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With millions of listeners a month, Building the Future has quickly become one of the fastest rising nationally syndicated programs. With a focus on interviewing startups, entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, and more, the show showcases individuals who are realizing their dreams and helping to make our world a better place through technology and innovation.
Joe Tolzmann: Welcome back to the show.
Today we have Joe Toman.
He's the c e O at Rock Rocket
Plan Technologies, Inc.
Joe, welcome to the show.
Hey, Kevin.
It's awesome to be here.
Thanks for hosting.
Yeah, I'm excited to have you on the show.
I think what you guys are doing at
Rocket Plan, especially the industry
that you're building technology for,
isn't really known for technology.
But maybe before we get into all that,
let's get to know you a little bit better
and start off with where you grew up.
Sounds good.
Um, yeah, I grew up in Croatia.
I came to visit my parents here
in Canada in 2003, shortly after I
got outta military back in Croatia.
And, uh, almost 20 years
later I'm still here.
It's probably one of the best
decisions that I've made.
Okay.
So what made you stay.
I just love the, the lifestyle here.
It's quite different than
European or Croatian.
Just like one language, you know, a
lot of opportunities and uh, yeah,
it's a good thriving community.
Very cool.
So walk us through your background,
maybe some highlights along the way
up into what you're doing today, and
then we'll dive into Rocket Plan.
Sounds good.
Um, when I came to Canada,
I couldn't speak a word of
English, so it's pretty exciting.
It was, uh, it was challenging,
but, uh, it was good, good journey.
I figured, uh, I gotta find a job
to interact with people, practice my
English fan, get better from there.
So I landed the job at Dairy Queen.
I worked there for about seven months.
Okay.
It was, uh, it was quite an experience,
but um, it kind of gave me confidence and
enabled me to start doing my own thing.
So I got into doing restoration,
renovation, little repairs, eventually
build a company to do new real
estate developments for customers.
Then I've done some of my own real
estate developments as well, and
economy was good up until 2008.
That was global recession.
The world fell apart and I
got pretty lucky at the time.
I elected a.
They kept us busy for about two years.
Wow.
Fixing a complex of six buildings.
But, um, eventually that right out
2010 economy was still pretty soft.
There was not much happening and, um, had
good relationships with property managers.
They keep asking us, can you guys
do emergency response, flood and
fire restoration insurance work?
When I heard insurance recession
proof, I was like, great.
So eventually I started company here
in Vancouver with two other guys and
we build it to over a hundred employees
with branches in Vancouver and Calgary.
And um, when I started, I was project
managing, taking those calls, responding
to the emergency, working with my crew
in the field during demolition cleanup,
gathering all the documentation, going
home manually, creating those reports.
Uh, doing estimates during
invoicing thing, and I was able
to handle that in the beginning.
But as we grew, we were hiring
more and more people, now we're
implementing software for this vertical.
Went through implementation of three
of them, and it was pretty painful.
It took like three to six months
going through the process to
realize none of them really worked.
And the reason for that was they were all
built before smartphones really became.
So well, the workflow
is totally backwards.
The nature of the business is that
when you show up at the site of the
damaged property, you don't really
know what you're dealing with.
So you have to document everything for
reporting to the insurance companies,
but also for yourself to understand
the extent of the damage, what the
scope work is gonna be, and um, so you
can quantify it in the end and provide
those estimates and, and billing.
So back in the day, that was all
done manually, taking photos,
taking notes, something's even.
And then taking photos or
emailing that back to the office.
It was huge delay, room for error,
just enormous, and it was very
inefficient, but that was just the
way it's done throughout the industry.
Then one day I figured I got a hire
software engineer, bring them on staff
and build something that actually
works for the people in the field.
You know, understand the dynamics
between internal stakeholders in
our company, but also external
stakeholders, property managers,
insurance owners, uh, insurance, uh, c.
Property owners, tenants and
everybody involved in the process
to keep everybody informed.
So we built this prototype.
It looked like 1980s dos, black
screen green and red buttons.
It was pretty basic, but it worked well.
So we're able to capture
all the data on the go.
Without making anybody to learn
anything new because everybody on the
job already is collecting the data.
They know what's relevant, but now
they're doing it on their mobile
device, getting it into one place
so our office can begin estimates.
They have all the information for
billing, but also to report to property
manager, insurance adjuster, uh, property.
What's going on?
You know, where's the end to this?
And, and kind of eliminate a lot
of stress, a lot of confusion,
but also streamline the process.
So we were significantly
more operationally efficient.
We cut out over 50% in admin management
labor, and we were now scoring a lot
of new business because insurance
adjusters, property managers, they prefer
to work with us because us providing
that information to them timely and
organized makes their jobs easier and.
One day I realized that
everybody in the industry's got
the same problem throughout.
And what a massive opportunity is
to help, you know, connect field
and office teams and, uh, help
a lot of people in the process.
Interesting.
So by the sounds of it, and you can
correct me if I'm wrong, you don't really
come from a technical background, is that.
Hundred percent.
Yes.
So how did you know, or basically
decide to start leveraging
technology and software?
Because that, for a lot of people
that don't come from a technical
background can be really daunted.
You know, I had general understanding
of what's available out there,
but I really focus on how to apply
technology for the field for the person.
Who is doing the job to make it easier.
And it goes back to, you know,
fundamentals, user experience.
It's an essential to success.
And, and work it from the bottom
up rather than from the top down.
And me working in a field, I was
pretty lucky to understand, you know,
what it's like to do demolition,
do cleanup, running equipment,
capturing all the documentation,
you know, typing notes in the.
Piece of paper and then
uploading it in some systems.
So I, I think I was likely to be
familiar with all aspects of the
job to kinda get it going and then
find the best people, you know, when
it comes to ux, when it comes to
engineering and piecing it all together.
Got it.
What, what advice do you give to
people that are maybe we're in
a, or in a similar situation, um,
where you were a number of years ago
before you were actually building?
Well, I think identifying the problem
and then working towards solution,
that's the, that's the beginning of it.
Yeah, that makes sense.
So I'm curious then, how did you
actually decide to productize, um,
the product and actually how did
Rocket Plan, you know, come to be?
Yes.
You know, after we build their prototype
and work really well and realizing
that everybody indu in the industry is
struggling with this and it creates a
lot of stress, you know, homeowners that
get displaced from their apartments,
from their homes for prolonged period
of time, unnecessarily, because it
just, the whole process is inefficient.
And then we figured, you know, we
solve this problem for ourselves.
Everybody else got this problem,
let's help everybody in the industry
and make some money with it as.
Interesting.
Was it, or has it been a tough sell
to get software into these, this
industry, because it's not known
to be necessarily that tech savvy.
You know, construction is the
second least digitized industry.
Number one, it's farming, and
number two is construction.
So adoption, general speaking
is a challenge, but we're really
focused on building this product
that anybody who can take a selfie,
basically anybody who's got smart.
They're ready to go with no
training, and it's built for the
person who's already on the job.
So it doesn't require them
to learn something new.
You know, if somebody's doing
demolition, taking photos of demolition,
they're already taking photos.
So that's pretty basic, but now we're
doing it on Rocket Plan where everything
falls into the place as relevant to
the project, to the insurance claim.
Um, getting people aware of it.
It was just marketing, you know,
just letting people know solution is.
Have them see it, and then from
there on, he just picked up.
It was amazing to see how, you know, from
smaller, individually owned companies to
some of the largest, globally, the largest
restoration firms are coming on board.
And after they signed up, it was
very little to no interaction with
their users because the product was
built to be super intuitive, really
focused on the user experience.
Interesting.
Walk us through from actually
creating an account to actually using
the product to do, you know, say
like a restoration on a house or a
building, like walk us through that.
I get, it's hard kind of sometimes
when it's visual, but can you
maybe give us a rough idea of
how to use the products and you.
Just like a bit of a
deeper dive into that.
Yeah, totally.
So I think we can go through
one use case scenario.
So a typical water loss, which is
the most common property damage.
There was a burst pipe in
Unit 20 0 1, 1 23 Main Street.
So, okay.
Project manager receives the call
knowing that there was a burst pipe
At that point, they don't really.
You know, how many rooms are
damaged in that apartment?
Is it additional apartment,
common area affected as well?
So they're showing up on site.
They need to get work authorization
signed from the property owner tenant.
They need to start assessing
and documenting damages.
So the process is unit 21.
Uh, you, you're going to kitchen, there
was a burst pipe underneath the sink.
So documenting this as a cause
of loss for insurance purpose.
Then working the extent of the damage
in that kitchen, taking photos,
infrared camera photos, because
sometimes water damage is not visible.
Uh, in the photo, uh,
infrared camera picks it up.
So now traditionally we are rocket climb.
You would do all that manually.
Then you would have to say,
I dunno, floor is damaged.
What type of floor?
Laminate, carpet, tile.
It could be so many different materials.
Without Rocket Plan, that would have to
be manually captured and then entered
into some internal system where estimator
accountant would be able to quantify
the damage to provide estimate invoice,
and also to report insurance company.
And it would take forever
because, you know, just scanning
that property takes a while.
Now after you've gathered the data,
you need to deliver it to someone
that someone hasn't been to the.
Uh, it's really hard to
make sense out of it.
You know, even, even for himself, after
you've been to three, four apartments,
multiple rooms in each, he gets quite
confusing and very inefficient to
upload a data, organize it, and then
have accurate estimate and billing.
With Rocket Plan, we build it.
So a person does whatever they're doing
in their unit 2001, taking photos in
red camera, photos in the kitchen.
They're selecting what
materials are damaged.
Uh, they're taking
measurements of the room.
From there, everything automatically
converts into reports, so whoever
looks at it, an insurance carrier,
insurance adjuster, it's super
clear for him what happened.
Date stamped GPS stamped, so it's
everything organized, falling into place.
Super easy for them to verify, uh, a
data integrity and carry on from there.
So imagine repeating this process.
You know, you got living room,
kitchen, bedroom, bathroom,
another apartment, common area.
Now, after you gather all this
data, You need technicians to come
and actually do the, do the work.
Sometimes it's, um, cutting up
drywall, removing the flooring,
uh, moving the furniture.
When furniture is being moved.
Every content, every piece of furniture
in the room needs to be documented,
whether it's stored into another
room, somewhere in the building,
or totally packed out in storage.
And this can be now, you know, two months,
three months of, uh, work on the property.
So with Rocket Plan, this
whole process is stream.
Data is captured, you know, immediately
on the spot, falls into the place and then
automatically processed throughout all
the way until the money's in the bank.
Interesting.
Okay.
So I'm curious, obviously, do I have
to kind of start with a, a template or,
or like of, in your case, what you just
said, like water damage, but if there's
like fire damage, is it different?
Like how is it similar or?
Um, based on what the damage is
or is it not really any different?
So the workflow in general
terms, it's very similar.
Okay.
There's few variations in it, but we build
it in a way that works for the workflow
from that person initially showing up on
site to the workers working in the field,
to the people working in the office.
Estimator an accountant.
So it's built for each
of those stakeholders.
Or roles in the company
for their particular role.
And it's all connected throughout
the workflow and that's
what makes it so efficient.
So people don't really have
to look or deal with some data
that is not relevant to them.
You know, if somebody's setting up drying
equipment or, or dealing with smoke
damage, it's only what's relevant to them
while they're doing that part of the job.
Got it.
Okay.
That makes sense.
So how does it work if say, I'm on the
insurance side or the customer side?
Like how do, like if my company
is a restoration company and I'm
using Rocket Plan, how do I get.
It in the hands of, you know, the
insurance company and maybe the customer.
Do I just send them a link
or, or walk us through that?
Oh, yeah.
Either automatically generating PDF
report and emailing it straight from
Rocket Plan or sending a link to the
information that's relevant to them.
So when it comes to property manager,
you know, their, their biggest thing
is to understand that work is underway.
And because there's so many
different stakeholders, In, in,
uh, the actual work on site, right?
Sometimes it's challenging for property
manager to talk to project manager and
restoration company who then needs to
talk to their foreman and technicians
to cannot get an update what they're
doing when they're coming back.
Sometimes there's couple of days breaks
in between to dry out that space,
so there's no real activity other
than, you know, drying equipment.
To dry out the space.
But then from the perspective of the
owner, it's like, well, these people
came, they ripped my apartment apart
and nobody's showing up for a few days.
So there's a lot of that, you know,
broken communication while we rocket plan.
It's super clear to them at any
given point without calling people
and asking what's going on to
know the status of the project.
Got it.
Okay.
That makes sense.
So walk us through.
Basically how, how do I ask the question?
Um, let me see.
Um, if like, if something happens
that delays something, do I get like
a notification to say like, this
material is on back order and it's
gonna be an extra few days, or, or is
that the type of stuff you capture?
In the reporting or, or walk
us through that a little bit.
Yeah.
So from the beginning, from that, uh,
mitigation, you know, taking property
apart, mitigating the damage, and then
doing the rebuild, everything is built
for that seamless process, so, oh, okay.
Yeah.
From scheduling, for example, if
you had to remove, uh, hardwood.
Like hardwood floor might have
lead time to be ordered at two.
Ah, cause it's some
kind of specialty item.
So it's all accounted for either schedule
and, and it enables project manager
to actually keep that schedule typed.
So, you know, they order flooring
first thing while they're doing the
other work, so that lead time kicks in.
So there's no breaks in between.
Got it.
Okay.
And then how do you monetize the platform?
Do you just charge like a monthly
fee or, or walk us through that?
Yeah, so it's, it's
pretty simple SaaS model.
It's, uh, per user per month.
So we have a couple of different options.
Uh, yeah, ultimately it's uh, about
a hundred dollars per user proceed,
but it eliminates significant
amount of manual labor, um, you
know, and enables companies.
Invoice pretty much immediately when
the job is completed, submit to the
insurance companies, then get paid
quicker, which often takes, you know,
months to sort out, because insurance
companies, they need, uh, documentation
to be able to process the claim.
Right.
And you're basically instantly
providing with all that documentation.
Yeah, yeah.
From, from insurance adjusters or carrier
perspective, uh, they, they want to know
what's the extent of the damage they need
to confirm the coverage that this loss is.
And then, you know, make sure it's not
properly and, and efficiently for, um,
reasonable price and close the claim.
If they don't, when they don't have that
information, it's very often because that
information comes from, you know, multiple
people and it gets delayed and mixed up.
It creates more work for them and
it just extends the, the whole
duration of the claim cycle.
Right.
Okay, that makes sense.
So you mentioned earlier that
construction is one of the industries
that doesn't have much technology.
Why do you think that is the case and,
and like obviously, you know, rocket
plan's trying to make that better,
but why do you think that's the case
that just, it hasn't really been, or
it's just starting to get hit with te.
Yeah, I think it's the nature of the
industry and, you know, I'm thinking
back when I was, you know, working
on the job site 10 to 12 hours, you
know, using Hammer and, and it's just
not practical to open up the laptop.
Right.
And, and, you know, doing something there.
Um, smartphones didn't really
become smart until 20 15, 20 16.
So all the tech that was built, it
was built for the laptop, for the
office, you know, and for the people
that wanna receive information.
Somehow they missed a mark of
capturing the data in the field
because that's where it begins.
And then connecting it to the office.
And since we couldn't find, you know,
product that would do that, that's
why I decided to build our own.
Okay.
What other advice do you give to
people maybe in the construction
or kind of non-technical space to
actually build and follow through?
And find the people to actually
execute, because that's
sometimes the hardest heart.
Yeah.
I mean, I would, you know, suggest
to everyone not to, you know, fall in
this old pattern because everybody's
opinion is like, yeah, you know,
this technology, but it's too clunky.
It's not user friendly, you know,
the things are developing fast.
So technology is being, And
you know what we're doing.
I'm sure there's other verticals
that focused on fixing those problems
that haven't been fixed yet for the
user in the field, for the person on
the job to make their life easier.
Okay.
And then at what advice do you give
people to actually go from maybe
building something internally to
productizing it and letting arguably your
competition use what you're building?
You know, that's always 50 50.
I mean, I, I always think like, how long
is it gonna take to build something?
Will you get it right?
And if you're already doing business, is
it just better and, and more efficient
and economically smarter to pay the fee
and get something that solves it problems?
So I think each person
individually should, uh, make
their own assessment on it.
Okay.
Fair enough.
So I'm, I'm curious then if, when, when
you guys were building this and you, you
talk about user experience being super
important because of your background,
you could probably take a pretty good
guess at what needed to be on the
screen and, and kind of a simple flow.
But did you do.
User testing or, or walk us through how
you are gonna nail the user experience.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, I would put like a
basic framework together of, of
the workflow and then focusing
on each of those steps in depth.
And then we build a mockup,
then we build a prototype, then
we run some tests internally.
Then we got just random people.
And then the final thing was to give it
to people who are not even in the industry
and try to get them make sense out of.
And they did.
And I was like, okay, now, now
we think we did a good job here.
If somebody who hasn't even been on a job
understand this workflow and what it does,
I think we got our message across to, to
make it super easy for anybody to use it.
Interesting.
How, how long would you
say that process took?
Just to give people some estimate
because it's not overnight.
Oh, no, absolutely.
Um, you know, it took us, took
us about a year to get to Oh wow.
The initial version and then test it
and go back and, you know, The workflow
and this user experience and, um, yeah,
it, it's a, it's a lengthy process
and it's not like once and it's done
because there's so many variables to
it and there's so many different people
and, and you know, their take on it.
So it's, it's really critical
to find it universal spot that
everybody's just like, make sense?
This is how we do it.
No, that's fair.
So how do you manage feature
requests with your own roadmap?
You know, again, because I worked in the
industry and, and I'm familiar with all
aspects of the job and the entire workflow
from, you know, being technician all the
way up to the owner of the company, I
was lucky to lay it out and prioritize
it in a way that made sense to me.
And as we were doing it, it,
it confront a lot of things.
And sometimes people, you know, they
ask for things, they're relevant
to them as a project manager.
But they kind of miss the
mark of the technician.
Or if you talk to a technician,
they, they don't really see what
else is happening when it comes to
project management and estimating.
That's why it's really important to kind
of see the whole workflow, how it goes
from the beginning until the end, and
then disconnect the dots in between.
Right.
Yeah, that makes sense.
The, it's, you bring up
something that's interesting.
I think a lot of non-technical
people don't realize how valuable.
Their skillset is, and, and very
much can be when building software
for these types of industries,
especially when they're in the field.
Right.
And, and I think that doesn't
get talked about enough.
And, and I think it, it's, it's
interesting because of, as somebody
that's like been through it, it's
having somebody that knows kind of.
Every role or the more of every
role that they know, the better
off it's gonna be, especially when
you're trying to build technology
for these kind of non tech sectors.
Do you agree with that?
Absolutely.
You know, here's like a prime example.
When I worked during an estimate
in the office, you know, I know
what I need to make my estimating.
Right?
Yeah.
Being able to navigate through all
the photos, seeing infrared camera
photos, be clear which room room
this belongs to, in which unit.
Um, you know, how easily
accessible, who's the owner, what's
the list of damaged material?
The summary of it, like this is
what's the most important thing to me.
Now, when I work as a technician
or project manager in field, I'm
gathering all the information
I'm running from room to.
You know, they might be elderly
in that apartment, stressed out.
It could be like 2:00 AM
because it just happened.
You know, it's a stressful situation.
Now.
If I gotta organize the data on
a go where, you know, running,
there's another apartment I need
to get to, those people are away.
Gotta coordinate with their friends
or family to get the access.
It just not practical to do it.
So from that perspective, there's
totally other set of things that
are relevant to that person.
Now, combining that and making.
Uh, easy to use for that person
when they're gathering the data,
when they're doing that work.
That's the integral part of it all.
Yeah.
Interesting.
So, so obviously you've been doing
this for a number of years now.
What other advice do you give to,
you know, founders or, um, other
individuals, whether they're in the
restoration construction industry or not?
I think it all starts with identifying the
problem, finding the solution, and have a
clear path how together and be prepared.
It's not gonna be a straight line.
Okay.
Then when things maybe didn't go, you
know, the way you wanted it and that like
that, to reference that straight line
you just mentioned, how did you kind of
persevere and, and decide not to give up?
Because I think.
Especially early on when software
is taking a long time, cuz it
usually takes longer than expected.
What made you actually keep going
and, and getting this thing built?
Because it said, you said it took you
about a year where you, I'm guessing
you probably thought it would take maybe
months, not not a year to get kind of
version one or, or walk us through that.
Totally.
You know, like I, I knew for.
That everybody's got this problem
and I knew what the solution is.
Now getting to that solution, you know, it
was a number of iterations because before
you get into it, you don't really know
which obstacles you're gonna encounter.
So I think the key is to get in as soon
as possible, hit those obstacles, and
then figure out how to get around it.
Yeah, that makes sense.
So I, I'm curious, how did you.
Work with, sorry, I guess, did you hire
an internal dev or did you basically
outsource to a company or A bit of both.
So we, uh, we had our own
internal, uh, software engineer.
Okay.
Yeah.
We had our own internal software engineer.
And, uh, we'll keep adding to
the team, you know, when it
comes from backend, uh, iOS.
Um, ux, so we'll keep adding to the
team, expanding it, and then refining
the product we had based on the
feedback we're receiving and adding
more of the features to provide
more value to the, to the customer.
I see.
And then obvi, are you basically,
every time you're adding features,
are you trying to like upsell them
on different things or It's kind
of, you pay your a hundred dollars
and it's, you get everything.
So yeah, the, the package includes
everything, but um, we do have smaller
components, however, to get the maximum
value out of it, you know, a company as a
whole would need the entire feature set.
Certain things are relevant
only to people in the field.
Certain things are only relevant to people
in the office, so we do have those options
if they only care about certain things.
We also build this product that it's
super easy to integrate with any legacy
system so that way company don't have to
go through some extensive implementation
and switching to another software.
We're just connecting field and
office in this situation where
we're enabling field workers.
To capture the data on a, go on a
mobile device and then connect it
to their internal system if they
need to use it for whatever reason.
Okay.
But so can they, they can use their
internal system in parallel or they
basically have to switch to Rocket
Plan, or It's really up to them?
It's up to them.
They don't have to switch necessarily.
Um, there are, you know, large franchises
with hundreds or thousands of locations.
Uh, recently we got one of the
largest contractors globally.
Come on board with, um, you know,
not changing their internal system.
It just helped them to enable their
field workers, gather all the data,
have it in one place, and then
connect into their internal system.
So we're not changing their workflow,
we're not disturbing anything,
we're just helping them streamline
the process of getting data from
the field into their offices.
Got it.
Okay.
How did you land your first customers
and what advice do you give to
people to actually do the same?
Um, yeah, I was calling people that I
have in my network hadn't tried out yet.
The feedback, and then eventually
they started paying for it.
Uh, we're doing a lot of marketing,
you know, it's very industry specific.
Right.
It's a vertical, it's
like 650 billion Oh wow.
On volume.
But, uh, if you're not involved into
it, you probably don't care about it.
The good thing about it,
it's recession proof.
So even throughout Covid, you
know, there were things happening.
The business was going as usual.
So, so that was a good thing.
But, um, you know, have a,
have a clear communication on
what problem you're solving.
Let people know solution is
available and make sure that
that solution is easy to use.
I think those are the, the key per.
Makes sense.
So you mentioned marketing.
What type of marketing stuff did
you do early on and continue to do?
We're doing digital marketing, you know.
Okay.
Email campaigns.
Uh, we're doing social media,
um, and then calling people.
So cold calling?
Mm.
I wouldn't call it call calling.
Okay.
You know, we were calling people
that were kind of aware of us that we
already interacted with through the
emails or we were under social media.
So, yeah, it wasn't exactly cold calling,
but, uh, there's definitely a good
component to making those calls because we
founded that, you know, people are busy,
they're doing 24 7, emergency response.
Their schedules are unpredictable and
they're always in the middle of something.
So sometimes you connect with
'em while they're driving.
Um, you know, then you set up the
meeting, then they canceled the
meeting because they had an emergency.
That happen happens.
So they have to reschedule.
But, uh, we build a product where we.
Quite a bit of success with auto
conversion, like Zero Touch, where, you
know, people just go to the website, they
see what Rocket Plan can do for them,
they can download it, get into it and,
and, you know, get it going, and start
seeing immediate value from day one.
Right, and correct me if I'm wrong here,
no credit card required to actually
sign up and, and try this thing.
Yeah.
You, you know, anybody can go to
the app store, download Rocket
Plan, they can try it out.
Uh, we're really focused on this PLG
approach, product credit growth to make it
easier for people to, um, start receiving
that immediate value from day one.
You know, it's not like, you
know, you gotta go through lengthy
implementation, onboarding process and
then you know, you're gonna see your.
Later on, it's today.
Like you download it now, it takes
like two minutes, three minutes to
onboard the entire team, whether you're
onboarding two people or, or 200 people.
It's the same process.
Everybody gets it going through that
maybe like 10 minutes worth of tutorials
and uh, everybody's ready to go.
And the key thing is they're
not doing anything new.
They know how to use smartphone.
Most people do these days, right?
Yeah.
And we're already working on the jobs, so
we're not requiring them to do anything.
D.
But everything falls in the same place.
Got it.
No, that makes a lot of sense.
And then how is the
desktop component similar?
Different than the phone component?
Is the desktop more kind of
office focused, ensure focused?
Yes.
Okay.
So, so desktop is more
to receive the data.
Mobile is more to capture the data.
Got it.
So when you're in field, you're
capturing those photos, notes,
getting work authorizations, so
you're doing it all on rocket plan.
That's immediately available to people in
the office, estimators, accountants, so
they can do whatever they need to do on,
on their end and have that data in real
time and neatly organized so they can
make their work more efficient, but also
more accurate because doubt it, you know,
there's always, the room gets mixed up
with another apartment or the rooms get.
So, so there's a lot of
confusion there, but we, rocket
plane, it's all in one place.
Got it.
So depending on geographic region,
is the process the same, different?
It really depends.
Walk us through that.
No, you know, it's consistent throughout.
It doesn't matter where it is,
when there was a property damage,
the, the work needs to be done.
And then it's the same process
of documentation and reporting
to insurance companies.
And same process of quantifying the.
Producing estimates and doing billing.
Okay, fair enough.
Um, and then how does billing work?
Like Rocket Plan handles my
kind of invoicing and billing
or, or walk us through that?
We, we don't do billing, but uh, we,
we enable accountants to have all
the information they need so they
can produce that accurate billing.
And there's a lot of backup inform.
They need to, uh, to do their billing.
And that's the big challenge.
You know, when it comes from multiple
people, he gets delayed, you know,
their billing like weeks after
the job has been completed, right?
So they're missing, you know, work
authorization or you know, how many
square feet of flooring has been
replaced in this apartment, in this room.
Now they have to figure out
who was on the job weeks.
Where is that information?
That person is already doing so
many jobs after, you know, this work
authorization might have displaced
in, you know, different folder or
left in someone's vehicle and, and
it's, yeah, it's very inefficient.
But with Rocket Point, we get all
of that information into one place
uniquely organized for them so they
can do invoice efficiently and, and
right away after the job's done.
N Interesting that.
That makes sense.
So you, you mentioned
something about time savings.
Do you have any data around how
much time you're actually saving?
A person or company in, in a week?
I obviously, it depends
on how big the company is.
Yeah.
So, so generally speaking, we reduced
over 50% in admin and management labor.
Wow.
And, uh, for the field workers,
eliminate at least one hour of
their labor time, you know, dealing
with the paperwork, uploading it,
sending it, and then significantly
more for people in the office.
By having that data in one
place, you know, often you
could have estimator begins an.
And then well, we're missing some
information and then they have to call
someone that someone works on another job.
I gotta wait the next day before
they gonna gather that information.
Next day it might be another
emergency response and, and then,
you know, things just get delayed.
So it becomes very inefficient
for people in the office to do
their work without Rocket Plan.
With Rocket Plan, they get it in
front of them, they get into it,
they quickly complete it, and they.
Got it.
No, that makes a lot of sense.
Uh, the other thing, because tech's
kind of going through a weird transition
right now, you, you guys are actually
actively hiring, is that correct?
Absolutely, yeah.
We're adding our team from engineering
to sales to marketing all throughout.
Okay.
So people can obviously go to the website
and and check it out if they're, if
they're looking for uh, absolutely.
It's Rocket Blunt tech.com.
Very cool.
So I'm curious, is there any other
advice that you would give to maybe
an entrepreneur or founder that maybe
you wish you knew a little bit earlier
on in your entrepreneurial journey?
Um, I, I think I knew the basis, you know,
it's all about getting things done and
I think that's regardless of, you know,
which vertical, which industry that.
It's about identifying a problem finding
solution and be prepared to do whatever
it takes, do the right thing, no matter
how hard it is, and how do you pull
yourself through the times when it's
really hard and don't just like quit
and go back and get a day job or go
back and, you know, do restoration work.
Um, I, I don't think about it really hard.
Yeah.
It's just the job.
It, it's, it's what keeps us going.
It's kind of like going to the gym,
you know, you sweat, you're tired,
but you feel good when you're done.
It just like it's, it's the process
and you enjoy that process and that.
Yeah.
Interesting.
I get that.
Very cool.
But we're kind of coming to the end of
the show, so how about we close with
mentioning where people can get more
information about yourself, rocket Plan,
and any other links you wanna mention.
Yeah, so connecting me personally
on Instagram, it's Joe ands cor
Toman with two hands in the end.
Uh, for Rocket Plan.
Check us out on Rocket plan tech.com.
And, um, yeah, we're always
looking to connect with new people.
We're, we're experiencing explosive
growth, so there's a lot of opportunities
developing, and we're always looking
for people who are driven and wired
like us to always strive to do
better and provide the best customer.
Very cool.
Well, Joe, I really appreciate you
taking the time at your day to be
on the show, and I look forward
to keeping in touch with you and
have a good rest of your day, man.
Likewise.
You too.
Thank you.
Okay, bye