Saul A Lopez

I’m thrilled to announce Jacobi Robotics has closed a $5M Seed Round led by Moxxie Ventures. Yahav, Lars, Ken, Jeff, and I set out to build Jacobi with the goal of democratizing robotics, allowing people to focus on meaningful, creative work. Our inspiration came from the transformative progress in the field of machine learning. Just a few years ago, machine learning was limited to a small group of experts and researchers. But today, any software developer can train a production-ready machine learning model by following an online tutorial. Soon, software engineers will also be implementing production-ready robotics applications using Jacobi. We are just at the beginning of that journey, but our software has already been used by multiple organizations, including Fortune 500 companies from various sectors, and has been successfully deployed in live factories in the US. With Jacobi, our partners have seen a 95% reduction in robot commissioning time and a 24% savings in total project costs. The new investments from Moxxie Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Humba Ventures, The House Fund, and additional investments from Swift Ventures, Berkeley SkyDeck, LDV Partners, and Courtyard Ventures will enable us to accelerate our work in developing the modern software platform for robotics. I cannot express enough gratitude to everyone who has supported us at Jacobi—our customers, partners, investors, community, and our recently expanded team. Creating something of value from scratch is never easy, but with your support, we are driven to push boundaries and achieve our shared vision. The best is yet to come. Thank you to MIT Technology Review for sharing our story. - MIT Tech Review: https://lnkd.in/gXUQQiqG - Blog Post: https://lnkd.in/gsxJgvbZ Photo Credit: Marla Aufmuth

805

102 Comments

This is the hidden cost of growing. Your internal tools get bigger, more cumbersome, and more mission critical. In my experience, pricing and packaging evolution incurs the most internal tool debt of all. This graph is an example of how simple changes require robust homegrown systems. Every engineer hour spent on an internal tool is an hour not spent on your own product. Even worse, internal tools are usually hard to use, slow, and expensive to extend - forcing your business users to work around issues, do things manually, and bug your engineers. In retrospect, I wish I had understood this cost when building products at in the past. In the moment, it feels easier to build a light internal tool vs. finding and implementing robust third party tooling. But in reality, that upfront speed comes at tremendous cost - before you know it, adding a new pricing tier takes months and the business is constrained. #saas #b2b #pricing #packaging #internaltools

16

The newest issue of The Pragmatic Engineer found a surprise uptick in eng hiring in the typically slow summer season - I'm curious to see how the macro environment impacts this uptick as we head into the fall, but I remain hopeful. I asked Gemini to give me the tldr of the article to share with my team (sorry, Gergely Orosz) and found it missed one of the most interesting pieces of the article. Gemini's highlights - Unexpected surge: Tech recruitment has seen an unusual spike in June and July, contrary to typical trends. Increased demand: Startups, especially AI-focused ones, are driving the hiring uptick. Global phenomenon: This trend isn't just limited to the US; Europe is also experiencing increased recruitment activity. Reasons for hiring: Companies are backfilling positions, investing in growth due to improved financials, and responding to increased VC funding. Challenges remain: While the job market is improving, finding qualified candidates and offering competitive compensation remains difficult for many companies. What I found most interesting - The nature of the backfills: the article finds that a lot of new headcount are actually backfills of folks that were "over-slashed" during rounds of layoffs. Not entirely surprising with the "trim the fat" and "rebuild lean" mentality, but interesting nonetheless. Either way, the uptick is encouraging (and don't always rely on Gemini's tldrs). #hiring #startups #VCbacked #softwareengineering

11

1 Comment

More robot stories from Urban Machine! See below for a peek into how we evolved the vision system across generations of our robots. Lots of lessons learned here! Sometimes when your solution isn’t working, the answer is to change the problem…

9

As founders, investors, and startup leaders we often build things in sandbox environments. Sandboxes are essential for developing new things without the constraints of the real world and we could never do our jobs without them. With that said, they have a significant limitation… (At this point, you have probably guessed I am going to write another one of those posts about “the real world” and how us founders need to get our MVPs out into real environments so we can “fail fast” blah blah blah. Well, no, I’m not. Frankly I think Steve Blank and Eric Reis’s pendulum has swung quite far enough past the point of sanity thank you very much.) In the sandbox, you often don’t see how the constraints of real-world environments can be used to your advantage over your competitors. Since most technologies are researched, funded, and developed in cycles, founders are usually competing against other startups with solutions to similar problems. By understanding the real-world constraints of their technology vs alternative emerging tech, founders can get a real advantage. For example, right now my startup, Rebound, is commercializing a thermal energy storage system (https://lnkd.in/gJ7AjuG5) that ties into HVACR loads across the cooling spectrum. While batteries have seen a 90% reduction in cost over the past decade, we still have a significant advantage in behind the meter applications because of a real-world constraint: all building specs include an HVAC system while none include an energy storage system. When a building is being built or updated, it is presumed the building will have an HVAC system, so all we need to do is submit the most competitive bid (which we can in most markets 😉), putting us on a fundamentally different scale-up trajectory than our competitors. On the other hand, behind the meter battery storage must justify its existence on the spec in the first place. Once you get out into the world, you might find your technology has an edge over the competition you never anticipated. Or you might find that things that looked really good in the sandbox face unexpected competitive challenges from technologies you never thought would threaten you (cough - fusion - cough).

15

Welcome Dana Wensberg, Founding Engineer at Paperless Parts on this episode of 🔥 The Lantern 🔥 Paperless Parts is a quoting and estimating platform for job shops (people who make parts out of metal & plastic) all over the country and Dana is a software engineer who has been with the company for almost 8 years 🔍 What’s going on inside Paperless Parts this fall? 🔎 Dana has done a bunch of different things across the org over his time at the startup. Now he’s working on algorithm and machine learning development extracting technical data from files in their database. When you need a part made, there is a 3D model that describes the geometry and a 2D PDF document that describes the different manufacturing items. His team is helping to interpret that information to help their customers quote more accurately. Paperless Parts sits on a large dataset of over 5M unique files that represent actual parts that exist in actual products made and distributed across the world. A powerful moat that opens up a lot of opportunities! 🤔 What has Dana learned from building Paperless Parts? 🤔 #1: Don’t force it in both your career growth & development. Dana has done engineering & product management and enjoyed all of it. But when he was in Product he felt like he had to exert more force to see results and found that Engineering was a better fit for his career. #2: In the early days of Paperless Parts on the GTM side, they were tempted to retrofit their tech to business cases that weren’t perfect. They ended up chasing their tail with longer onboardings and higher churn. When they invested more time in better understanding their ICP, things went faster. 🤝 How can we help? 🤝 Paperless Parts is hiring across GTM, Engineering & Product. If you think manufacturing is cool, check them out! The Lantern is brought to you by MGMT Boston

27

5 Comments

7701 Code Commits to ArcPlatforms When Vance C. and I founded this company, we had several ideas about what ArcPlatforms should become. Bringing a new product to life requires a blend of engineering and creativity. Conventional wisdom tells you to launch an “MVP” (Minimal Viable Product) as quickly as possible. But we knew that an MVP wouldn’t position us as a serious solution to the problem we set out to solve. So, instead of an MVP, we created what we call a “Base Product.” Vance C. has been running a successful tutoring company since 2019, relying on software that he pieced together with a lot of ingenuity. His experience made it clear that there were essential features we needed from the start, along with additional innovations that the market hadn’t yet seen. Our primary goal for the first release was to eliminate the “duct tape” solutions that plague our competitors’ products and, from day one, deliver unparalleled efficiency for our users. While we have a broader vision that we’ll soon unveil, we chose to label the first release of ArcPlatforms for our waitlist customers as our "Base Product": Base Product = MVP * Polished Stability * New Feature Innovations * User Efficiencies To give you an idea of the engineering effort behind it: The Base Product involved 6,500 code commits. This year, we launched, onboarded customers, gained new insights from each conversation with customers, and have been working fast towards ArcPlatforms "V1", which will be: V1 = Base Product + Chat + Tasks + Mobile App + (Top Secret) * Insane User Efficiencies Stay tuned for more about the “Top Secret” in a future post.

2

It’s surprising how many companies choose not to invest in high-quality software—especially now, as AI redefines what’s possible almost daily. When you’re great at your craft, the right tools matter. How can any artisan do their best work with rusty tools? At MantleBio, each engineer uses over ten software tools daily. We’re solving complex problems—why let a solved problem slow us down? -- Have you ever faced resistance when advocating for a tool you knew would make a big difference for your team? How did you make your case and get others on board?

22

1 Comment

Very exciting to see these freshly redesigned product pages for our PLM, QMS, and PIM solutions on propelsoftware.com! Our team has been hard at work to enhance your experience and provide a deeper dive into the incredible value our solutions offer. Here’s what’s new: ⏯️ Brand new animated clips (like this one!) showcasing the value of our solution for enhancing your product quality and business efficiency. 🏆 Customer results & business impact: We’ve brought the stunning results front and center to show off our customer's incredible success with Propel. 📈 Solution feature highlights: Each page now details the powerful features of our solutions, detailing how they can transform your business operations. From streamlining product development with our PLM system, ensuring compliance through our QMS, to optimizing product information management with our PIM, learn how each component can elevate your business. Explore the new look and feel of Propel Software's product pages: https://lnkd.in/gAK67pWC

34

Work at a product-based company? Read Ben Grande's article showing real steps you can take to lower your Product Carbon Footprints (PCF), and reap the benefits that come with it. https://lnkd.in/g9C3xSkp

18

2 Comments

Great article by Gabriella G. and Eric Flaningam I deeply believe that there is an amazing opportunity for startups to redefine the CAD / DFM and Multi-Physics Simulation industries. AI has not touched CAD / DFM / Multi-Physics Simulation in a big way yet and the landscape is dominated by software written 2-3 decades ago. This is insane and offers the opportunity. The thread from @reallygabriella explains some of the reasons. There is another set of reasons: the moats in CAD / Sim / DFM are real and are really high. It is very expensive to employ the right talent of engineers and scientists to create these tools, and the market for these tools is actually fairly limited (i.e., not a mass market product). This is why legacy players often charge insane fees. This is especially true in the world of sims. COMSOL and ANSYS are insanely expensive and are generally behind the times, but it has been very difficult to create these tools. I don’t think that AI itself offers a major breakthrough on the physics and simulation side, although there is amazing work from Steven Brunton (@eigensteve) and others that can and will make a huge difference. But AI / LLMs offer a very powerful disruptive opportunity to remove costs and complexity of everything that is not physics - essentially you don’t need 100’s of expensive software engineers anymore. A team of Ph.D.’s with expert knowledge of physics and engineering should be able to create the next generation of tools and finally compete with the legacy players. More soon! https://t.co/8S5G9In85T

29

6 Comments

New swag alert 🧢 Here’s the story behind our logo: 1️⃣ M stands for Machina, derived from the Greek word for “machine.” 2️⃣ The design shows two robots teaming up to shape metal. 3️⃣ Spot the infinity sign? It represents limitless processes in manufacturing with our platform!

107

9 Comments

Many new machine learning tools for protein engineering have popped up in the last year. In these early days, it might be unclear how to actually use them for real molecular design tasks. After working with academic labs and biotech teams on real problems in research and industry, we’ve assembled a curated toolbox of graphically accessible machine learning tools for protein engineering. We demonstrate how to string them together to build a cholesterol drug and plastic degrading enzymes. To build enzymes we: 1. Finetune ProtGPT2 on enzyme sequences 2. Use finetuned ProtGPT2 to generate a library of novel enzymes 3. Create 3D protein structures with OmegaFold 4. Predict thermal stability with TemStaPro 5. Calculate electrostatic potential and hydrophobicity with PEP-Patch 6. Evaluate aggregation propensity with Aggrescan3D To build PCSK9 binders we: 1. Use Pymol to identify the region of PCSK9 we want to bind 2. Diffuse 10 scaffolds near binding hotspots on PCSK9 with RFDiffusion 3. Use ProteinMPNN to generate 100 sequences for these scaffolds 4. Predict 3D protein structure with ColabFold  This work was spearheaded by Tahir D'Mello and Brontë Kolar. Their intelligence, hard work and passion for science is contagious. Read the detailed flow and reference citations here - https://lnkd.in/grpw-THA.

396

5 Comments

Late Night Musings: As an early-stage B2C founder, I'm in awe of the tools available today that make building technical products possible for all, even those without a traditional tech background. I have just been using Firefoo and ChatGPT to dive into a database, write queries, and extract valuable insights with relative ease. No CS degree? No problem. Anyone else using any similar cool tools that help non technical people do semi-complex technical things? #TechForAll, #NonTechnicalFounders, #B2CStartup, #LateNightThoughts, #IsAiTakingOver

42

3 Comments

A clear articulation of Elon’s clearly stated direction at Tesla re/ working in the presence of one’s teammates in the office, on the factory floor, etc. It’s simply a matter of optimizing productivity, creativity and results, in my experience. That’s doesn’t mean there aren’t workable exceptions for some companies. It’s a choice. His choice is clear. My point? “choose carefully and wisely”. It’s really hard to push on this ime. It’s way harder to have the market put us out of business because someone else slept on the factory floor to drive results and we chose not to. 🙏🏼🇺🇸🚀 https://lnkd.in/gK8Xaven

9

We just released the 2024 Botcopy Awards 🏆 This year, we’re honoring visionaries who didn’t just lean into AI for the hype—they focused on creating real solutions that work and make a difference. These are the projects that quietly set the bar higher for everyone, prioritizing what helps people the most. While winners are being notified privately, here’s a glimpse of the innovations that stood out: ✨ Excellence in AI: A multilingual system enhanced by generative AI to inform and refine intents, leveraging human oversight to ensure accuracy and meaningful citizen engagement. ✨ AI Visionary Award: Raising the bar for live chat integration with trust-driven solutions that redefine citizen engagement. ✨ AI Innovation Leadership: A visionary statewide AI ecosystem uniting departments with bold strategy and seamless execution. We’re proud to collaborate with Google Public Sector and our incredible service partners on these forward-thinking projects. And for anyone exploring AI—whether as users, innovators, or investors wondering what to make of it—Botcopy is here to show how thoughtful AI quietly drives meaningful progress and solves real problems. The 2024 winners are showing us what’s possible, and we look forward to sharing their stories next year. For now, we’re focused on the holidays, the new year, and supporting the brilliant people quietly shaping the future. 🎉 Here’s to what’s next. 👊 #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Technology #Leadership

40

2 Comments

Excited to * publicly * share some of our roadmap @ Cofactr‎ 🎉 As our customer base has grown, we’re shipping a TON of new features based on real-time feedback across different teams. Here’s the plan: 1) Enhanced workflows In the coming months, we’re introducing a dedicated “smart buy” option for engineers to streamline their purchasing process and minimize distractions. Critically, procurement and supply chain teams will benefit from a completely revamped procurement app designed * specifically * for their workflow. 2) Actionable insights  Our data collection on electronic supply chains is getting more and more valuable as we scale.  Using Cofactr, teams will now be able to get access to actionable insights from past trends to predict (and proactively reduce) ongoing risks. 3) Embedded AI ⚡ We’re rolling out a new AI-powered feature that extracts information from a PDF datasheets – this will provide even better spec data and set the groundwork for alt recommendations and part discovery tools. Moving forward, I’m * incredibly * excited about the potential to expand Cofactr to more parts beyond electronics based on positive customer feedback + advancements in AI. To learn more about our roadmap and what we’re building, shoot me a note!

73

3 Comments

After a number of #VC and #startup events over the years, I arrived at this conclusion. Worded another way: investors don't care about startups or good ideas or even #MVPs. They want a finished product, with some sales traction. Henry Ford understood this concept quite well and discussed it in his book "My Life and Work." At the turn of the 20th century Ford was facing tough financial challenges, and banks were approaching him, urging him to borrow funds to stay afloat. He reasoned that the time when banks are asking you to borrow, is probably the worst time to borrow. And when they least want to approach you, is probably the best time to borrow. For homebuyers this is obvious: good credit = lower interest rate. So the same reasoning goes for approaching #investors. It's when you most desperately need their funds that they are reluctant to give them to you. So find another way. Grit your way through. Then, when you do not so desperately need their money for survival, it's then at that time you will likely hear from them... and so many others. Stick with it #founders #entrepreneurs

1

🚨 New Schematic feature! I think this one is pretty magical. See what your customers see. When I change pricing, packaging, or my product's purchasing experience, the first things I want to do are: - Confirm the change has happened - Make sure my customers' experience is as expected Now you can with Schematic's preview feature. See how your customer's portal looks from their POV - with their plan, usage, limits, overrides, etc. Make changes with confidence, no need to impersonate or set up test environments.

18

1 Comment