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From Software to Services: How Cove.tool Built the Future of Building Design

The sustainable building design space is undergoing a radical transformation, and Cove.tool, led by CEO Sandeep Ahuja, is at the center of it. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Sandeep shared how the company evolved from a traditional SaaS platform into what they call “value as a service” — a hybrid model that’s disrupting how buildings get designed across North America.

The Double Pivot Strategy

Most founders struggle with one major business model shift in their company’s lifetime. Sandeep has orchestrated two. First, Cove.tool transitioned from a consulting practice to a software company. Then, as AI capabilities matured and market demands shifted, they pivoted again — reintroducing services, but this time powered by AI and delivered at scale.

“We’ve actually made that switch twice now because we went from services to software, and then we’ve gone from software to software and services that are AI powered,” Sandeep explains. This evolution wasn’t arbitrary. It was driven by fundamental changes in how their customers wanted to consume solutions.

The first transition from consulting to software unlocked massive scale. “We learned that there was such beautiful harmony in being able to support not 100 projects a year, which is what we did as consultants, but 100,000 projects, which is what our software now is able to support.”

But something shifted as AI capabilities improved. Customers no longer wanted to learn software — they wanted results. “Folks no longer wanted software that they didn’t want to learn a thing and then do a study in it. They just wanted the study done,” Sandeep notes. “They were like, I go to ChatGPT, it doesn’t give me results. It just gives me the answer, can you do that, please?”

This insight led to what Sandeep calls “sassified services” — service delivery that operates with the scalability and go-to-market motion of traditional SaaS, but provides done-for-you outcomes instead of do-it-yourself software.

Dominant Market Position Through Deep Customer Understanding

Cove.tool’s current market penetration is striking: 70 of the top 100 architecture firms use their platform. When asked what they got right, Sandeep points to an unusually deep understanding of their buyer persona. “I know that no one can take that learning away from me, and I know that by listening to the folks.”

But market dominance also revealed limitations. The users who loved the software weren’t always the decision-makers who controlled project budgets. This realization drove the strategic shift toward services that appeal to firm leaders rather than just the practitioners using the tools.

The Land-and-Expand Playbook

Cove.tool’s go-to-market motion relies on a powerful land-and-expand strategy that lets customers start small and scale quickly. “You’ll do one or two or three projects with us and you’ll be like, oh my gosh, this is the best thing that ever happened because it’s lower cost, it’s faster, it’s better in every way, and then you come back for more,” Sandeep explains.

The economics are compelling: Cove.tool charges about a quarter of what traditional sustainability consultants charge and delivers in one week instead of four to six weeks. This value proposition resonates especially in the current market, where the architectural billing index has been down for four consecutive quarters.

Deals that start at $10,000 regularly expand beyond $100,000 within a year as customers experience the quality and efficiency gains. “The same deal that might have started out as 10k is over 100k by the end of the year, which is really wonderful and exciting,” Sandeep notes.

Content-Driven Community Engagement

Cove.tool’s marketing strategy centers on highly targeted content for micro-communities within the architecture, engineering, and construction space. Rather than broad-based campaigns, they segment aggressively and craft specific narratives for distinct personas and geographies.

Sandeep shares a concrete example: “Very recently we wanted to reach out to all of the architects that are specifically within California and not just all the architects, all of the principal architects. So that’s very specific persona, very specific geography.”

For this California campaign, they created a multi-touch strategy around recent energy code changes, deploying articles, webinars, and panels — all focused on that singular message. “We could drip kind of that campaign out and folks would get nurtured. Even if the first set of folks weren’t interested in a blog, perhaps they’re interested in a webinar.”

The approach requires extreme data sophistication. “We’re driving engagement across all of these micro communities within our AEC space. And I think that to do this really well, we’ve just needed to be extremely data driven almost to the contact level.”

Learning to Let Go

As a founder-CEO, Sandeep has had to master the art of delegation — what he calls “letting the chef cook.” It’s a skill he developed through mistakes and by watching the numbers closely.

When his marketing leader proposed dramatically reducing email volume — from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands — Sandeep disagreed but let her execute the strategy anyway. “I was going to let the chef cook and I did. And I think it was really fun to watch our click through rates, our open rates, heck, our pipeline, all of that rise drastically.”

His philosophy is grounded in practical math: “If I’m spending the amount of money that I spend to bring on an excellent, incredible VP for any given department, what is the whole point if I don’t even collaborate with them, if they don’t even let them do their job?”

The Path Forward

Cove.tool isn’t stopping at sustainability consulting. Over the next three to five years, they plan to scale their AI-powered services playbook across all ten sub-verticals that surround architects — from mechanical engineering to structural consulting to civil engineering.

“I envision a world where Cove.tool is the de facto design professional that lowers the cost and design time across North America,” Sandeep declares. “So if you drive past any building that’s getting built, for you to know that was likely designed by Cove.tool, that is my vision.”

It’s an audacious goal, but one grounded in demonstrated execution. By combining deep domain expertise with AI capabilities and a willingness to reinvent their business model as markets evolve, Cove.tool has positioned itself to fundamentally reshape how buildings get designed. In an industry ripe for disruption, they’re not just participating in the transformation — they’re leading it.