“We want to offer scalable engineering advice”, is how CEO Steve Cassells describes the problem Neuron is solving.
Engineers and architects use Neuron software to design buildings faster and more sustainably, at the critical early planning stage, and with high accuracy.
The Neuron team have many of the qualities that make a strong grant application under the Accelerating Commercialisation service of the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme.
Great team to work with
The Neuron team are humble and curious about the problem while also being experts in their field. They spent a year testing the market with a prototype for residential developments. After customer validation, the team found the bigger opportunity was in the $5.2 billion annual market for engineering software, which is growing over 15% per year.
Steve Cassells says: “The ah-ha moment was that data can be systemised and made available on demand, so that customers have the information they need, when they need it.”
The team is happy to learn and ask for advice. Following early feedback on the business plan, Steve took the time to work on extra market validation and company governance. These traits are a strong signal the team has the focus and drive to build a product of real value.
50,000 hours to build truly novel software
Neuron is building engineering software from scratch. The team approached the problem from their own career experience. They are used to manual processes and siloed expertise. Working on high-profile projects in locations such as Sydney’s Central Place precinct, the team saw how legacy processes can lead to time and cost spirals.
Frustrated with the status quo, Neuron has spent fifty thousand hours manually collecting hundreds of thousands of engineering data points. The data is logically organised and made accessible through user-friendly calculators.
With Neuron’s invention, customers have certainty at the start of projects valued up to
$400 million. The software provides answers in seconds instead of weeks.
Strong customer support
Neuron’s novelty creates a value proposition that is supported by credible industry partners. The country’s largest engineering and architecture companies verified the prototype is faster, cheaper, and more accurate than anything else.
For Investa Property Group, a real estate investment manager and developer, who has been working with Neuron, the software has the potential to save 5% upfront on $250 million projects.
For fitzpatrick+partners, an architecture company, the software gives designers answers to endless “What If?” scenarios. In customer interviews, I heard the product saves “weeks and weeks every time you push that button.”
With strong industry support, the product has multiple paths to market, both direct sales and API integrations.
For these reasons, I am not surprised the company was supported by Accelerating Commercialisation.
