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(Source enr.com - Date 3/23/03)
By
Judy Schriener
Internet firm BuildPoint Corp. last
spring announced its plan to become more of a software company
and less of a dot-com. BuildPoint abandoned its original plan
to provide a ubiquitous online procurement system and began
focusing on developing a way to manage subcontractor data
on the Web. In line with that, CEO Mike Kaul, who was brought
in last year to turn BuildPoint around in the midst of the
dot-com crash, is turning over day to day operations to former
VP of sales Mike Krueger, who now becomes president and COO.
Kaul has been named CEO of diCarta, a Redwood City, Calif.-based
software company that provides enterprise software for management
of contracts. He will remain CEO of BuildPoint, also in Redwood
City, just a few blocks away from diCarta. Founder Florian
Aalami will remain chief technology officer and VP of business
development.
The timing is right for Kaul to take a step back, he says.
"I brought my value" Kaul explains. "We brought in the first
customers and revenue and got the traction. It's a rational
transition point in BuildPoint's life. The strategy is there;
now it's about sales and execution. And I've got a team at
BuildPoint that when I start my sentences, they finish them."
Krueger joined BuildPoint in January. His background is in
software development, especially relating to customer relationship
management. This is his first venture into the construction
industry.
He says BuildPoint currently has six contractors using its
subcontractor software, including two Skanska-owned firms
-- Sordoni Skanska and Etkin Skanska -- Charles Pankow Builders
and Swinerton Builders. BuildPoint is targeting the companies
on the ENR Top 400 Contractors list, he says. People actually
using the software number in the dozens for its provider relationship
software product (PRM) and in the hundreds for its bid manager
product, says Aalami.
BuildPoint is working with other software companies to develop
ways for data to seamlessly flow from one type of software
to another. Its newest partner is Meridian Project Systems,
for which a "data bridge" is being built for interaction between
BuildPoint's products and Meridian's Prolog products. "We
don't want to create another island of data. Otherewise we're
just causing another problem that someone's going to need
to fix in the future," says Aalami.
Earlier in the year, BuildPoint announced its partnership
with Planwell, an online reprographer. "It's not just a link
but true integration," claims Aalami.
BuildPoint, which was formed in 1999, originally was building
an online procurement system for contractors, but found, as
did its competitors in that arena, that the industry wasn't
receptive enough to that to make it a profitable venture.
Whereas most of BuildPoint's competitors are gone or have
been absorbed into other firms, BuildPoint has been reinventing
itself while retaining its core expertise of working with
contractors and subcontractors on the bidding process. That
reinvention has taken more than a year.
"We've gone through many phases," says Aalami. "We've been
focused on building the products and now we're focusing on
servicing our customers. It's not about building the next
big thing anymore."
McGraw-Hill Construction, which includes construction.com,
has been an investor in BuildPoint since 2000.
Photo courtesy of BuildPoint
© 2002
The McGraw-Hill Companies - All Rights Reserved
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