground running with Mary Gloven, a phenomenal facility manager at The Alliance Center in Denver.

Discover the future of innovation as we chat with seed stage changemaking startup founders. This season, we're thrilled to feature WATS (Waste Administration and Tracking Software). Their vision will have you rethinking the way we handle waste in real estate.

Learn valuable lessons from buyers who have successfully deployed mature tech solutions at scale over multiple years. We dive deep into their experiences to uncover the insights and challenges faced throughout their transformative journeys. In this first episode, we hear from The University of Iowa on their 9-year effort to transform their maintenance operations around FDD software.

This month’s Member Gathering featured a wide-ranging conversation with Becca Timms, Director of ESG at Jamestown. For this recap, we’re formatting it as a written interview to cover the topics discussed in chunks.

You asked for it, and we're delivering! Our Nexus Pro members will have the chance to ask Rosy and me anything. We'll be answering your burning questions, sharing our experiences, and providing hot takes.

The story of a 9-year effort at the University of Iowa to integrate fault detection and diagnostics, or FDD, into their maintenance operations.

Nexus Pro SME workshop hosted by Krigh Bachmann to the Nexus Pro community focusing on how to leverage BIM to improve smart buildings.

Watch the recording of our May SME Workshop with Krigh Bachmann.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

Watch the recording of our April Pro Member Gathering with Thano Lambrinos.

April’s members-only gathering was an honest and insightful take on Quadreal’s efforts rolling out “The Operations of the Future” across 55 buildings.

April's members-only SME Workshop was a master class in showing how a roadmap to Net Zero includes operational technologies.

Watch the recording of our April SME Workshop with Lee Hodgkinson and Nicholas Dumoulin.

It’s been a week of celebration, as we hosted a successful happy hour event in Denver, Colorado, bringing together our team and community members for an evening of fun and networking.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

As an energy engineer for the first 10 years of my career, I always felt like I was doing important work. I loved studying mechanical rooms and putting together retrofit projects that helped my clients save money by saving energy. 

Watch the recording of our March Pro Member Gathering with John Forester.

Since the beginning, it’s felt like I’ve been pulled into creating Nexus. It felt like a calling. I’m simply answering the call—while each day trying to hone my listening skills (so I can interpret the call correctly) and remove my ego (so I can minimize getting in the way).

Today’s newsletter is a collaboration between Nexus Labs and our newest creator, Drew DePriest, Senior Director of Digital Facilities Management at CBRE. Drew and I are among the select few invited to speak at most smart buildings conferences.

"The building industry can be the first to show the world what it looks like for an industry from within itself to transform itself in line with a sustainable future."​

Watch the recording of our March SME Workshop with Elliot Alvarez.

Today, we’re kicking off a new monthly Nexus Labs column called Insights → Operations. We’ll explore best practices with leading building owners and our fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) category partners. 

"So many organizations are selling ESG solutions, but very few have their own ESG statements, goals, or positions. If you don't want it, why would I?"

Today’s newsletter is part 5 in our series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem.

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

"You can't just sell the data. It's got enormous value, but it needs to be manifested and taught in such a way that people can react to it." Episode 140 is a conversation with Bayron Lopez Pineda, Director of OT Operational Technology at Kilroy Realty and Mike Moran, Chief Markets Officer and Chief Risk & Sustainability Officer at MicroShare. We talked about Killroy Realty's Smart Buildings Program and got into the weeds on how they're thinking about occupancy data and leak detection, which are two topics we've discussed on the podcast, but not in detail.

Today’s newsletter is part 4 in our series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem.

Episode 139 is a conversation with Joe Aamidor of Aamidor Consulting and Jeanne Casey of Nuveen. If you add me in, you get J³. This is the fourth installment of our M&A Roundup series, recorded in February 2023 all about what's happening in the marketplace right now. We unpacked the most interesting recent mergers and acquisitions in the smart buildings industry and dove into why, our reaction to them, and other trends they’re related to.

Watch the recording of our February Pro Member Gathering with Bayron Lopez Pineda.

Episode 138 is a special episode with Nexus Labs' new COO, Rosy Khalife. We introduce you to Rosy who, for the first time on the podcast, turns the tables on me and interviews me. We talk about my background before starting Nexus Labs, the founding story of the company, and the future. If you're looking for some background on Nexus Labs, this is definitely a good place to start.

Watch the recording of our February SME Workshop with McGee Young.

Today’s newsletter is part 3 in our series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem: Voices of the buy personas. We have this saying in our industry: “every building is a snowflake.” Do you say it? It’s true… but we shouldn’t let that be an excuse for inaction or resisting change.

"We pay $10 billion per year for balancing the grid using natural gas, peaker plants, etc. when we could be paying that to households for those services instead."

Watch the recording of our APAC/Australia February Pro Member Gathering with Tom Balme and Rob Huntington.

Today’s newsletter is part 2 in a series about the humans we wrap around the tech stack to form the smart buildings ecosystem. Here’s a summary of the series: Part 1: The two sides of the ecosystem: buyers and sellers—where do you fit? (last week) Part 2: The humans of smart buildings: our "buyer" personas (today)

Welcome to the Nexus Pro member digest… a collection of recent highlights you shouldn’t miss. These digests are designed to save you time and allow you to catch up on the whole month. Then you can dive deeper wherever you’d like.

Episode 136 is a conversation with Cindy Zhu, Director of Grid Services at Prescriptive Data. We primarily cover grid-interactive efficient buildings, or GEB, my second least favorite acronym in our industry (behind SPOG of course).

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:

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.

Watch the recording of our January Pro Member Gathering with Charlie Miller.

Last fall, we launched the Nexus Labs Syndicate and started off with an investment in Xeal. Today, I’m excited to announce our second investment in WattCarbon!WattCarbon, led by Nexus Pro member McGee Young, allows energy consumers to offset their energy use on a time and locational basis from renewable energy projects, demand response dispatch, and electrification projects sourced from their own communities, turning local buildings into decarbonization assets.Our investment was part of WattCarbon’s $4.5 million seed round led by True Ventures, with participation from Village Global, Jetstream, Not Boring Capital, Keiki Capital, Greensoil PropTech Ventures, and others.

Episode 134 is a conversation with Comly Wilson, CMO at Enertiv. I enjoyed this one because I believe in a lot of what Comly was saying about workflows being the key to decarbonizing buildings. And not just decarbonization, really implementing any new technology or changing the way things are done in any way requires you to start with the way people work currently and meet them where they’re at.