Democratizing Design: Sandeep Ahuja on Accelerating Positive Climate Impact
By Amy Stone
Sandeep Ahuja is the CEO and Co-Founder of cove.tool, the end-to-end building performance and data app. With her desire to bring automation into the AEC world, she is pioneering the integration of data driven thinking into the design and construction process by developing intelligent software. Sandeep presented at the UN Environment Assembly, with 1500 global delegates, on the impact of buildings on climate change; showcased at the TEDx Atlanta; and was featured in “Forbes 30 under 30.”
In her conversation with Amy Stone, Sandeep speaks to the urgency of addressing climate change and the need to democratize access to analytical tools, advising those who are just starting out in their career to pursue their strengths and passions and to be resilient and undeterred, especially with the hard days.
Tell me your story. What were your foundational years like and what did you like to do as a kid?
I grew up all over the world. My dad was a diplomat, so we started out in Saudi Arabia, then we went to Tanzania, then Moscow, and later came here to the US. As for interests, I kind of like to do everything! I had an array of interests growing up. I like to talk to people and meet new people. I've always been a very chatty person. I did a lot of speaking engagements in school. In college, I did everything from theater to singing to designing fashion shows. I was interested in all sorts of design.
I like to learn about new things. That's really what got me interested in architecture. I wanted to understand people and cultures a little a bit more and how that connects to buildings -- sometimes it does and other times it totally doesn't, which is fine.
What drew you into studying architecture and what did you learn about yourself in the process?
What got me interested in architecture is that it is design, but it’s also technical. I have a very, very technical mind. I know myself a little bit more now than I did when I first started architecture school and I can confidently say I'm way more technical than I am a designer and an artist.
What I realized when I started in my first few jobs out of school is that, even though I’m a licensed practitioner in India, I'm not an architect and I have no intentions of being an architect.
cove.tool visits AHR 2023. Courtesy of Sandeep Ahuja.
Say more. What do you mean by that?
I had romanticized the idea of design, but I found I really thrived with the technical. I worked in an architectural firm, a landscape firm, and an interior design firm. Having explored multiple arenas, I can say with confidence that I do not like the act of drawing, but I do like the act of conceptualizing and analyzing. I got more enjoyment from analyzing drawings than producing them. I knew the technical route would be front and center for me.
I care deeply about the environment. When I learned just how impactful buildings were to carbon emissions, that was an “ah-ha!” moment for me. I knew that would be my future. A professor from Georgia Tech gave a lecture in New Delhi about buildings’ carbon impact. I listened and felt that this was a problem I wanted to do something about. I love math. I love calculations. I feel like this is where I can utilize my abilities. This is where I can hone in and become the expert. Lo and behold, when I became the expert, I realized there are not many of us. That's a problem!
What got me into the path of technology is the realization that we need to democratize the process of analyzing buildings. I need every architect, every designer, everyone who picks up a pen, a pencil, a mouse — or whatever medium they're using — to be able to say with confidence that my building is X percent better than what it used to be, or it's using this much lower carbon than my other proposed design. I want them to be able to say this window is better than that other window — and to say it with confidence versus thinking it only work in the aesthetic realm. Aesthetics are important; buildings are going to be around for quite a while and need to be aesthetically pleasing. This ability to analyze is another layer.
“...those five years I had in consulting gave me so much insight into understanding the problem from the multi-dimensional perspective of the owner, the designer, the contractor, and the end user. Tying those perspectives together taught me to be more open to asking even more questions.”
How did you start your company? How has it evolved and you along with it?
My path started with this hunger and desire to make an impact for good. I was driven to become an expert. I started with consulting and was working on about a hundred projects a year with my ten-person consulting company. I realized that in order to scale the impact we need to achieve, I really need to be working on a hundred thousand projects. That's when I realized I needed to make this transition to technology to make it available for everyone for just a few dollars.
I feel like those five years I had in consulting gave me so much insight into understanding the problem from the multi-dimensional perspective of the owner, the designer, the contractor, and the end user. Tying those perspectives together taught me to be more open to asking even more questions. I learned I had a lot to figure out! So, I dug in and figured out how to solve issues one project at a time, with one team at a time.
We intentionally turned away from consulting to focus on analytics. Whatever I did, I wanted to apply myself 100% and not look back. It has helped us focus and at the same time learn from a larger community. Now, cove.tool is partnering with hundreds and hundreds of designers, architects, and engineers and it helps us develop a more sophisticated product over time.
We have to be humble and start with the notion that we do not have all the answers. We are going to get the answers from the community within which we operate. It gives us a superpower to be able to serve the community. We start with the question: “What are the problems we need to solve?” Let's go out and solve those and find how it relates to our carbon impact. How big of a carbon impact will it have? If there is a big carbon impact, we prioritize solving for it now. We put a lot of resources into creating the first early stage embodied carbon tool. Folks could use it early on, in concept and schematic phases, versus later in design development when it is much harder to pivot and make changes.
cove.tool team photo. Courtesy of Sandeep Ahuja.
Women of cove.tool. Courtesy of Sandeep Ahuja.
With your company now, what you what are you focused on?
I'm a 31-year-old running a company of seventy people. So, I’m always learning how to do that well and how to improve. I haven't grown a company or run a company of this size before. I have had the opportunity to partner with folks that are significantly more experienced than me. I’m working with different departments of my company and learning to be a good ally to them all. I’m here to continually track our path and growth. I think I'm getting better every day. I really try hard every, every darn day to get even better.
The company cove.tool is working to scale this carbon movement. I believe that for us to have the impact we want, we need to continue to develop products, and we also need to shift in our business model from non-profit work to a more sustainable for-profit model so we can scale and generate revenue. So, we, as a company, are focused on growing drastically. I'm grateful to be able to have done that in a pretty scalable way where we jumped the scale multiple years in a row. We are continuing to grow, to add more partners, and to fulfill the needs of the industry. We are trying to find more gaps within the system and interject ourselves.
The latest way that we're doing that is partnering with building product manufacturers on our revgen.tool, Every manufacturer we are partnering with has the ability to send architects simple reports that show how their product reduces carbon on a project. Before, teams were needing to wait multiple weeks for reports on carbon impact. Now they can send that report within 30 minutes. I remember when I had to specify materials, it was a painful process – like pulling teeth. This way we can get reports out faster and make more conscientious decisions that have a real impact on carbon reductions.
What have been some of your biggest challenges and how have you navigated them?
I think my biggest challenge is working with a sexist world. I've navigated it by being data-driven, especially knowing just how sexist the world is. If someone, a man, has to do five pitches to raise thirty million, I just know that, in fact, I will likely have to do fifty. That’s ok! Just knowing the numbers and being comfortable with it has helped me overcome it. I can't change the entire world, but, if I continue to succeed, I can help our world be a little bit less sexist.
“Even when you are following your dreams, even when you are doing the thing that you care most about, there are days when you hate it. Be resilient and continue to follow through with the things you know are going to make the biggest impact in the world, for you, for the people around you. ”
What have you learned in the last six months?
In the last six months, I've become a mom, so I've learned how to multitask and compartmentalize like never before. It was something I was always working on, but I will tell you the moment you have a baby compartmentalization becomes like second nature. I can focus on one thing, forget about the other thing. I think that is my new superpower.
Honestly, I think it's the best thing that could have happened. As a founder, I’ve been very hands on -- as any founder is — and I’ve grown everything from scratch. I started in our living room and now we are on the fifth floor of an office building downtown. All of that is awesome. It's magical. However, now I get the chance to step back and let my partners and team do what they’re so awesome at. It is so critical to my growth and my company's growth.
Having a baby makes me face the realization that, no, I can't do everything. I physically cannot. I have to find a balance for my personal life and for my work life and make sure that we are set up in a way that we can scale and grow and that I'm not the limiting factor. I think that has been a really beautiful transition.
What are you most excited about right now?
I'm the most excited about, from a business standpoint, the impact that we're going have in this year. We’ve launched the revgen.tool and we have signed with some really big manufacturing partners who are pouring a lot of focus and energy into reducing the carbon of their products, which is so, so exciting. That brings it full circle in a way. We can't keep serving just the architects if we're not also impacting the products that they can specify. If all products are super high carbon, what are architects and engineers going to do? They cannot specify something else. So, being able to partner with the manufacturers and bring them closer to the architects and the engineers to help really drive their decisions better, that is what I'm most excited about.
Tower Sun Hours - analysis.tool. Courtesy of Sandeep Ahuja.
What advice do you have for those who are just starting out?
I think about my own journey. When you do architecture, there are so many career paths you can take. There isn’t one set path. Be open to where your dreams and where your passions take you, whether that is in architecture or an alternative career path. That’s my key advice: be open to that.
When I think about my experience in building my own business, it’s not easy. Even when you are following your dreams, even when you are doing the thing that you care most about, there are days when you hate it. Be resilient and continue to follow through with the things you know are going to make the biggest impact in the world, for you, for the people around you.
For women specifically, we know this is a very male-dominated world. The data says it all. When you think about our industry in architecture, it’s even more so. Be aware of the bias you are up against. Hold your ground. Push back when you need to.