For June, we speak to Dr Richard Ahlfeld, CEO and founder of Monolith AI. Monolith is a machine learning AI platform designed to reduce product development time. The platform aims to empower engineers by aiding them to build self-learning models, reducing testing and increasing the development of better quality products.
Tell us about yourself
I am Dr Richard Ahlfeld, CEO and Founder of Monolith AI. We have developed a platform combining AI, tailored visualisation, and high-performance-computing to equip engineers and data-scientists and accelerate product development.
What inspired you to start Monolith AI?
Monolith AI was founded from my PhD at Imperial College London. I have always wanted to build cool, world-transforming tech. The vision behind Monolith is actually JARVIS from Iron Man, the ultimate assistant for engineers. Imagine how quickly we could develop new products with that kind of help!
Sell it to us – how does it work?
Our platform helps to easily gather all available data in one place, quickly get good insights from it, learn from past simulations or experiments, share knowledge between teams more efficiently, and make better and more informed decisions about the product. The platform comes with various off-the-shelf exploration functions and machine learning models, but also in-house-developed algorithms to apply machine learning models on 3D data (mesh, cad files etc). It also offers the ability for your own data-scientist teams to customise and create new models, and visualisation tools.
What would you say are the best things about working at Monolith AI?
Working on something that you believe in with a team of people who are essentially your friends – it does not feel like work at all.
What is the hardest thing about working at Monolith AI?
The hardest thing is letting staff go. For me, everybody in the team is part of the family. Sadly, in business, sometimes people just don’t end up working out in the role that they are in and you need to part ways. It sounds natural, but it feels really bad when it happens in a small and friendly company.
What’s the best thing your company has achieved so far?
It has been quite astonishing to us that world-leading engineering companies like Honda, BMW and Siemens have started trusting us a few years after starting off. That is hugely rewarding and is something we are really proud of as a team.
What does the future hold?
I genuinely think we have the potential to change the way engineering works. There are so many problems that can be solved much faster through machine learning. I think Monolith AI or software similar to Monolith will be part of the everyday tool chain five years from now at the very latest.
What’s the top piece of advice you would give to someone considering entrepreneurship?
I think it all comes down to optimism. Every day there are things that are just super hard, things that everybody thinks are impossible, friends and family telling you this will fail, potential investors telling you there is no market for this. Don’t believe them and stay optimistic.
What is the most important skill you’ve learnt from the Enterprise Fellowships programme?
The negotiation training was the most memorable and highly useful event for me, as I came from an academic background and have never had to negotiate before.
What advice would you give to potential applicants?
Make sure to prepare for commercialisation questions as well as technology questions for the application and the interview – everyone applying can answer questions about their own tech and tech in general.
And finally, if you received an infinite sum of cash, what’s the first thing you would do for your business?
Buy a big house that everyone can live and work in…realistic, I know…
The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub supports the UK’s brightest technology and engineering entrepreneurs to realise their potential.
We run four programmes for entrepreneurial engineers at different career stages. Each one offers equity-free funding, an extended programme of mentorship and coaching, and a lifetime of support through connection to an exceptional community of engineers and innovators.
The Enterprise Hub focuses on supporting individuals and fostering their potential in the long term, taking nothing in return. This sets us apart from the usual ‘accelerator’ model. The Enterprise Hub’s programmes last between 6 and 12 months, and all programmes give entrepreneurs lifelong access to an unrivalled community of mentors and alumni.
Our goal is to encourage creativity and innovation in engineering for the benefit of all. By fostering lasting, exceptional connections between talent and expertise, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of innovation that can deliver on this ambition.
The Enterprise Hub was formally launched in April 2013. Since then, we have supported over 300 researchers, recent graduates and SME leaders to start up and scale up businesses that can give practical application to their inventions. We’ve awarded over £11 million in grant funding, and our Hub Members have gone on to raise over £1.2 billion in additional funding.