From Manual Labor to SaaS Founder: Billy’s Unconventional Path to Product-Market Fit
When the 2008 recession hit, most accounting graduates weren’t hoping to work construction. But for Billy’s founder Nyasha Gutsa, that unexpected detour would later prove invaluable in building enterprise software. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, he shared how hands-on industry experience shaped their path to product-market fit.
The Unexpected Education
“It wasn’t working in an office,” Nyasha recalls of his start in construction. “It was as a laborer, working outside. So just doing manual labor.” This ground-level perspective would later inform his understanding of how construction companies actually operate, rather than how software companies think they operate.
Working his way up from laborer to project accountant, Nyasha gained insight into both the physical and financial sides of construction. This dual perspective would prove crucial in understanding why some seemingly obvious software solutions fail to gain traction.
The Platform Education
The next phase of Nyasha’s education came at Procore, where he became one of their early employees. There, he helped build “a construction management platform that’s used by most commercial contractors in the US.” This experience taught him not just how to build software, but how enterprise platforms actually get adopted in the construction industry.
Finding the Real Problem
When Billy first started, they focused on modernizing construction payments – a problem that seemed obvious given the industry’s reliance on paper checks. But Nyasha’s industry experience helped them understand why their initial approach wouldn’t work.
“Construction companies are less willing to go towards electronic payments, especially for really large amounts,” he explains. “They prefer checks… because they are able to hold that money as leverage to the person who’s getting paid.”
This insight – that what looks like inefficiency often serves a strategic purpose – came directly from understanding the industry’s power dynamics from multiple perspectives.
The Hidden Opportunity
Their pivot to insurance workflows emerged from understanding the ecosystem of problems surrounding payments. They discovered that contractors needed both lien waivers and insurance certificates to get paid, leading them to a crucial insight about insurance management.
“The way in which businesses manage their insurance is still horse and buggy,” Nyasha notes. “If I ask you a question like, hey, how do you manage your insurance? You’re probably going to say, I stored my insurance in Gmail, it’s in a folder, it’s with my mom, or I got a call in Jake from State Farm.”
Building for Real Users
Their approach to product development reflects lessons learned from years in the industry. “I’m a big fan of DocuSign software,” Nyasha shares. “You can go and get up and running with DocuSign in just under five minutes. So this is exactly how we built Billy.”
This focus on simplicity came from seeing contractors “storing all those things in a manila folder despite using the software that we built at Procore.” They understood that even powerful software fails if it doesn’t fit naturally into existing workflows.
The Culture Connection
Perhaps most interestingly, Nyasha’s construction experience influenced their approach to company culture. “I believe that building a people first company allows you to build a forever business,” he explains. “If the employee shows up engaged and excited, they’re able to solve problems for us. And if they solve problems for us, it drives business… I have a saying which is culture drives business, and business drives culture.”
The Platform Vision
Looking ahead, Billy aims to become “the kayak of business insurance, where you just go and you can compare insurance coverage in a couple of minutes. You can purchase it, you can hire or fire your broker if you want, but all powered by Billy.”
This vision reveals how deep industry experience shapes not just initial product development, but long-term strategy. By understanding both the practical realities of construction and the potential of enterprise software, they’re positioned to build something that bridges both worlds.
For B2B founders, Billy’s journey highlights a crucial truth: sometimes the most valuable startup education doesn’t happen in an office. Real industry experience – especially from multiple perspectives – can help you see opportunities that others miss and understand why obvious solutions might fail.