Lawn Buddy CEO Steven Werner says the market has been talking — and its message is helping the Wichita startup shift how it is making the most of its technology platform.
Lawn Buddy this week announced it had entered a partnership with Texas-based Robin Autopilot that ties it to the growing usage of robotic lawn mowers among its landscaping customers.
But that should be just the start, Werner tells the WBJ, noting that several more similar partnerships should be announced in the coming months.
“Through these partnerships … we want to focus on what are the main issues for our customers in lawn and landscaping and the trades,” Werner says.
That’s where the market message comes into play.
While Lawn Buddy has made it name providing technology that helps those customers better manage their businesses, it isn’t software that is the problem.
Werner says ongoing talks with customers have made it clear that the biggest issues in the industries it serves are a shortage of labor, rising costs and a scarcity of equipment.
So, in the case of Robin — whose robot mowing service will now be integrated on Lawn Buddy’s app — the partnership helps address labor shortage by removing the need for workers for part of a yard maintenance account.
Werner says Lawn Buddy is also working to build out a marketplace where customers can find equipment at wholesale prices — thereby addressing that issue as well.
It’s all about, he says, leveraging the software to solve the industry’s more pressing needs.
Demand for such services is also translating to continued growth at Lawn Buddy. Its staff has grown from 14 to around 20 people since March and, the CEO says, it will continue to hire throughout the year.
That includes sales positions in addition to its technical experts.
And even before all its new partners come on board, the company was already growing organically.
Werner says Lawn Buddy’s user base increased 226% year over year in April, while its payment processing work increased 172% during that period.
The company has also opened a silent funding round with expectations of raising $6 million this year.
Those funds will help fuel growth — and there should be plenty of it, Werner says, as it takes the newer course of using its technology to more acutely address their biggest needs.
And, he says, its all thanks to listening to the market.
“That’s how Lawn Buddy has gotten to where we are today,” Werner says. “The worst thing I can do is sit in my office and dream up what I think they need.”
