Monograph: the future of architecture services
Tracking the progress of a project is not easy. Many of us use spreadsheets to do that, but what if there's a more effective way to do it other than using spreadsheets?
Monograph, the San Francisco-based startup was founded in 2019 by Robert Yuen, Alex Dixon, and Moe Amaya. It is a cloud-based software that makes projects and cost management easier for architects.
The three founders have each experience in architecture, design and software development, which makes them a valid and reliable team to create such a management platform tailored for architects.
Recently, the company has raised $1.9 million in seed funding and it was participated by Designer Fund, Hustle Fund VC and angel investors which is led by the Homebrew Ventures and Parade Ventures.
Seed funding or capital means that it is the initial funding used to begin a business or create a product. It is the first stage of the four funding stages needed for a startup to become an essential business.
A number of architects-both solo and firm, have already signed up for the Monograph. Moreover, it has already helped manage more than $125 million in projects, including from the bathroom size and kitchen remodeling for the hotels.
The founders were also partners in an agency Dixon and Moe as the UI/UX consultant for the other startups and architecture firms.
Yuen told CalTech that Monograph grew out of the agency as the product that they saw while solving the problems that they observe in their daily lives as architectural designers, and also with their daily lives with their friends.
He added, that "that's the loss in the transparency of information between how much time you are spending on work, how projects are going, who is working on it.
There is really no accurate way to manage a project and they are growing in complexity each year."
Other tech companies in the architectural field like PlanGrid which is a construction productivity software; or the Procore another construction project management software company; and the UpCodes which is making building code compliance easier, the Monograph is intended to modernize aspects of the building process and design while also making it easier for teams to work together.
Monograph manages project timelines and timesheets, billing and invoicing, it also includes tools to assign milestones, and it is currently designed for the use by architects and consultants.
Once the data is collected it will then be used for cost and progress analytics, such as the MoneyGantt- a feature for budget forecasting.
As long as a team is composed of an engineer, an architect, and a designer the size of it does not matter said by Yuen. There will be new versions of Monograph that will be released by the end of the year.
They are planning to hire software engineers and customer support teams using the seed capital they collected.
Homebrew partner Satya Panel said in a press statement that Monograph can change the way architects and designers work so that they will be able to deliver better client service, manage costs, and have a bigger income as they offer a transformative organization and project management software.
Satya Panel is excited to the bright future that is awaiting for Monograph in the architectural industry that will give modern solutions for modern problems.