
PlanGrid's Playbook for Startups to Crack Big, Established Industries - whatami
http://firstround.com/review/plangrids-playbook-for-startups-to-crack-open-big-established-industries/
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mmonihan
Having built a field management system in the construction industry[1], I can
confirm, it's a tough market. And, most of it comes down to getting in front
of people. A lot of my time is spent going to trade shows and pitching, just
like Tracy did, when I'm not coding.

There's a stigma that this industry is full of people who resist technology,
but I really don't think that's the case. People in this industry resist
change because change is risky. There's too much money at stake, and delays
associated with new technology can ruin an entire job. Paper processes are
usually terrible, but you're never going to have to battle wi-fi connectivity
to flip through your spec, or experience your pencil throwing a 500 when you
fill out a safety analysis. It takes a while for anyone in the field to get
comfortable with the pros and cons of a new process versus a paper process
that's worked for years.

It's changing incredibly quickly, though. There's a lot of new products
getting funded, and a big opportunity to integrate between them.

[1] [http://safety.voyager.vc/](http://safety.voyager.vc/)

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rhizome
_Paper processes are usually terrible, but you 're never going to have to
battle wi-fi connectivity..._

I noticed this point made in the article as well. Are cellular tablets simply
out of the question?

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mmonihan
The company I work with gives everyone a verizon cell hotspot and an android
tablet. These work fine in city areas where this company does a lot of utility
work.

But, when you do an install of electric wire towers on a mountain, you might
not have cell connectivity. Most apps get by this by saving data locally, and
then transmitting on the next connection.

~~~
rhizome
Well of course remote work is going to have its own challenges, but I don't
get the feeling that that's what's going on here. So, besides corner cases, is
there any reason not to consider cellular tablets in the construction world?

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Mtinie
Job sites, especially those in the throes of major structural construction,
are a horrible place if you are seeking consistent wifi or cellular coverage.

Generally: The thick concrete walls, exposed rebar, and intentional and
unintentional geometric structural elements combine to form a giant Faraday-
esque electromagnetic exclusion zone. Even with wifi repeaters on each floor
you aren't assured a connection.

I worked for LATISTA as a product designer and spent a significant amount of
time on-site speaking with users about this exact problem. It's getting
better, especially with the larger construction management / development
firms, but it's not a solved problem (unless your firm spends a significant
amount on portable IT infrastructure).

~~~
rhizome
Thank you.

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metalmanac
> Break the rules. Max out your credit.

Survivorship bias?

That's terrible advice. It worked out in their case and we get to hear their
story, what about the people who did this and failed? Don't extrapolate what
worked for them into generic advice, to say the least, it's dangerous.

~~~
beaconstudios
I'd probably roll this advice back to the more general case of "don't be
afraid to spend money to acquire the first users". The PlanGrid team may have
done this by maxing out credit, but that's just one (and possibly the most
risky) way to do this.

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graycat
My first concern would be display resolution: A blueprint is big, and mobile
displays are small. How the heck to see a big blueprint on a small screen?
Maybe use some very high resolution funny glasses -- but the OP didn't hint at
any such thing and, besides, wanted the mobile devices to cost less than $100
each.

The product design work, that is, go to the customer, e.g., if trying to help
truck drivers, then ride with some truck drivers and maybe get a job as a
truck driver for a while, is old advice in operations research.

The material on thinking about and planning whom to approach, understanding
what to tell them to get their interest in under two minutes, etc. is good
industrial selling.

The article describes for the product planning a lot of worker hours and
expenses for travel and lodging: Sounds like PlanGrid burned a lot of cash
before they got much revenue.

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xenadu02
The display resolution isn't a problem. Just like Safari on the iPad you zoom
in when you want to see more detail.

I don't want to disclose too much but you're completely wrong. PlanGrid was
profitable within its first year.

PlanGrid is a great company, still have friends working there. (Disclosure: I
wrote PlanGrid's sheet compare feature).

~~~
graycat
Sure, I thought of zoom. My concern, having drawn and looked at some
blueprints, was that a lot of zoom would have the person lose sight of the big
picture and that there would be no substitute for a big screen with a lot of
resolution.

Okay, if I'm wrong -- good for PlanGrid.

Amazing that they were profitable in the first year -- good for them. That was
likely, I'd guess no doubt, tough to do.

~~~
xenadu02
People did hook up to large TVs, use the website with a big monitor, etc.

The mobile app is about being able to look things up and input data right
there next to the problem you're dealing with.

Construction is odd in many ways. The superintendent is more powerful than the
CEO. If he/she doesn't want to use your software all the IT mandates in the
world can't make him/her. Big construction companies are one major fuckup away
from bankruptcy at all times. The superintendent is only as good as their last
job and can make the difference between a profitable year and a money pit of
lawsuits.

~~~
graycat
> People did hook up to large TVs, use the website with a big monitor, etc.

I can believe that.

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dynomite
And there's the full-screen popup with a passive agressive message. No thanks,
I prefer to not read the article.

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baxtr
All the advice in the article sounds very generic to me. Standard startup
fairytale. I wonder where all the upvotes are coming from

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mifeng
Have you tried selling a new, unproven product to an entrenched industry like
construction? I have, and it's much harder than refactoring spaghetti code or
learning Haskell.

>To bring them into the fold, the team started running superintendent “Ask Me
Anything (AMA)” sessions at the office, where the two goals were to celebrate
them as experts in the field, and to learn as much as possible about their
lives, work and problems.... During these events, the superintendents got to
know individuals at PlanGrid too, and walked away bigger evangelists than they
were before.

I haven't seen this done before, and it's a great idea.

~~~
rhizome
It sounded to me like one-person focus groups, AKA interrogation (with
donuts).

