For a longstanding brick-and-mortar industry like construction, it’s the relationship with disruption, especially digital transformation can be a disreputable one. Given its massive scale and combination of many subcontractors, this widely fragmented industry provided a difficult challenge for digital integration. Though this is what drives Builk to solidify its position as the first construction Thai tech start-up to revolutionize the industry across Southeast Asia.

In Techsauce, we had spoken with Patai Padunting (Boat) Co-founder and Chief executive of BuilkOne who for the past decade has aided the digital transformation within the construction industry but also set out the mission to elevate the Thailand startup ecosystem. He shared with us the challenges and opportunities as well as how he made BuilkOne recognized as one the pioneer and a veteran in the Thailand startup scene.

For 12 years BuilkOne has changed Thai and Southeast Asian Construction industry in a bit cooler way

Before BuilkOne came to establish its legacy as a Contech startup that delivers all-in-one software that connects all parties in the construction process, its journey toward offering a digital evolution in the construction industry was quite daunting.

Patai says, back then the construction industry in Thailand and Southeast Asia was a dirty and dangerous brick-and-mortar industry with a cheap workforce and low-pay rate for engineers and architects.

He wanted to change the industry but felt that it would require more than just tweaks to productivity and how people work – the industry needed technology and creativity in its business model.  

It started with a crazy idea in the 2010s, He made it free

Even a decade ago, construction tech was not all that new, given that there are Unicorns out there on a global scale. Though the situation was different in a developing region like Southeast Asia as Patai says

“At the time, we want to make the first kind of ERPs that is totally 100% free of charge. It was a radical business model for the software and Thai construction industries contrary to the western market where any enterprise solution would charge based on a monthly user subscription model. Moreover, a decade ago people here still use pirated software, nobody cared about intellectual properties” 

 The concept of free software was unusual if not unheard of back then. So, when Patai found BuilkOne back in 2010 as a 100% free software for construction SMEs, it took years for him to prove his intention and his startup’s business model, from having to educate and collaborate with key stakeholders and subcontractors across construction sectors in Thailand.

Today BuilkOne has over 9 products and services, but not all services and ideas have been successful

It is natural for a startup to embrace the concept of fail-fast and fail-forward and for the twelve years of empowering construction SMEs, that has been the case too for BuilkOne. Throughout its expansion across Southeast Asia, Patai mentioned that BuilkOne has tested out many different ideas and services though not all was an overnight success.

In the process of testing out new services or ideas, to validate a potential business model or value proposition and its feasibility for survival given there are factors like different markets environment, situations, and the stages of entry. There’s no exact timeframe for validating an idea either though it shouldn’t take longer than two years as Patai put it

“The first idea that we tried, it wasn’t quite like what people say ‘Do it quick, do it fast’ like in Lean startup. We don’t know how fast it is, because we don’ have enough experience yet, so we to do this by trial-and-error and that’s when we managed to successfully launch a product in nine months”

“You cannot copy and paste what startup guru said as there are many so many contexts that couldn’t be applied”

For a startup to survive, it needs to constantly be on the move, to keep building on existing unfair advantages and develop new business models. Perhaps, most importantly as Patai admitted, is that we should not pretend to be successful all the time but knows when to kill our dream.  build a product, test it out and sometimes kill it if it doesn’t work.

Currently, what’s left in the graveyard of dead ideas have left BuilkOne with nine services that strongly complement each other which help leverage its platform and change the construction industry onto the next level.

The Transformation Curve, is BuilkOne going Super Saiyan?

As a fan of ‘Dragon Ball’ one of the most popular Japanese animations of all time, well-known for its characters that use flamboyant ‘power-up’ transformation throughout the sequence of the story.

Patai compared himself and the current stage of BuilkOne as ‘Krillin’ a strong warrior in his rights. Though he is not nearly as powerful as the story’s main character ‘Goku’ who was an alien that could transform into a Super Saiyan and save the world from inter-dimensional intruders. 

While Krillin wasn’t at that level, he was the strongest human who is be able to fight alongside Goku and develop himself throughout the story. 

Like in real-life cases, there will always be new challenges to overcome and new people that are better in the industry. 

For BuilkOne, throughout its decade long story, while the startup has seemed to reach its majority stage, Patai believes that there are still many rooms left for improvement, highlighting that he’s still practising and keeping up with the trend. 

So, while BuikOne isn’t Super Saiyan yet, it’s has reached transformation beyond what Patai could imagine

In a startup Ecosystem, Be Unique

As a pioneer in the Thai startup scene, Patai has shared his insight and recommendations for the new generation of startups.

He advised everyone and new generation entrepreneurs who are entering the startup industry to understand the duty of startups, that is to solve a social problem. But in doing so, keep in mind that the problem shouldn’t be superficial. In understanding the problem, one should delve into the root causes. Furthermore, he recommends them to tap into B2B as there are still woes and potential opportunities for startups in Thailand to experience and learn more from this ‘dark side of the moon.

Patai emphasised that we shouldn’t copy overseas startup models but stick with the domestic issues since the ecosystem in developing countries like Thailand is unique, there are various opportunities to create something new here and expand.

 “In searching for the problem statement, try to find it right, and make it unique. And you will find it your unique value proposition to make your startup survive”

As for the next step, Patai shares his dream and ambition to make BuilkOne an aspiring example of a tech startup with the ‘freedom’ to choose whatever it wants to be. Whether as a startup that plans to be acquired by a global startup, to become a sustainable organization, or to be listed on a stock market as BuilkOne is planning to in the next few years.

And finally, Patai wants to see a variety of different players in the Thailand startup scene. He viewed the ecosystem, as a flower field which each unique and diverse type of flowers and tree –There’s a big tree like corporate that support startups in term of investment, there are plentiful spaces for international startups to grow its root, and then there’s the local startup.

It’s the flower field of different startups that add colors and nurture each other to make a unique ecosystem. So, among being among those flowers, he advised us to be different in our own way.

Or as he put from the quote in his favorite book.

 You cannot remember a chorale get singer, be a unique singer. Be right and sing your own song

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