6 Counter-Intuitive GTM Lessons from Building an AI Company in a Conservative Market
Building a technology company is challenging enough. Building one in an industry that actively resists technological change? That’s a different game entirely. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Cameron Steele, CEO of Prophia, shared how his team successfully introduced AI technology to the commercial real estate industry – a sector where some companies still manually type lease data into spreadsheets.
- Sometimes Your Best Tech Should Stay Hidden
Counter to typical startup wisdom about leading with your technological advantages, Prophia initially chose to downplay their AI capabilities. As Cameron reveals, “We use AI, particularly natural language processing and machine learning, to search for, identify, and then annotate data in unstructured in documents… We didn’t really talk about that at all with our customers because they didn’t really trust that it made them nervous.”
This changed only after ChatGPT mainstreamed AI discussions: “Then 18 months ago, chat GPT hit the mainstream and a lot of things changed. Our customers started asking us, what are you guys doing in AI?” The lesson? Sometimes the market needs to catch up to your technology before you can openly discuss it.
- Design Partners Beat Speculative Development
Instead of building their product based on assumptions, Prophia took a more methodical approach. “We fake built it into PowerPoint, and we found about a dozen prospective customers… pitched them a few different ideas and they gave us very direct feedback on what they thought they would buy. And then went and built that thing,” Cameron explains. This strategy not only validated their product direction but also created their initial customer base.
- Focus on Retention Before Growth
In an era where rapid growth often takes precedence, Prophia chose a different path. “Retention is the most important metric,” Cameron emphasizes. Their focus on keeping customers happy has led to losing only one customer (due to acquisition) while growing to manage 270 million square feet of real estate on their platform.
- Market Timing Isn’t Binary
When facing major market disruptions like COVID-19, many startups either accelerate or pull back. Prophia found a nuanced middle ground. As Cameron describes, “Our customers literally went dark on us. Our prospective customers went dark on us really March of 2020.” However, they discovered unexpected opportunities: “People got really comfortable by seeing product demos over the computer, so over Zoom and other tools, and they also got comfortable signing contracts electronically, which wasn’t necessarily the case prior to that.”
- Be Selective with Investors
Rather than pitching every potential investor, Cameron advocates for targeted outreach: “If people are asking about my market size, it’s a good indication for me they’re not going to underwrite to my end market… You wouldn’t go do that with a customer. You’re not just going to go pitch anybody your product.” This selective approach ensures alignment with investors who understand your market’s unique dynamics.
- Find Forward-Thinking Early Adopters
Even in conservative industries, there are always innovators willing to try new solutions. Cameron’s key advice for founders targeting traditional industries: “Find a cohort of forward thinking customers that believe in you and believe in your vision and they want to invest behind you. I don’t care what business you’re in, if you don’t have dedicated customers supporting you’re not going to get anywhere.”
The success of Prophia’s approach is evident in their steady growth despite significant market headwinds. As Cameron puts it: “Every day, if we do just make a little incremental progress every day that compounds… Compounding is a beautiful thing investing and for companies.”
This focus on patient, strategic growth rather than disruptive transformation has enabled them to build trust and drive adoption in an industry that traditionally resists change. For founders targeting conservative industries, the lesson is clear: sometimes the path to innovation requires working within existing market constraints rather than trying to break them entirely.