Congratulations to Wichita startup PLOT Jobsite Management for their recent win at the Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) Industrial Grade Innovation Conference and Expo’s Startup Battle!
Eight construction technology start-ups competed in four rounds of head-to-head battles. PLOT was voted the winner by a group of venture capitalists who attended the conference. The grand prize was $20,000.
Way to go, Chris, Chad, Nick, and Andrew!
We had a chance to ask Chris Callen, PLOT founder and CEO, a few questions about the experience:
Congrats on the TAUC win. Other than the money, why is this a significant win for PLOT?
The major win for PLOT at the IGI conference was getting on stage and presenting our view of digital construction in front of a large target audience. As a young company, new contacts and feedback is gold. This just expands our network and our ability to influence change.
To our knowledge, PLOT has so far been a customer-driven product, meaning that you're adding features based on the feedback you hear from customers. What kind of feedback did you hear from attendees at the conference?
The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Some of the helpful advice we have heard from conference participants is nuances that their jobsites have that would require a singular feature adjustment or upgrade. Every jobsite is different, so maintaining an application that is flexible is priority number #1.
What kind of feedback did you hear from the pitch battle judges?
The judges for the pitch battle were all Venture Capitalists. They were primarily interested in our go-to-market plans and what unique sales models we had in mind. We are built more for saturation (# of different companies) than high price tags, which means we have to find unique ways to find more specialized contractors. Our three-phase approach of direct sales, product-led-sales, and product-led-growth has been received very well. We just now have to go out and prove it.
What are you working on now that you're really excited about?
We are onboarding some massive projects around the U.S. Demos and mockups are great, but seeing real reactions from project teams is everything. We are morphing from being just a product, to building the company around it. It is a tiring exercise, but one of the best endeavors I have been a part of.
About the Show
The Industrial Grade Innovation Conference and Expo was created by TAUC to bring owners, contractors, and labor together to learn and experience how new and existing technology and innovation can be incorporated on their jobsites to make them safer, more efficient, and more productive.
Watch a video of their initial pitch below: