Stanley Tobin on The Enterprise Edge: software’s out, hardware’s in

A data center deal changed how he sees AI. On the podcast, he explains what it means for owners of construction and manufacturing companies.

Senior Director Stanley Tobin sat down with host Mark Vigoroso on The Enterprise Edge, a podcast that mostly hears from software and technology executives. Stanley brought a different view: the money behind AI is landing in concrete, copper and skilled labor.

It started with a sale. Stanley advised an excavation contractor that works on Tier IV hyperscale data centers, under a general contractor building for Microsoft. Each building runs about $1.5 billion, has to be finished in 18 months, and they go up two or three at a time. Two years ago that deal sent him looking hard at what AI actually needs to run.

From there he gets into what he sees on the sell side today: buyers paying up for construction companies, among them MasTec, which acquired Biggs Construction in a sale Stanley led; valuation work that used to take weeks and now takes minutes; and why an owner with no plans to sell should still find out what the market would pay. He made a similar case about the skilled trades in Newsweek in September.

“Companies are getting bought for their workers.”

“You don’t have to sell your business. What you do want to do is make informed decisions.”

Stanley Tobin, Senior Director, on The Enterprise Edge

In this episode

11:14

The data center sale that changed how he sees AI

15:03

Valuation work that took weeks of analysts now takes minutes

18:42

Why buyers are acquiring contractors for their workforces

21:22

Why construction company multiples have gone up