Austin Westerfeld

## Key Points - Austin joined Heartland Ventures (VC, Columbus OH) ~4 years ago, focused on construction tech investing - Ran diligence for Firmus AI acquisition, now Chief of Staff at Bluebeam reporting to CEO, also handling M&A - Firmus scanned architectural drawings to identify errors/omissions for GCs - Firmus was technologically ahead: building infinitely scalable model, removed human in the loop from internal QA/QC - Firmus GTM: positioned product as a service (not software) to bypass IT/licensing procurement - Initial "scans" treated as subcontractor line item, then transitioned to annual subscriptions - Alexei's approach: construction data layer starting with electrical MEP, applicable beyond estimating to QA/QC and engineering tasks - Potential for API business model to construction tech companies ## Key Points - Lack of technical sophistication in many AI estimating companies - Most competitors haven't removed human from the loop - Service-first positioning is effective GTM for construction ## Next Steps - Bluebeam interested in receiving updates on product development and fundraising - Explore future collaboration possibilities