I received a letter the other day saying: “Building Engines now shares a pedigree with Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, GoPro, Timberland, Cliff Bar, Patagonia, Oracle, Box, Grubhub, and dozens of alumni that have gone on to become household names.”
It came from Inc. Magazine, letting us know that Building Engines has been named to the Inc. 5000 list for 2019, recognizing us as one of America’s fastest-growing and most successful private businesses, based on our 110% growth rate over the past three years.
It turns out we are the only technology firm for CRE management and operations named to this year’s list, and one of only two CRE tech companies recognized.*
When these types of lists come out, the first question on most people’s minds is: “How did you do it?” So, I thought I’d provide a little color as to how Building Engines made the 2019 Inc 5000 list:
1. Making changes that drive growth
Growth is often a byproduct of change.
After our capital investment in late 2016, Building Engines has made a number of important moves that led to record growth for the business, including:
- Hiring new, seasoned leadership and talent across the business
- Making two strategic acquisitions including AwareManager and Real Data Management
- Creating the CRE industry’s first chatbot, BengieTM
- And, relocating to downtown Boston!
We are continuing to hire – if you want to be part of our momentum, learn more about open careers.
2. Customer and market-driven motions
Most importantly, what we do every day is driven by the complex needs of our Commercial Real Estate customers, innovative firms like Beacon Capital Partners, Normandy Real Estate Partners, John Hancock Real Estate, and Biomed Realty. We’re focused on building innovative products (and acquiring new capabilities) so these firms can leapfrog the competition, and be recognized as the heroes they are.
Because of this, and our best-in-class customer support, 96% of our customers have kept Building Engines for life. (Not a client yet? Get a demo.)
A big part of our growth has been to invest significantly in understanding the challenges facing modern property teams and uncovering previously unknown market insights.
For example, the State of Commercial Real Estate Operations study found a direct connection between operations and property value, while our CRE Tech Trends report found how the CRE industry uses modern technology (in partnership with BOMA).
3. Turning problems into opportunity
“Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.” – Sun Tzu
When I joined the firm in late 2017, I felt the opportunity before us was enormous.
Part of that opportunity was to continue to build on the firm’s momentum; we’ve enabled hundreds of CRE firms to solve critical operational challenges over the last two decades with the industry’s most robust platform to connect all processes and people involved in operating a building or portfolio.
But these challenges are changing:
- Owners and operators need greater insight across their portfolios for total control
- Tenants demand instant, personalized service as workplaces transform from “employee warehouses” into “talent magnets”
- CRE firms are now expected to manage new tech and data (much of it disconnected across various tools)
The future of CRE tech is smart, connected, secure and accessible – I fully expect to continue on this growth trajectory by embracing these new problems, and turning them into exciting opportunities. Check out a bit of our plans with Prism by Building Engines.™
As Inc. editor in chief, James Ledbetter, said “There’s no single course you can follow or investment you can take that will guarantee this kind of spectacular growth. But what they have in common is persistence and seizing opportunities.”
We’ll continue to seize every opportunity to help you improve life at work. Read the full press release here.
* SaaS technology products built for CRE
