6 ms·

Full disclosure: I'm on the iOS team at PlanGrid. We're a YC-12, VC-backed company. We were profitable within a year of the seed round. We still have the bulk

Full disclosure: I'm on the iOS team at PlanGrid. We're a YC-12, VC-backed company. We were profitable within a year of the seed round. We still have the bulk of our Series A in the bank but went ahead and raised a $40 million Series B because terms were extremely good (low dilution plus we can ride out any downturn). I suspect some of these high valuations are simply investors paying a premium to buy in, not an expectation that the company is or isn't worth that much. When I walk around SF with my PlanGrid shirt on it isn't other people in tech that say hello or know who I am... it's the guys working at construction sites. People in hard-hats and boots who tell us our software has changed their lives. The tech press and insular SV community obsesses about the ultra-unicorns. Some of us are just busy quietly solving people's needs (usually in industries that have been long-ignored by SV/tech) and we're doing quite well for it. There may be a bubble but if you build something that provides real, immediate value to customers then the rest of it is just noise.

bardworx 11y ago
Just checked out your site and I have two things to say: 1 - this is getting forwarded to our construction manager. This should help them tremendously. 2 - I got a bit of a funky layout on 6+ (safari). Not sure if it's me or not but a heads up, regardless. Thank you sir. [edit] sent screenshot from phone via support email [didn't want to reply and hijack thread]
- MAGZine 11y ago
  Another PlanGridder—we're really proud of our product and really appreciate your support--so thanks :) people find our product really helpful, hopefully your construction manager + team will, too! could you send along a pic of the funky layout?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
semi-extrinsic 11y ago
I see PlanGrid is aimed squarely at professional constructors. Is there any benefit in using it for small, private projects, or is it too "enterprisey"? Say you're building e.g. a garage. And can you ELI5 what "free for 50 sheets" means?
- nightpool 11y ago
  I don't think so? All I know about plangrid is from their landing page, but it seems like it'd be like using e.g. JIRA or Gerrit for a single-person project. i.e. it wouldn't provide any additional value
  - semi-extrinsic 11y ago
    Yeah, I'm unsure, that's why I ask. Some of the features (version control, progress pictures, fast rendering on mobile devices) definitely seem useful even for a single-person project.
- rsuttongee 11y ago
  PlanGrid co-founder here. It's definitely useful for a project of any size, but the value definitely scales non-linearly with the size of a project. If nothing else, if you have a construction project that has paper plans, PlanGrid is the best way to make them digital, shareable, usable by multiple people.
  - abduhl 11y ago
    This wasn't readily apparent to me after watching your video so I guess I'll ask here - what do you think is the core value of PlanGrid? Is the point to be a full document control type solution (e.g. - in the same vein as Aconex) or is it a collaboration tool focused on construction? It appears to be the latter? I guess I could just ask one of the guys I know from DPR...
  - burnte 11y ago
    Construction is booming here in Atlanta. If you want a technically knowledgeable sales rep in ATL, tell me who to talk to. The app looks amazing, as in it's actually innovative, as opposed to just another chat or email client. I'd love to be a part of that type of company.
aswanson 11y ago
Nice to see a "hard hat" (don't pardon the pun) business solving real pain points for regular problems. Good work.
jakejake 11y ago
My opinion is because HN is highly entrepreneur+VC focused and tech happens to be the area of interest. As such the discussion leans towards investments with huge payouts. Companies that are profitable and don't need funding are not particularly interesting to investors. If this was a tech-only forum then the business guys & gals probably wouldn't even be welcome, & vice-versa if it were a business-only forum. It's an interesting mix here that probably wouldn't normally have a lot to talk about together. But I do think it puts stars in a lot of programmers eyes who might not otherwise care about that kind of stuff.
dsugarman 11y ago
It sounds like you guys/gals made sound decisions. I think there could be other harmful side-effects you aren't considering though. VCs like to superglue a cinderblock to the gas pedal, speed up spending to get to billion dollars or bust. There is no paying dividends, no having a strong business that isn't a billion dollar business. Also when it is so easy to get a great valuation and limited dilution, it's hard to maintain that valuation after the markets turn. If you really are able to maintain control and not increase spending with the additional capital, then that's fantastic.
ryan-allen 11y ago
> People in hard-hats and boots who tell us our software has changed their lives. That is so great, this is what it's all about in my opinion.
partiallypro 11y ago
VC-backed firms that are focused on enterprise don't worry me, those focused on the consumer side worry me. Consumers are more fickle than businesses, which generally lock in vendors and want streamlined items. With consumers, an item like Snapchat is the hot item today, but AIM was the hot item before that, then it was Skype, etc, etc, etc. Consumers don't have the loyalties that enterprise has. Facebook was smart because it has built an ecosystem around its graph, others haven't and I fear eventually those "utlra-unicorns" are going to face reality and that is going to hurt firms, even your own. And with some firms their path to profitability is total nonsensical. Monetizing is extremely difficult when you can't actually charge your customers in any significant way without completely driving them away.
jimmylouchart 11y ago
https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY
jimmylouchart 11y ago
https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY

bardworx 11y ago

Just checked out your site and I have two things to say: 1 - this is getting forwarded to our construction manager. This should help them tremendously. 2 - I got a bit of a funky layout on 6+ (safari). Not sure if it's me or not but a heads up, regardless. Thank you sir. [edit] sent screenshot from phone via support email [didn't want to reply and hijack thread]

MAGZine 11y ago
Another PlanGridder—we're really proud of our product and really appreciate your support--so thanks :) people find our product really helpful, hopefully your construction manager + team will, too! could you send along a pic of the funky layout?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

semi-extrinsic 11y ago

I see PlanGrid is aimed squarely at professional constructors. Is there any benefit in using it for small, private projects, or is it too "enterprisey"? Say you're building e.g. a garage. And can you ELI5 what "free for 50 sheets" means?

nightpool 11y ago
I don't think so? All I know about plangrid is from their landing page, but it seems like it'd be like using e.g. JIRA or Gerrit for a single-person project. i.e. it wouldn't provide any additional value
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  Yeah, I'm unsure, that's why I ask. Some of the features (version control, progress pictures, fast rendering on mobile devices) definitely seem useful even for a single-person project.
rsuttongee 11y ago
PlanGrid co-founder here. It's definitely useful for a project of any size, but the value definitely scales non-linearly with the size of a project. If nothing else, if you have a construction project that has paper plans, PlanGrid is the best way to make them digital, shareable, usable by multiple people.
- abduhl 11y ago
  This wasn't readily apparent to me after watching your video so I guess I'll ask here - what do you think is the core value of PlanGrid? Is the point to be a full document control type solution (e.g. - in the same vein as Aconex) or is it a collaboration tool focused on construction? It appears to be the latter? I guess I could just ask one of the guys I know from DPR...
- burnte 11y ago
  Construction is booming here in Atlanta. If you want a technically knowledgeable sales rep in ATL, tell me who to talk to. The app looks amazing, as in it's actually innovative, as opposed to just another chat or email client. I'd love to be a part of that type of company.

aswanson 11y ago

Nice to see a "hard hat" (don't pardon the pun) business solving real pain points for regular problems. Good work.

jakejake 11y ago

My opinion is because HN is highly entrepreneur+VC focused and tech happens to be the area of interest. As such the discussion leans towards investments with huge payouts. Companies that are profitable and don't need funding are not particularly interesting to investors. If this was a tech-only forum then the business guys & gals probably wouldn't even be welcome, & vice-versa if it were a business-only forum. It's an interesting mix here that probably wouldn't normally have a lot to talk about together. But I do think it puts stars in a lot of programmers eyes who might not otherwise care about that kind of stuff.

dsugarman 11y ago

It sounds like you guys/gals made sound decisions. I think there could be other harmful side-effects you aren't considering though. VCs like to superglue a cinderblock to the gas pedal, speed up spending to get to billion dollars or bust. There is no paying dividends, no having a strong business that isn't a billion dollar business. Also when it is so easy to get a great valuation and limited dilution, it's hard to maintain that valuation after the markets turn. If you really are able to maintain control and not increase spending with the additional capital, then that's fantastic.

ryan-allen 11y ago

> People in hard-hats and boots who tell us our software has changed their lives. That is so great, this is what it's all about in my opinion.

partiallypro 11y ago

VC-backed firms that are focused on enterprise don't worry me, those focused on the consumer side worry me. Consumers are more fickle than businesses, which generally lock in vendors and want streamlined items. With consumers, an item like Snapchat is the hot item today, but AIM was the hot item before that, then it was Skype, etc, etc, etc. Consumers don't have the loyalties that enterprise has. Facebook was smart because it has built an ecosystem around its graph, others haven't and I fear eventually those "utlra-unicorns" are going to face reality and that is going to hurt firms, even your own. And with some firms their path to profitability is total nonsensical. Monetizing is extremely difficult when you can't actually charge your customers in any significant way without completely driving them away.

jimmylouchart 11y ago

https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY

jimmylouchart 11y ago

https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY https://youtu.be/ARIE9_HmATY