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by MisterTea23 hours ago |
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upvoteby tezclarke23 hours ago|
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I don't believe SaaS is a good option in this sector - the incumbent VSaaS is decent, cheap, and ubiquitous. By "tech-enabling", I mean layering tech into the ops where it adds value and helps to scale the business. Obvious wins are upselling, hands-free data entry to the CRM, smart traps/stations. My choice is to compete as a tech-enabled operator, rather than sell AI/SaaS to incumbents.
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upvoteby fma22 hours ago|
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Similar boat here. Many of these service industries are cheap. I've built my own CRM/management system that no big company will ever touch. Even if I can sell to 1000 companies and charge them $25 a month...I'd have staff overhead, maintenance to support it. SaaS isn't some little photo editing app or something you can just launch and forget.

I'd rather grow my business and make as much money. If I can crush it with my business I'd make more than that.

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upvoteby tezclarke22 hours ago|
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Yeah agree - software needs to either do a ton more, be much cheaper, have network effects (such as connecting supply and demand), or some data benefit to avoid being built in-house or replicated.

Also for me there's an element of picking the pain I want to solve for. I've run a software company before, and prefer the tech-enabled route personally.

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upvoteby alberth20 hours ago|
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I’m genuinely inspired by your journey.

One question for clarity: why don’t you see an opportunity to sell AI or other technology into this space again? Is it just because incumbents already have it locked up and it’s cheap?

The reason I ask is that this feels like one of those moments in history similar to mobile. PlanGrid succeeded because tradespeople suddenly had iPhones and iPads in the field, which made it possible to digitize blueprints and collaborate in real time.

Put differently, what could be the new “PlanGrid” for your industry - that AI makes possible now, the way mobile once did for construction?

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upvoteby tezclarke17 hours ago|
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Pest control is about 60% consolidated, and I don't want to pick the fight of convincing the top 5-6 to buy more SaaS or AI. Realistically they're looking to Salesforce for leadership there.

I see today's consolidation as fragile though, and it's not locked in forever. I'm better at building a competitor where I have full influence of the customer and worker experience, and I have the patience to see it through.

Part of shaping my thinking here is 1) knowing what I'm good at, much better than I did before, and 2) in my previous company we built a heavy equipment telematics platform which was used on about 1/3 of the UK's infrastructure projects. JCB (an equipment OEM with their own bad version of what we were doing) threw the kitchen sink at field sales and account management, and they had reach into all the sites across the country. It was an eye opener and good lesson about go to market for enterprise sales in traditional industries.

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upvoteby petesergeant12 hours ago|
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I did this for a small recruitment niche, and made good money. I burned out for various reasons, so when the niche (Perl programming) dried up, I didn't have the energy in the tank to push into other niches, but I think there's a _lot_ of meat still on that bone. I'll almost certainly have another crack at it if I can find the right tech-recruiter partner.
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upvoteby clcaev23 hours ago|
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The software for businesses like this is tightly intertwined with operations. Hence, it's less of a SaaS and could be more like a franchise model.
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upvoteby tezclarke23 hours ago|
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I agree a lightweight franchise would be attractive, though I don't like most franchising options due to the fees and lack of equity build up for the operator.

Some franchising platforms (window cleaning is a good example) don't offer much beyond sales and marketing support and some nicely designed uniforms. There's not much to window cleaning other than basic equipment, so a person's route can easily be disrupted by a new entrant who doesn't have the franchise rake to contend with.

There's a model between employment, ownership and franchising that will probably emerge as sales, marketing, ops gets easier technically.

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upvoteby relaxing22 hours ago|
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