GRIT ED. 7 Your Next Move - Magazine - Page 19
In true Canadian fashion, the two would arrive onsite with coffee and Timbits, interviewing workers
and supervisors, asking questions like “what’s
the most frustrating part of your day?” After six
months and over 500 interviews, the duo began to
identify the trends that led to the creation of their
first product, designed to tackle the quality control
process on large-scale projects. This
approach grew to be core to how they
build their products at Bridgit.
Today, Bridgit continues to take a
customer-centric
approach
and
develop products that have been
designed and built based on in-depth
research and feedback from the
construction industry. This process
allows them to build products that
solve the true pain points the industry
faces and to make powerful solutions
while maintaining a simple and userfriendly experience.
Now, two years post-pivot, it was a risk the two
are grateful to have taken. Since launching Bridgit
Bench, the business has changed drastically for
today’s market, but looking back to the inherent
challenges they faced and the lesson learned, the
two would have structured their initial product to
warrant a recurring revenue model that reflects the
model of their current product.
“While some would
have said it was
risky to change
directions after 6
years in business,
we told ourselves
that the riskier
thing would be
to do nothing.”
Sacrificing pawns for a higher gain
and moving with caution is a situation
Bridgit is all too familiar with, going
through a significant pivot just two years ago. After
several years of building their first product, Bridgit
Field, the team ended up changing directions and
launching an entirely new product, Bridgit Bench,
designed for construction workforce planning.
Since launching Bridgit Field in 2014, the
construction tech industry had seen rapid growth,
and this changed the market dynamics and made
it more challenging to compete. While the business
was still growing, it became increasingly clear that
Bridgit Field was no longer the best opportunity to
pursue. As Bridgit Field was sold on a per-project
basis, this model made it challenging to scale at a
desirable rate. Mallorie and Lauren knew they had to
make a change.
ADVICE
FROM A
FOUNDER
With the long-term product, revenue,
and strategic plans that act as a North
Star guide, Bridgit is always operating
under multiple time horizons–annually,
quarterly, monthly, weekly. This helps
these two co-founders stay focused in
the right direction and make sure they
are aligned. Juggling these different
time frames and constantly asking
themselves, “what needs to be done
today in order to achieve X in a year?”
Mallorie & Lauren always have a longterm plan in place but remain flexible as
plans are always changing. “We’d rather
change course as soon as we identify a
misstep rather than continue down the
wrong path any longer.”
Construction is going through an accelerated
digital transformation, and this trend is expected to
continue over the next five years. Considering that it
was less than ten years ago that smartphones began
to appear on job sites. In the eyes of Bridgit, in five
years, they expect to see the construction industry
leveraging data to make key business decisions that
help drive further profitability.
Bridgit continues to improve workforce planning
within
the
Architecture,
Engineering
and
Construction industry while working closely with
customers to expand product offerings and become
the system of record for all.
“In our experience, understanding our
customers has been crucial to our success.
Get out there and meet your customers.
Try to learn as much about the people you are building your
business for. It’s amazing what you can learn just by asking
people questions with a friendly smile (and a box
of donuts never hurts)!”
18
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Next Founders, 2015
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