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Building Beautiful Homes with Robots: The Future of Construction | Salar al Khafaji (CEO and Founder of Monumental)

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Sep 16, 2025

Guest

Salar al Khafaji

Salar al Khafaji, CEO and founder of Monumental, is revolutionizing construction with autonomous robots that lay bricks. He discusses the massive opportunity for innovation in a sector plagued by stagnation. The conversation includes the challenges posed by labor shortages, particularly in Europe, and how robotics can rekindle architectural beauty. Salar reflects on the unique company culture shaped by his time at Palantir, the balance between structure and chaos in startups, and strategies to foster ambition within Europe's burgeoning tech ecosystem.

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insights

INSIGHT

Robots To Restore Beautiful Construction

Monumental aims to make construction faster, cheaper, and more beautiful by building autonomous construction robots.
They started with bricklaying because it's a high-need European trade that aligns with aesthetic goals.

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ANECDOTE

The Self-Funded MBA Before Monumental

Salar took a year-plus off after selling his previous company to learn industries and technologies before picking a new problem.
He treated the period as a self-funded MBA of reading, intros, and helping founders to test ideas.

insights

INSIGHT

Software Alone Can't Fix Construction

Software tools alone couldn't move construction productivity significantly because the real problem is executing physical work.
Solving the physical task requires moving into factories, prefab, or robotics—big leaps from software.

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Revolutionizing Construction with Robotics

05:01 • 13min

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Reviving Architectural Beauty Through Technology

18:22 • 17min

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The Culture of Innovation at Palantir

35:47 • 6min

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Innovating Construction: The Role of Robotics in Building Projects

41:30 • 3min

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Robotics Revolution in Construction

44:03 • 12min

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Fostering Ambition in European Startups

56:18 • 22min

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The Impact of Legibility and Metrics in Construction and Beyond

01:18:11 • 2min

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Keith Johnstone

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Salar al Khafaji is the CEO and founder of Monumental, a company building autonomous robots that assemble buildings, starting with its bricklaying system. After selling his previous software company to Palantir, Salar took time to explore big industries ripe for disruption before landing on construction—a sector that represents a significant portion of GDP yet has seen decades of productivity stagnation.

We explore:

• Why construction represents a massive opportunity for technological innovation

• How Monumental's system of three robots works together to lay bricks autonomously

• Why Europe's severe bricklayer shortage has created wages as high as €80/hour

• The post-WWII shift away from beautiful architecture and how to bring it back

• Why operating as a subcontractor rather than selling robots makes business sense

• The challenges of building a hardware startup in Europe's tech ecosystem

• How Palantir's "cult-like" culture influenced Monumental's approach to company building

• The balance between structure and productive chaos in scaling a startup

• Why the best robotics companies solve specific problems rather than building general-purpose machines

• How to foster ambition in Europe's startup ecosystem

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Thank you to the partners who make this possible

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Transcript: https://www.generalist.com/p/building-beautiful-homes-with-robots-salar-al-khafaji

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Salar

(04:44) Overview of Monumental’s work and mission

(06:25) Salar’s journey after selling his company to Palantir

(11:46) Stagnation in the construction industry

(14:21) The mental shift from software to hardware entrepreneurship

(16:10) Salar’s funding framework

(18:21) The post-WWII decline in constructing beautiful buildings

(20:23) Choosing bricklaying as the first construction trade to tackle

(25:20) Why Monumental operates as a subcontractor

(28:38) The limitations of 3D printing and prefab construction

(33:15) The technology and pricing bets Salar made

(33:45) Lessons from Palantir's culture

(39:35) Monumental's company culture

(42:31) An overview of a construction job from start to finish

(45:50) Precision and tolerances

(47:50) Surprising challenges in the construction industry

(49:10) The current state of Monumental and what’s next

(54:00) Why humanoid robots don’t make sense for Monumental

(56:16) Building an ambitious company in Europe

(01:00:56) Monumental’s approach to hiring

(01:03:10) The state of European tech and what needs to change

(01:06:00) Salar’s optimistic take on the current state of tech in Europe

(01:10:46) Final meditations

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Follow Salar al Khafaji

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salark/

X: https://x.com/salar

Website: https://sal.ar/

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Resources and episode mentions

—Books—

• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

• Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX: https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973

• Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-like-State-Certain-Condition/dp/0300078153

• The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Big-Number-World-about/dp/0691166528

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Episode resources continued at: https://www.generalist.com/p/building-beautiful-homes-with-robots-salar-al-khafaji

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