The Problem Was Right. The Business Model Was Wrong.
Building a company is a game of persistence—but persistence does not mean repeating the same approach forever.
Three months after sharing the beginning of my full-time journey with Awatif, I had learned an uncomfortable lesson: we were solving a real problem through the wrong business model.
The previous months changed how we sell, how we divide our time, and how we think structural engineering software will evolve.
The Pain Was Real
Structural engineers still spend too much time on repetitive work.
The solution is also increasingly clear. Many of these workflows can be automated through visual programming, conventional programming, or—more powerfully—AI combined with an engineering platform such as Awatif.
Our mistake was not the problem or the underlying technology. It was assuming that SaaS was automatically the best way to deliver the solution.
SaaS Was the Hard Mode
Building a SaaS product requires capital, patience, continuous product development, support, and enough customers paying a recurring fee to sustain the business.
Meanwhile, two simpler ways of delivering the same core value were already available:
- Training engineers to build their own tools with AI and Awatif
- Building custom automation workflows as a service
The problem stayed the same. The technical foundation stayed the same. What changed was the offer.
That pivot worked. It brought us closer to engineers, created faster feedback loops, and let us deliver value without waiting for a complete general-purpose product.
A Break Exposed the Imbalance
Working continuously can make activity look like progress.
During a laptop-free holiday in Albania, I finally had enough distance to see the imbalance: I was spending roughly 80% of my time building and only 20% selling.
For an early-stage company, that ratio needed to be reversed.
More code was not the main constraint. We needed more conversations, more demonstrations, and more chances to understand why an engineer would—or would not—adopt what we were creating.
Taking a break did not slow the business down. It revealed where the business was already stuck.
Two Shifts We Believe Will Reshape the Industry
The past months also clarified two ideas that now guide Awatif.
Structural Engineers Should Build Apps, Not Only Buy Them
AI dramatically lowers the barrier between an engineering idea and a working application.
Engineers understand the calculations, standards, exceptions, and office-specific workflows. With AI and an open engineering platform, that knowledge can be turned into purpose-built tools without waiting for a software vendor to recognise every niche problem.
This is why we are investing in training and custom automation: the future is not one application that solves everything, but engineers who can create the tools their work requires.
Nonlinear Analysis Should Become the Default
Linear analysis remains popular because it is familiar and computationally convenient—not because structural behaviour is inherently linear.
The Awatif Solver is being built around a different expectation: nonlinear analysis should be accessible enough to use by default, not reserved for exceptional projects or specialist workflows.
Better solver performance and browser-based delivery can make more realistic analysis available earlier in the design process.
The Journey Has Just Started
The most important lesson was not to quit at the first sign that the original model was not working. It was to separate the mission from the method.
Our mission remains the same: give structural engineers better ways to automate repetitive work and analyse structures.
The method can—and should—change as we learn.