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EARLY RELEASE
Bridgit's Workforce Planning Story

Lauren Lake, co-founder of Bridgit, and Kevin Ferguson, product marketing consultant, reveal how they transformed workforce planning from Excel spreadsheets into a category-defining software solution that now serves half of the top 20 general contractors.

From cold-calling with Tim Hortons donuts to scaling internationally, this conversation unpacks the strategic moves that built market leadership in an industry resistant to change.

In this episode, you’ll:

• Discover how to identify and validate real market problems before building solutions

• Learn the step-by-step process for displacing entrenched manual workflows

• Understand why 42% of general contractors can't take on new projects due to workforce constraints

• Get insights on global expansion strategies that actually work in construction

• Learn the art of creating category-defining products in traditional industries

• See how product marketing expertise accelerates growth in conservative markets

Chapters

• 00:01 - Opening introductions: Lauren Lake (Bridgit) and Kevin Ferguson (AECO Product Marketing)

• 00:59 - The secret behind Bridgit's market dominance

• 02:37 - Core pain points in construction workforce planning

• 05:37 - The Harvard Business School case study phenomenon

• 09:31 - Validating market demand with letters of intent

• 11:33 - What the first version of Bridgit actually did

• 14:20 - Why Excel still dominates workforce planning in 2024

• 18:16 - How Bridgit transforms weekly planning meetings

• 22:00 - Creating a new software category from scratch

• 25:26 - Early revenue growth: $500K to $4M ARR trajectory

• 29:53 - Market penetration: 60 of top 150 general contractors

• 32:19 - The challenge of educating a conservative market

• 36:51 - Experience tracking: building the internal resume database

• 42:12 - Team chemistry and replicating project success

• 44:03 - Global expansion lessons from Australia and UK markets

• 50:34 - 2025 State of Workforce Planning report insights

• 55:00 - The surprising appetite for workforce planning investment

• 59:17 - Pricing strategy: per-employee model and market validation

• 01:02:54 - Building company culture during rapid growth

• 01:05:45 - Managing contractors vs. internal workforce

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