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Highlights

 

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Sandeep Ahuja, CEO of Covetool, a sustainable design platform that has raised over $36 Million in funding.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

  • Transforming Building Design with AI: Covetool is revolutionizing the architecture, engineering, and construction space by integrating AI with credentialed expertise to enhance building design processes, making them faster, cheaper, and more sustainable.
  • From Services to Software to AI-Powered Services: Sandeep discusses the company’s journey from a service-based business to a software platform and now to a combination of software and AI-powered services, enabling scalability and greater impact.
  • Hyper-Targeted Marketing Strategies: Covetool’s go-to-market strategy is highly data-driven, focusing on content and engagement within specific micro-communities, like targeting principal architects in California with tailored messages about local energy codes.
  • Importance of Letting Experts Lead: Sandeep emphasizes the value of trusting and empowering team members, even when it means stepping back and allowing them to make decisions that might initially feel counterintuitive.
  • Iterative Learning from Customer Feedback: By actively listening to customer calls, Sandeep identified a significant market shift—from users wanting software to preferring comprehensive services—which led to the pivot towards offering “value as a service” (VaaS).
  • Building Industry Disruption: Covetool is positioned to disrupt the traditional building design process by offering a lower-cost, more efficient alternative to traditional consultants, aiming to be the go-to design professional for buildings across North America.

 

Actionable
Takeaways

Embrace Iteration:

Regularly revisit and iterate on your marketing and product strategies based on customer feedback and market shifts. Flexibility can lead to significant growth opportunities.

Content-Driven Engagement:

Invest in creating and curating content that speaks directly to specific personas within your industry. Tailored content helps in building trust and converting leads.

Transition from SaaS to VaaS:

Consider the evolving needs of your customers. Sometimes, they may value outcomes over tools—leading to opportunities for delivering value as a service (VaaS) rather than just software.

Trust Your Team:

As a founder, it’s crucial to step back and let your experienced team members lead, especially in areas where they are experts. This trust can lead to better decision-making and growth.

Targeted Marketing for High Conversion:

Use data to identify and engage with niche segments within your market. Specificity in targeting can lead to higher conversion rates and deeper customer relationships.

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