Contech Connect Interview — What If the Construction Industry Stopped Wasting Time on Word?

In one sentence, what revolution is your startup bringing to the construction industry?

"We're not revolutionizing construction itself—we're liberating those who build from document hell."

At there, our mission is straightforward: transform word processing through AI to create documents that are easy to read or listen to, so professionals can focus on their core work. Everyone uses Word, but everyone wastes countless hours on it—inserting an image shifts everything, numbering goes haywire, formatting is a nightmare. We're here to change that.

After more than 10 years digitalizing business processes for construction, I realized there's actually more paperwork today than before.

What was the trigger that pushed you to create your tech solution for such a traditional sector?

The paradox hit me after my experience at Finalcad. We observed that despite all these specialized apps, professionals were reverting to Word and Excel because they needed flexibility. Our approach with there is humble—we're not trying to revolutionize their workflows, but rather help them work like before, just better and faster, by democratizing AI usage.

If you had to identify the #1 barrier to innovation in construction, what would it be?

The #1 barrier? The lack of tech entrepreneurs who are genuinely interested in construction.

The industry suffers from a shortage of startups that truly understand its unique characteristics. Most tech founders target sectors with more centralized organizations, while construction operates as a complex ecosystem of interdependent companies. As a result, software tends to be too rigid and doesn't respect the deeply contextual and unpredictable nature of construction sites. We need more founders who put on boots and a hard hat to understand before they start coding.

How did you convince your first traditional clients to adopt your solution?

By showing them we could accomplish in 10 minutes what typically took them 2 hours, without asking them to change their habits.

Three key points:

1. Making them aware of Word's problems that they face daily but consider inevitable

2. Demonstrating how there.do creates better documents, 2-10x faster

3. Offering a risk-free model—starting for free and moving to an unlimited subscription once the value becomes obvious

What's your strategy for navigating between startup agility and the sometimes slow processes of large construction groups?

I don't see large groups, but constellations of autonomous SMBs that can make quick decisions when you talk to the right people.

We target operational business units with real autonomy. We create local champions who become internal ambassadors. Our product is designed to be adopted by an individual, then naturally spread to a team.

How do you concretely integrate sustainability issues into your product/service?

True sustainability in construction doesn't come from labels, but from reducing errors and waste caused by poor communication.

At there, we don't have a "sustainability feature"—we've integrated it into our DNA. By enabling clear and contextualized communication, we reduce rework and misinterpretations. Users who write or read there documents make better decisions faster, allowing them to "get it right the first time"—the ultimate form of sustainability.

What's the most promising AI use case you see emerging in construction?

Verba manent, machina scribit—words remain, machines write them. It's the end of the trade-off between being on-site or in the office.

This transformation is already underway—imagine a site manager dictating observations while AI transcribes, structures, illustrates with taken photos, and formats a document with assigned actions and deadlines. It's the end of choosing between being in the field or handling administrative work. These AI agents eliminate administrative tasks to refocus professionals on their expertise.

When a large company tells you "come back in 6 months," what's your response?

"Sure, but during those 6 months, let your field teams use it for free and let's measure the value created together."

I ask them specifically what evolutions they're expecting by then, and I propose continuing deployment with users to collect concrete metrics. We transform waiting time into proof of value.

What advice would you give to an entrepreneur wanting to enter ConTech today?

Spend 100 days in the field before writing a single line of code. Your solution won't be born in an incubator, but in the mud of a construction site at 7 AM.

I recommend three actions:

• Multiply exchanges with a diverse range of professionals rooted in territories, regardless of your prior experience

• Challenge your product not only in France but internationally, especially in the US where demands push excellence

• Engage with the existing ConTech ecosystem to better understand each player's positioning

Construction isn't reinvented from a MacBook in a Parisian café.

By 2030, which aspect of construction will have been completely transformed by technology, in your opinion?

Inter-company communication—By 2030, information will flow without the current artificial barriers between project stakeholders.

This transformation will be profound but subtle, happening through technologies that respect everyone's autonomy while ensuring the overall coherence of each contract.

The construction site or the office: where is the real digital transformation of the sector happening?

Neither one separately. The real digital transformation is at the interface between the site and the office, enabling frictionless information flow.

We need to create a digital workspace where each tool is in the right place, easy to use. Just like a carpenter or plumber who meticulously selects tools over the years to become more efficient.

If you could change just one thing about how large groups approach innovation, what would it be?

Stop innovation theater. Fewer POCs, more real adoption and concrete support for homegrown startups.

I wish large groups would stop multiplying "proof of concepts" that lead nowhere and initiatives just for show, and move to concrete action faster. The true indicator of success isn't the number of startups met, but the number of solutions effectively deployed at scale. Let's support our tech ecosystem not through competitions and awards, but through significant commercial contracts and sustainable partnerships that allow startups to grow and deploy internationally.