Sabana

Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business

Industry: Construction Tech

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Ruben Antonio Quesada

Brief Description of Solution: Sabana is a data management platform designed to enhance collaboration and streamline the process of material/product selection and construction specifications for architects and design engineers. Our software addresses common industry pain points such as fragmented workflows, communication gaps, and the challenges of managing continuous design changes for design teams. By providing a centralized, cloud-based platform, Sabana enables seamless teamwork, reduces manual tasks, and improves overall project outcomes as it relates to construction products and materials.

Funding Dollars: $120,000 (Techstars Accelerator)

What led you to launch this venture? Before coming to Tepper, I worked as a project architect at ZGF Architects in Seattle and Washington, DC. Over the past eight years, I’ve gained a lot of experience with different phases of commercial construction projects and became intimately familiar with the nuances of the industry. As I continued to learn, I developed a strong curiosity about the inefficiencies in many of our workflows. Several of these processes were incredibly manual and time-consuming. These include, for instance, the interpretation of sustainability data like Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and the creation of custom construction specifications for projects.

This curiosity led me to apply to Project Olympus, an extracurricular program where CMU students can validate business ideas. I began our customer discovery by asking a simple question: is sustainability data related to products and materials easily accessible and interpretable by architects? As I conducted more interviews, I started to identify patterns that ultimately led me to start Sabana. The key realization was that a lot of the process for reviewing materials and products could be automated and streamlined, while also addressing two of the biggest pain points in the user experience: communication and coordination throughout a project’s lifecycle.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? It may sound cliché, but nothing beats the positive feedback from our beta testers. After showing a spec writer in Pittsburgh our first demo, she immediately said, “Wow, this feels like it was built for me and my process.” That moment validated our focus on solving user pain points and prioritizing value creation over extracting value.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? One of the biggest challenges I faced was finding a co-founder. It took months to find collaborators before I eventually found my co-founder Saket Kulkarni. It took months of working together and deciding on whether we were pursuing this idea to officially incorporate our business. I’d say It’s incredibly difficult to find someone who is as invested in the business as you are, can complement your blind spots, and believe in the same vision.

Many see entrepreneurship as a solo journey (and believe me, it can be extremely lonely at times), but building a strong founding team is also essential. Recruiting isn’t just about finding people to plug in; it’s about getting others to believe in your vision and getting them to contribute to shaping it. They aren’t just there to follow you; they help define the path forward. I honestly believe learning how to recruit and inspire others is one of the most undervalued skills in entrepreneurship.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at CMU has been incredibly helpful in my startup journey. The faculty, mentors, and resources have been incredible and challenges you daily. The programming and competitions at Swartz pushed me to learn quickly and organize my ideas and business hypothesis. Tepper’s entrepreneurship track also allowed me to tailor my courses to fit my startup needs, like taking Lean Entrepreneurship at Tepper and AI Ventures from the Computer Science School at the same time (with team members contributing their expertise directly to Sabana). The Swartz Fellowship also expanded my understanding of high-growth ventures, giving me opportunities to network with CMU founders and VCs in Silicon Valley, and teaching me about launching, fundraising, and scaling startups.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? I’d say it’s not a single person, but rather a pattern I noticed growing up as a kid in Costa Rica. Many of my friends’ parents, including my own father, were business owners and entrepreneurs. This taught me that entrepreneurship isn’t just about retaining equity or making money, but about the freedom and autonomy to shape your own path. While running a business can certainly consume you, I saw my father balance it with family time, taking breaks when he wanted to and staying in control. That autonomy is what motivates me in my own entrepreneurial journey, and I believe it’s a key reason why entrepreneurs often lead happier lives.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? I have a feeling a lot of my classes will end up being incredibly valuable as I develop my own business, but for now I would say AI Ventures really helped me jumpstart my business. Through this course, I recruited a team of four from Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction and Masters of Artificial Intelligence. It’s rare to find such top-tier talent so invested in your business for an entire semester. By the end of AI Ventures, we had not only built a fully functional demo, but also presented it to VCs from across the country. This experience was invaluable in preparing us for accelerator interviews, which ultimately led to our acceptance into Techstars AI in Chicago.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Meredith Grelli has been an incredible mentor from day one: consistently pushing me to move forward with my venture. Her Lean Entrepreneurship course was foundational for Sabana, and her approach to entrepreneurship has been deeply inspiring. I appreciate her honesty and vulnerability when discussing her own journey, which has given me a clearer understanding of the ups-and-downs that lie ahead. As someone who is unapologetic about being myself, I really connected with Meredith on that level, making her mentorship especially meaningful. Also, I appreciate her reminders to take care of myself and my mental health!

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success?
Pittsburgh’s thriving AI scene has been instrumental in the development of Sabana. With Carnegie Mellon at the forefront of AI research and innovation, one is surrounded by top AI talent and resources that would be impossible to find elsewhere. I just consider myself lucky for being at the right time and place to start our startup.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Our primary goal is to build something our users truly love, focusing on creating real value for our customers and taking it one step at a time. While we’re not ready to commit to an ‘exit strategy’ or define an ultimate goal just yet, we’re open to wherever the journey takes us. As we prepare to start our accelerator journey at Techstars, we’re eager to learn as much as possible. By staying hungry, curious, and motivated, I believe we can build a successful business. And if things go sideways, we’ll just pivot. Ha!

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? There’s so much you don’t know, and that’s OK. Early on, I stressed about trying to learn everything quickly and predict every outcome. This is a long process, and you need to be open-minded and fully dedicated. You can’t do this halfway or spread yourself too thin. Impostor syndrome is real, but you can overcome it by taking things one day at a time and not skipping steps. Stay focused, and most importantly, embrace the journey.

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