Crazy for ConTech with Jason Lancini, Aphex

Welcome to ‘Crazy for ConTech’ with Romey Oulton, a Q&A focused on the Construction Technology Industry. 

This Q&A series is an opportunity for our Head of ConTech, Romey Oulton, to discuss all things construction technology with key players who are championing innovation and digitalisation in the construction space. 

This week we have been in touch with Jason Lancini, CEO at Aphex.

Aphex gives Engineers the power to quickly build plans from the ground up, as a team. With simplified Gantt charts, effortless sharing, and an open view of each other’s plans, it’s never been easier to keep on top of change.

What was the problem that frustrated you so much, you had to fix it? Why did you personally feel like you could be the one to fix it?

I was working on some of the most prominent and important infrastructure projects happening in different parts of the world and finding that 90% of what I needed to do in a day to be successful lived in custom-built spreadsheets that took a huge amount of time to keep up to date.

Was there a moment when you knew Aphex could be industry game changer?

Not a single moment. But every opportunity to visit projects, see what life is like before and after, and hear genuine delight from people doing incredibly hard work energises me and the rest of our team.

What’s a belief you had when starting that you’ve since changed your mind about?

That construction doesn’t want to adopt technology. The reality is that teams are desperate for tools that actually solve their problems rather than creating more admin burden. They don’t resist technology – they resist tools that don’t respect how site teams actually work.

How did your upbringing influence how you approach risk?

A big focus on maths, science, and games taught me the importance of playing out scenarios, computing potential outcomes, and working backwards. I approach risk by looking a few steps forward – considering not just the immediate impact but the second and third-order effects of decisions.

How did you find your first 10 customers?

We started by finding one customer, then delivering real value for that person and project. They told another, and we built from there. No fancy marketing campaigns or sales strategies – just solving genuine problems and letting the results speak for themselves. The most powerful sales tool in construction is still word of mouth from respected peers.

What was your first big ‘no,’ and how did you bounce back?

Any founder knows there are near equal amounts of ‘nos’ to wins – often many more nos than yeses. One that sticks with me was a mega project we couldn’t initially break into. We did what we always do when something doesn’t work – we open up five more angles to get in. Today, it’s a big, well-deployed customer we’re proud to work with. Persistence and creativity in approach always beats a single rejection.

When did you know it was time to pivot, and how did you make that decision?

We haven’t made any classic company strategy pivots to the degree some would have seen. Diving under the hood in terms of product, we rebuilt from scratch in 2021 after developing a compelling vision that construction planning and coordination had to be truly multiplayer. Nothing in the space was – it was fake multiplayer where multiple people could access it, but updates would constantly override each other. Properly multiplayer was a big and useful problem to solve.

How do you think about moat and defensibility in your space?

For us, we focus on building brand and customer relationships inside specific markets. We’re big believers in crossing the chasm and winning markets sequentially – building beachheads and establishing ourselves deeply before expanding.

What’s the hardest decision you’ve had to make as a founder?

Most of my hard decisions come with my product hat on. They’re big, non-consensus bets around how certain workflows in construction will work in the future. These might be harder to sell or harder for people to understand today, but I believe will define how teams work tomorrow. Balancing short-term market pull with long-term vision is always the toughest call.

What’s something you’ve done as a leader that you’re really proud of, but no one saw?

Helped to contribute to a really closely knit, mission-aligned core team that are on this journey together and getting a kick out of helping each other grow. The behind-the-scenes work of building culture isn’t visible from the outside, but it’s what makes everything else possible.

What do you look for in your first 5 hires?

Mission alignment, first and foremost. The playbook for what we’re doing hasn’t been written yet, so we needed people who could invent approaches as they go, adapt to the messy middle where there are lots of wins and losses, and maintain a beginner’s mind where they’re always open to better solutions.

What trend in construction technology is everyone underestimating right now?

The consumerization of technology. Better and better user experiences that port customers’ expectations from their consumer applications to what they use inside their company. Construction is still so far behind the curve on B2B software quality. The craft and care put into product experiences will separate winners from losers in the next phase.

What does success look like personally for you in 10 years?

Helping our team achieve our mission of being where all major projects are delivered. Success isn’t about personal accolades – it’s about seeing the vision we’ve been working toward become reality, and knowing we’ve fundamentally changed how projects are delivered for the better.

What’s something weird you believe about business that most people would disagree with?

You need way less money to make something impactful than people think. That’s part of why we run Aphex the way we do and haven’t taken external professional venture capital. Focus, customer-centricity, and efficient execution can outperform massive funding rounds when you’re solving real problems.

If you could redo one day in your start-up journey, which one would it be and why?

There are so many in-the-weeds product decisions I would make earlier knowing what we know now. But startups over-romanticize these one big moments that supposedly make all the difference. Really, it’s about the messy middle – showing up, doing the work every day, and getting better every day. It’s not one big moment; it’s the compounding effect of small improvements.

What’s one piece of advice you ignored—and you’re so glad you did?

“Outbound sales.” Doing customer-led growth works for at least our niche of the market. We’ve built the company by focusing on delivering value and letting our customers become our champions rather than building a traditional sales machine first. The conventional wisdom didn’t apply to how our market actually works.

If you could have a dinner party with 3 people – dead or alive – who would it be and why?

I think I would pick three people from history that have conflicting stories written about them, just so I could form my own view of the measure of the person. So it’d be Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. History tends to flatten complex individuals into heroes or villains, but I’m fascinated by the contradiction and complexity of people who shaped our world in profound ways.

Favourite hype up tune?

“Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine. Sometimes you need all that energy to send out that one extra email.