Moody Heard used to work in venture capital investing into startups. Now, he's building a startup himself.
Heard previously worked with Venture for America in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he gained experience starting a small venture capital fund built on top of an accelerator program. In early 2018, he joined as an employee at Houston-based venture capital firm Mercury Fund, where he evaluated a variety of deals, including software applications for the construction sector. Heard also spent a lot of time learning about tech-enabled services, like digital marketplaces for housekeeping or other short-term staffing.
Between his own research and conversations with dozens of construction tech entrepreneurs, Heard identified some problems in the industry. Construction contractors have project volumes that fluctuate month to month, so their demand for labor is constantly changing. Meanwhile, construction workers and other skilled tradesmen have low job security due to the inherently cyclical nature of the business.
"As a function of a lot of research, I realized that that tech-enabled services business could potentially be applied to the construction space in the form of innovating the traditional staffing model," Heard said.
With that knowledge of tech-enabled service marketplaces and the construction sector, Heard co-founded Buildforce in early 2020. Using a mobile app, the company aims to streamline the process for construction contractors to identify, screen, place and manage construction workers on projects. Buildforce has a lot of customers in the residential and commercial space, and the firm also has capabilities for industrial and civil construction projects.
"The same day I left my job at Mercury Fund, Mercury cut a check to invest in our business. They gave us our pre-seed capital, along with some other investors," Heard said.
On Aug. 11, Buildforce announced raising a $4 million capital round led by TDF Ventures, a venture capital firm with presences in Silicon Valley and near Washington, D.C. Mercury Fund and Austin-based S3 Ventures contributed to the investment round.
Using proceeds from the capital raise, Buildforce plans to invest in building out its product and engineering teams to make a more seamless user experience on the platform. Buildforce also plans to build out its sales and operations teams to expand its reach with construction contractors. The company currently has a headcount of 12, Heard said.
Buildforce has an office at 2000 Edwards St. in Sawyer Yards, but the company is considering expanding its footprint with space along the Highway 290 corridor, Heard said.
