A blueprint for disruption
Bridgit founders give construction sites a new tool
Across the globe, thousands of millennials are starting businesses on the premise today’s smartphone technology can create new value and disrupt entire industries.
Most of these digital revolutionaries will fail, for the usual reasons: they lacked industry contacts, targeted the wrong market, underestimated users’ r esistance to new technology, or couldn’t raise capital in a saturated ecosystem.
But Kitchener, Ont.-based Bridgit has found the for- mula for disrupting markets. Through deep industry knowledge, a tight focus on customer value, and sheer hard work, its founders — Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Lake — are changing the way the construction industry shares data across Canada and in major U.S. cities.
It’s a mission Lake, 24, has taken personally since she began working in construction while studying structural engineering at Western University in London, Ont. “I showed up on a job site with my iPhone, and got handed a clipboard,” she recalls. The hundreds of inputs required in a major construction project were still being recorded on paper, Excel spreadsheets and Post- It Notes, making sharing this information difficult and costly.
L a ke, met Brodie, a 25- year- old Ivey Business grad from Western, when they were first chosen for the 2013 cohort of the Next 36, a Toronto- based program t hat t ri es to t urn deans’- list undergrads into high-impact entrepreneurs.
The selected participants were divided into teams and challenged to come up with an app- based business idea in 12 hours. Lake proposed that the construction industry needed a mobile- data overhaul, and Brodie soon agreed.
Their quick consensus proved an advantage: They spent the next few hours calling 20 industry contacts, who confirmed this was a problem worth solving.
Then the real work began. Brodie and Lake drove around London “crane- hunting,” seeking construction sites where they could talk to managers and workers about their data- sharing problems. “We interviewed more than 500 people,” Brodie, Bridgit’s CEO, says. Unlike many teams in the Next 36 program, Bridgit didn’t have its own software expert. With a l imited coding budget, Brodie says, “we had to make sure we got it right the first time.”
After one or two false starts, they focused on deficiency management.
No construction project is complete until every finished element is inspected for conformity to plan. There may be thousands of dings, scratches, and mistakes that subcontractors must rectify before a job is finished.
Managing t hese scattered, dog- eared deficiency lists is difficult and timeconsuming; developers and contractors agreed a better system was needed.
Bridgit’s solution is Closeout, a mobile app that helps construction teams better manage deficiencies. Everyone can access the list in real time, see what needs fixing, and submit photos when the work is done. Lake, Bridgit’s chief revenue officer, says Closeout helps construction projects get finished sooner and subcontractors get paid faster. She cites one developer that, using Closeout, reached the substantial completion stage on time, “with a deficiency list of zero,” for the first time, and saving $500,000.
Closeout also helps developers collect better data, to better understand and control costs. This sticky benefit means clients grow dependent on the data from Closeout — and encourage i ts adoption throughout their organizations.
Bridgit now has more than 100 clients paying fees of between $ 1,000 and $ 3,000 a month. Active in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, it is now signing customers in New York, Miami, Chicago and Seattle. Bridgit has enjoyed double-digit growth every month since the beginning of 2015, Lake says.
When it comes to selling, Lake and Brodie say the hardest part isn’t pitching; it’s getting appointments. In the early days, they attacked that problem by making 100 calls a day. Once they get in front of decision- makers, they say their platform’s easy- to- use interface and clear value proposition turn prospects into buyers.
But construction is a local industry, so each new city means starting all over with cold calls and emails. Fortunately, says Lake, “Referrals start happening, and every subsequent sale gets easier.”
But even great products need help to succeed. Bridgit has been part of the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab, where tech-industry mentors help founders hone their products and raise early-stage capital. Last year, it participated in the C100’s “48 Hours in the Valley” tour of Silicon Valley, as well as Waterloo’s Communitech Rev, a six-month accelerator that focuses on revenue growth. “Rev gave us good practical stuff: how to hire sales people, build a sales model and structure teams,” Lake says. “We went into Rev with just me doing sales, and left it with a sales team of five.”
Brodie and Lake enter pitch contests, hoping to meet prospective advisers, prospects or team members. They also win a lot. Last year, they snared the $15,000 first prize from the inaugural C100 Startup Challenge in Toronto, and a $ 25,000 second-place prize from Rev’s “Centre Stage” competition. In December, Bridgit was one of 11 companies picked from 450 applicants to pitch in San Francisco at Google for Entrepreneurs’ Demo Day for women- led businesses. Not only did it finish first, but that win created a buzz that led to a $2.2-million funding round.
As women in a male-dominated industry, Lake and Brodie insist they have never encountered gender- related obstacles. Selling value trumps sexism, says Brodie: “How often does someone walk into your office and ask how they can help you do your job better?”
BRIDGIT WAS ONE OF 11 COMPANIES PICKED TO PITCH IN SAN FRANCISCO AT GOOGLE FOR ENTREPRENEURS’ DEMO DAY FOR WOMEN-LED BUSINESSES. NOT ONLY DID BRIDGIT FINISH FIRST, BUT THAT WIN CREATED A BUZZ THAT LED TO A $2.2-MILLION FUNDING ROUND.