The Story of Mercator AI: Building the Future of Construction Business Development
At 2 AM in a woodworking shop, between shifts of crafting furniture, an idea took root that would transform how construction companies discover new projects. In a recent Category Visionaries episode, Chloe Smith shares how Mercator AI emerged from these late-night conversations.
From Side Hustle to Full-Time Bet
“We had actually owned a woodworking shop together for four and a half years prior to jumping into building a company together,” Chloe recalls of her early days with her co-founder. “During those years, you know, we’d be pulling the 02:00 a.m. shift at the shop and just talking about ideas and tossing ideas around. And Mercator was one that stuck with me for about two years.”
The decision to pursue Mercator AI full-time came from a simple realization about timing: “I’m 28 years old. If I go after this, I come out of, you know, say I put five years in, I come back out of that experience at the age of 33… But this time, I’m so much more educated on business, something that I’ve always wanted to learn about.”
Finding Their Focus
The journey wasn’t straightforward. With a background in data strategy and growing up around construction, Chloe noticed a critical industry challenge: “All of your revenue is tied up with people. It presents a huge risk to your company.”
This observation coincided with a larger industry trend: “We’re moving towards a generational shift, especially industries like construction, where we’re seeing more people retire out than come into the industry. And so the need becomes even stronger to help force multiply our teams because there’s fewer of us to do the work.”
Early Struggles and Pivots
The early days were marked by uncertainty and learning. Their first customer contract, a mere $200 deal, required a 21-page legal document and months of negotiations. “We had to get buy in from all their other team members. And it took months. It took so many months,” Chloe remembers.
But this customer provided crucial validation: “They came back and they said, ‘oh my goodness, you got me in front of like new clients I would have never known about.'” This feedback sparked the transformation from manual processes to an AI-powered platform.
Market Expansion and Evolution
Today, Mercator AI is expanding beyond its Calgary roots, with Austin, Texas as their first U.S. target market. The company’s approach to growth remains hands-on: direct engagement with customers, strong partnership programs, and strategic PR initiatives.
The Future Vision
Looking ahead three to five years, Chloe envisions Mercator AI expanding across North America while developing new product capabilities: “At the core of what we’re building is this incredibly robust, incredibly granular data set of construction activity across all markets and all market sectors.”
The company aims to move beyond just business development: “Being able to build out tooling that would help with competitive intelligence and pre-qualification and strategic planning would definitely be taking those steps… There’s many more back office products to come from Mercator AI and business development is really just the start.”
From late-night woodshop conversations to transforming how contractors discover opportunities, Mercator AI’s story demonstrates how deep industry understanding, combined with technological innovation, can reshape traditional industries for the next generation.