Matt Rosenthal - Business Beneath Our Feet

There's an old saying from east London: “Where there's muck, there's brass.” Essentially, what this means is that the management of the dirtier side of life is invariably an opportunity for a decent business. Sewers are a big business. There are a million miles of them beneath our feet in the US, and about 300 million of them need to be inspected and cleaned every year. A serious undertaking. Matt Rosenthal, along with his Co-founder Billy Gilmartin, is building SewerAI in order to massively improve the process, efficiency, and accuracy of completing these inspections, and much more besides. As you will hear, he thinks as clearly about the fundamental job of an entrepreneur and leader as anyone we work with, and his pathway to building SewerAI was as entrepreneurial, honest, and compelling as any you will hear. Fitbit's loss was US sewer infrastructure’s gain. Please enjoy my conversation with Matt Rosenthal. 

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For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fundamental-molecule/id1714287205

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Matt Rosenthal, Co-founder and CEO of SewerAI, shares his journey from a chance entry into water tech to leading a company that is revolutionizing sewer inspection with AI. The discussion covers the challenges of scaling a tech-driven business in the water sector, the critical role of providing real value to customers, and the complexities of working with municipalities. This episode offers valuable insights into how innovation and AI are transforming essential infrastructure.

0:00:00 Start

0:00:49 Introduction

0:01:56 Matt and Billy’s entry into the sewer inspection industry.

0:04:00 Inefficiencies in traditional sewer inspections.

0:07:53 Market analysis and early mistakes.

0:11:02 Technical challenges in sewer inspection.

0:13:35 Combining skills to build the company.

0:18:19 Effective division of responsibilities.

0:20:50 Competitive edge through strong execution.

0:26:57 Leadership changes and hiring importance.

0:31:13 Series B fundraising strategy.

0:39:56 Thoughts on AI’s role and value.

0:43:54 Vision for expanding Sewer AI’s solutions.

0:46:31 Matt’s single most important piece of advice for future and aspiring water entrepreneurs.

Links:

Burnt Island Ventures:  https://www.burntislandventures.com/

Matt Rosenthal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewrosenthal99/

Key Takeaways:

"The easiest way to raise a round is to build a kick-ass business. End of story."

"Provide value to your customers. Everything else just follows from that."

"If you can answer ‘yes’ to generating revenue and doubling it yearly, you're pretty good."

"AI is just a part of the value we provide. It's the whole stack that matters."

"We make people better at their jobs. That's what we do as a company."

"Extreme honesty and openness build trust and show success."

"Don't worry about building the business. Focus on providing value."

"My job is to make my employees as productive as possible so they can make our customers productive."

"The bar for excellence has never been so low. Do what you said you were going to do before it became inconvenient."