Startup Spotlight #76: TANGObuilder

Tango leverages aerospace industry technologies into your work as an architect, engineer or developer.

Jan 22, 2021

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I got the chance to speak with Martin Diz, co-founder and CEO of TANGObuilder, about what he’s working on at his startup, and any advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs.

Juan Aleman and Diz met at University at Buffalo while doing their Ph.D.’s. Aleman was researching seismic design for high-rise buildings. Diz was working with mathematical tools to analyze and identify uncertainties in mathematical models, specifically for flexible structures. Comparing research the opportunity to use Aerospace tech in the construction industry was clear and obvious. After graduating, both went their separate ways.

Diz co-founded a startup called Bluesmart with some friends. Aleman joined ARUP, one of the most prominent engineering firms in the world. At ARUP, he designed multiple structures including the Raider stadiums among others. Finally, in 2019, they decided to complete a joint research paper that served as the foundation for Tango Builder. After working for a year on this project they joined Y Combinator to take the company to the next level.

Startup Spotlight: TANGObuilder

TANGObuilder cofounders (from left to right): Martin Diz and Juan Aleman.

Problem: Creating structural designs is a cumbersome and manual process. The manual nature of this work leads to design mistakes, unnecessary additional costs, construction delays, over designs, and even safety hazards that can cost many lives.

Market: The newly constructed area in the US is 3.4 billion square feet. We charge an average of $0.3 per square foot, which turns out to be $1B in the US alone and is a $10B global market opportunity.

Solution: TANGObuilder automates structural engineers’ jobs by transforming architects’ designs into construction-ready blueprints in seconds.

Team: Juan And Martin met at University at Buffalo while doing their Ph.D.’s. Juan was researching seismic design for high-rise buildings, and Martin was working with mathematical tools to analyze and identify uncertainties in mathematical models, specifically for flexible structures.

Recent Success:

Diz: Product development. We based the core algorithms of the platform on the Ph.D. dissertations of my cofounder and mine. We had to focus on the critical features we needed and what other features were nice to have. Deciding what goes into the MVP is always the most vital decision to be made on product development. Although many frameworks exist on determining which features should be built, we use a particular insight. What we were building was never done before. So prioritize features that no other product has. If a product on the market has a similar feature, that means that there's overlap, and that feature should not be part of our MVP.

Recent Struggle:

Diz: Sales. We are developing a unique software solution to a unique set of challenges. Our userbase is not very fond of new software solutions. They have been using the same applications for the last 20 years. Pushing innovation when the user is reluctant to try new things or change their workflow is always challenging. We are running free pilots and demo to showcase the advantages of the platform.

Founder Advice:

Diz: Get customers. You need to validate the market before you start building your solution. It would be best if you do things that don't scale. If you can sell before you build, you know that you are not wasting your time. You could decide to build amazing tech over several years to realize that nobody is willing to pay for it after it's ready. Consumers vote with their wallets.

Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:

Diz: Here are three founders you should check out next!

Freddy Vega, Founder of Platzi: Platzi helps students from all over the world acquire new, in-demand skills.
Pamela Valdes Esteva, Founder of Beek: Beek is building the Netflix for audio in the Spanish-speaking market.
Angel Say, Founder of Resolve: Resolve allows construction teams to host multi-user VR meetings to find issues in BIM earlier.

Who should I profile next? Leave your suggestion in the comments:

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