builder.ai
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The world’s shortest elevator pitch: “Software as easy as ordering a pizza.”
company: builder.ai
position: london, united kingdom
Year of establishment: 2016
Website/App: https://www.builder.ai/
Funding rounds to date: “Series D”
Who are your investors? “We have raised $450 million. We have a long list of investors including QIA (Qatar Investment Authority); ICONIQ Capital; Insight Partners; Jungle Ventures; IFC; WndrCo; and Lake Star.”
Looking for more investment? “We’re always looking for investment, but we’re never looking for investment.”
Please tell us about Sachin Dev Duggal, Founder and CEO: “I was born and raised in London. I built my first business PC when I was 14 years old because my home computer broke and I had to fix it and I realized it was pretty lucrative. I graduated from high school, but I didn’t want to go straight to university, so I talked my mother into doing an internship.I joined Deutsche Bank when I was 17, as one of the youngest employees. I worked there for 5 years and also went to university, studying computer science and electrical engineering at Imperial. I started a cloud computing company while I was at university, quit my job after graduating, and stayed there for about 9 years. I was working while streaming windows in my browser. I stopped doing that and started building a photo sharing app, but I kept having trouble building the front end of the application. That’s when we started working. That’s the real reason I started using Builder.ai. Outside of work, I’m an avid tennis player. I started playing competitively. I have two dinosaurs (kids).”
Who is your co-founder/partner? “The core team has been at Builder since the beginning. I consider them my partners. I am the sole founder. These individuals include Priyanka Kochhar, VP of Product; Mr. Rohan Patel, Senior Vice President of Engineering. Mr. Varghese Cherian, Vice President of Revenue. Joe Nornea, Chief Operating Officer. He does everything that no one else wants to do. They stand out. The thing is, it’s been almost eight years since I joined the company and they’re still here and growing as the company grows. They’re relentless and that’s really important to me. They’re authentic. Enough. That’s outstanding because you never get that authenticity. They’re very intentional. They’ve charted the path that they’ve been on. Those three things set them apart.”
How does your platform work? “Think of our platform as four different parts: One is a Lego-like library of reusable software functionality: reusable code and reusable design. , artificial intelligence powering the assembly line that brings these capabilities together; a network of experts to do the last 10-20% of customization; and all the services you need as your software grows, including mobile, apps, and desktop. We have supported numerous sporting events in the past. Builder is a configurable software platform, which means that anyone can create software applications. For example, we recently helped a fast-growing tennis league called Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) create a digital-first fan experience, including interacting with players and events, and getting live streams of matches. They wanted to create engagement. The matches are short, one-hour matches, so they’re very interesting and very exciting. They chose a builder. This represents the high end of how we can help them build a digital platform for sporting events. We also supported an amateur tournament called ASCoT, which runs an annual event where amateurs representing different countries participate as teams and organize tournaments. The entire infrastructure for that tournament is built on Builder. These are great examples of very small events, global events, and tour tournaments that can use our platform to build software applications.”
What problem is your company solving? “We help non-technical customers build software applications, unlocking their potential, their company’s potential, and the potential of their ideas. After all, building software is very complex, but with Builder and our AI, Natasha, you can build software applications without writing a single line of code, just by talking about the problem you’re trying to solve.”
How much does your product cost? Who is your target customer? “Builder is very unique in this respect because we work with companies ranging from small SMEs and individual entrepreneurs to large multinational organizations and corporations such as Swisscom, Emirates, the Port Authority of Singapore and the BBC. We work with large businesses and small businesses, so our three segments are Solo Entrepreneurs and MSMEs, Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses, and Enterprises.Product Pricing varies based on the size of your organization and the complexity of what you’re building. So if you’re building an application and it only has 5 features, it’s much cheaper than an application with 50 features. We charge a fee per feature.”
How do you market your products? “For really small businesses, we use Performance Marketing Channel Partners. For mid-sized businesses and entrepreneurs, we have experience with events, pop-up retail, performance marketing, growth, etc. It’s more outbound and some partnerships. We have a global sales team. We have about 1,000 employees internally, spanning seven countries. We have customers all over the world. We operate a global sales team that enables our platform to be used by
How will you scale? And what is your target growth level? “Since exiting beta in April 2020, we have continued to grow 150-250% year-over-year. It’s a really quick clip. In fact, we went from a run rate of almost $10 million in less than 28 months. We are one of the fastest companies in the world to reach a $200 million run rate. How we scale will ultimately depend on our performance-specific scaling, as much of the building work will be done by the platform’s AI. And as the solution becomes successful, we see a lot of customers actually making repeat purchases, coming back and adding more features.”
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Who are your competitors? What makes you different? “We have three tiers of competition. The first tier is the consulting firms. The problem is that when you hire these companies, 50 to 80 percent of software projects fail. It’s a completely human process. Yes, it’s very expensive, very time consuming, and problematic, so you have to be an expert and know what you want. The second is no-code, low-code. Most The problem we’ve seen with no-code, low-code is that they’re actually designed for creators, and creators need a canvas and tools to try it themselves or hire an expert to do it for them. We found that for every $100,000 in software revenue for these companies, professional services cost nearly $900,000 because it’s not easy to use yourself. Our customers are curators, and they don’t want a canvas or want to do it themselves. They want to tell you what they want and the result. Third, It’s what I call a point solution, the equivalent of Shopify for small businesses like restaurants and retail stores. Because you’re not, you’re probably spending four to eight times the subscription price on professional services to help you build your Shopify site.”
What are the unfair advantages that separate your company? “It’s a three-pronged approach. First, we’ve built a very unique business model. We charge per feature and we simply give you the tools to build. We use conversations and UX as a way to engage with our customers, rather than using them. The second thing is the technology moat that we’ve built. Whether it’s reusable features, AI, or an integration platform, we We’ve built about 70 different systems that integrate software applications to enable us to build technical things. The third thing is culture. We work with people within our company who are passionate about our customers’ success. They’ve built a business. They’re intentional, authentic, and relentless.”
What milestones have you recently achieved or will achieve? “We recently successfully raised Series D funding, which is especially great as the last year has been difficult to raise money, especially in the technology industry, with many peer groups experiencing flat or down rounds. We’ve almost doubled our valuation, so we’re really excited. Second, we’ve reached a platform maturity where we’re starting to see disproportionate results as a result of what we’ve built. So customers can build faster, they can build at a lower cost, they can do more with higher quality, and that’s certainly really exciting.”
What are your brand’s core values? “There are two sides to this. One is our nature and our actions. What is our essence? We aim to make something happen. We do it by pursuing it intentionally, honestly, and relentlessly. How we act really matters. The acronym HEARTT It’s about having a heart. It’s about being an entrepreneur and understanding that it’s all about execution, not just an idea. Be responsible. Respect your customers and your team and (build) trust. and ensure transparency.”
What does success ultimately look like for your company? “Becomes the first company to reach a $1 trillion valuation.”
What do investors and customers need to know about you (your person, your life experience) to show they can trust you? “I’ve seen a lot of trials and tribulations, some of them big ones. I feel like I’ve always gotten back up and kept going. I play competitive singles tennis, and I’ve been through a lot. I’m lonely, but you’re always on your mind. Lastly, this is going to be more personal. I’m the one who could mess this up. We are very aware of this and it makes us even more focused every day to make sure we are making progress.”
How important is the word-of-mouth factor to growing your company and accessing more opportunities in the sports world? “Having successful customers is very important, and having a density of customers who are successful in a particular niche, say sports, is even more important, because sports is so important in terms of how fans engage. Because it’s ripe for revolution and revelation. How do they engage with the participants in that sport, whether they’re tennis players or MotoGP riders? How do they interact? How do we consume it with our own tongues? Our success means not only making our customers successful, but also making the underlying sport successful and more meaningful to today’s audiences. I hope I can contribute in some small way. It drives a lot of things like word of mouth, customer feedback, expansion, etc. After all, if you do a good job, everyone will recognize it. It is.”
