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Aaron
Foreign. Welcome back. Billet Update. This is number 13 titled Indonesia Sales and Parody. This is the weekly account of what the heck's going on behind the scenes at Build with if you've, if you're tuning in just recently, haven't listened to these in the past. This is something I do weekly for our investors and for our team, but then thought a few months ago, why don't I do this for anybody that cares? So this is how we're building the business. These are the decisions we're making. Stuff going on behind the scenes. Hopefully you find it valuable. So with that, what the heck happened this week? Well, pretty substantial key structural leadership change with Dan assuming marketing and sales leadership and then Jason now leading all things Dirt World. This is key because it sets us up for more traditional, a more traditional software leadership structure, which is important and then also gives us some really high power leadership over Dirt World, which is primarily the, the area Dirt World summit for the first time. So Dan, with this change, he's wasted no time. He's divided our six sales reps into six regions, which is a big deal. So different regions across the United States. He's built real new, real time dashboards to monitor progress and then he's working on hiring business development reps, or what we call bdrs. The focus by region is not a novel concept by any stretch, but is something and is something we probably should have done a long time ago. But civil construction, as any of you can probably attest, is extremely different across America. So this focus will allow each rep to master a specific market or really understand just one market to then meet contractors where they are just a little bit better. Because like I, you know, said, Earth moving up in the Pacific Northwest, in Oregon is a lot different than in Florida or it's different. Tennessee, it's different. Arizona, it's different. Texas, different in the Midwest, up in Minnesota, it's different everywhere. Building is different everywhere. So it's still the similar principles, moving dirt, pouring concrete, laying pipe asphalt, so on and so forth. But there are differences between each region culturally from a material standpoint, weather, so dividing everything, I, I think will be a lot more effective. So really, really excited to have Dan overseeing sales and marketing. And then regarding our industry trust, I build it very broadly through newsletters, this podcast, YouTube channel, social channels. But Dirt World and the event, it builds it very deeply. And Jason's superpower is industry relationships by a mile. I dread big business meetings. I don't do golfing, I don't do business centers, etc, Jason, he loves this stuff, he could talk to people all day long. It just fires him up. And he is damn good. He's incredible at doing it. So having all of his skill set and all of his energy dedicated to dirt World, building trust in a very deep sense, I think is going to go a long way for us. And until now we haven't had leadership over the dirt world. It's been a collaborative effort. Dan's helped, Kara's helped, Nikki's helped. I mean, the whole team has touched it in, in, in, in, in many ways, but we haven't had somebody looking at the big picture and leading it. And so putting Jason in this seat I think is, is one of the best moves we could make right now as a business. And I think, you know what I do we call influence. I think dirt world is just as powerful and important for our overall business and for the dirt world as dirt world. So very excited about these changes. Not the first time we've changed things from a leadership standpoint. This is a lot of lessons learned from a leadership standpoint over the past few years, but feel really good with where we are now. I'm very excited about where this is going and so I wanted to update everybody there since that was pretty significant. If you're looking for another industry event that is a snooze fest, this is definitely not for you. But if you're a leader looking to elevate yourself, your team, looking for like minded individuals that are hungry, then look no further than the Ariat Dirt World Summit November 5th through the 7th in Dallas, Texas. In our third year, we'll have about 1500 hungry industry leaders from about 500 companies looking to learn, grow, teach. It's going to be fantastic. We also have a world class lineup. We've got Jesse Cole from the Savannah Bananas, James Clear, Atomic Habits, Kim Scott, Radical Candor, Mark Miller, Chick Fil a leadership, Tim Grover who is Michael Jordan's trainer. You will not hear from a lineup like this anywhere else. So check out details now dirtworld.com you can use code AARON10 for 10% off any registrations and we'll see you November 5th through the 7th in Dallas, Texas next. We had 60% of our leadership traveling on vacation and the place didn't burn down, which is quite amazing. I love seeing our other leaders step up and our team deliver and so this is confirmation that we have the right people in the right seats. It's great when we can have, like I said, 60% of leadership, step back and not stress about what the heck's Going on because we've got our team executing. I tell everybody we've always led this way. I'm not here to be anybody's parent, anybody's babysitter. Everybody's here to do a job and to do it well. We've built the trust within our team. I feel like we've built just a great team of individuals that get after it. So stepping away to me has never been stressful. And, and this is just further proof that, that we're, we're in the right spot there. Next. Me personally, I spent the week in South Sumatra with Lieber Mining, visiting their machines, working at a giant coal. This was Indonesia. I once thought America was the best at mining and building. And then I started traveling. His operation was one of the most productive I've seen. And the people showing us around could not have been friendlier. It was amazing. Lieber, they called us, reached out to us six months ago. They said, hey, we've got a project happening. We've got some machines we'd like you to check out in Indonesia. Would you like to come? And I said, absolutely. So we worked through what it looked like the project looked like. We finally flew out there, took about 30 hours to get to Jakarta. We had meetings out there and full disclosure, I'm, I'm recording this after the trip happened a few weeks after. We're a little delayed on this podcast to allow me to travel like I do about 30 hours to get us to Jakarta. This from Jakarta to. I forget the city's name somewhere in South Sumatra. It wasn't that long of flight, like an hour. And then after that hour flight, it was a five hour drive to a small town where we stayed and then about, about an hour out to the, the operation from, from where we stayed. So a lot of travel to get to a coal mine in South Sumatra. First time in Indonesia. Spectacular. Being out in the jungle at the mine site we were at, saw some monkeys, which was great. They say, they say they see tigers every once in a while, which was something else. I had a, you know, a particular preconceived notion of what the operation might look like. I thought that it probably wouldn't be the most buttoned up, but was completely wrong. I love being proven wrong as well. It was spectacular. The operators, so talented truck drivers. They knew exactly where they needed to be. The pit was laid out really nicely. Every cut was laid out nicely. They had tons of big machines. Their fleet was immaculate. Very, very impressive operation. So I am really grateful. I get these opportunities to, to see Such, such incredible work and then not just to see it, but document it. So we'll have videos on all of our Liebherr Indonesia adventures coming soon on the YouTube channel. So stay tuned. Very grateful. So grateful to software. Now that we've successfully migrated the first customers from training to improve, our customer success team is taking over to onboard them like we've done with all of our new customers before we switch platforms for their people. So like I said, last week we completed the migration of the first group from the old platform to the new buildwith improve platform. But since it is new, it's not identical. Now the customer success team will onboard the company administrators at each company, those that are owning the program and they're going to walk them through the the new platform, new product and help them understand it so that they can make it, make it as successful as possible. And this is what we've done with every new customer as well. It's a similar process. So we're now meeting with each one of these companies, each one of these, these, these administrators or teams of administrators and then once they're ready, once they're comfortable, we'll switch their users from one to the next. So very exciting next stage in that migration. Very excited about it and I'm so ready to just be on one platform and get rid of the training platform. On the development front, our team is working on eight features to either match the former buildweight training platform, which is called parity, or expand it in essential ways before we have all existing customers on the improved platform by August. So the development team, the platform is out and about, it's being used by many new customers now, thousands of users, you know, soon tens of thousands of users. But it's not a one for one. So it doesn't have all of the features that build with training has. So that is their objective over the next month is to make sure that we have all the features Bill with training had on Bill would improve before we have all the existing customers on there. That's parity. So it's one for one, the same product in, in many ways it's much better. But same feature set and then there's a few key features we're adding as well that we want to have on there by the time all of the, the existing customers are there as well. So that's what they're working on. It's a list of eight features and that is what's happening over the next probably four to six weeks from a development standpoint. So that is everything Billwood Update 13 hopefully you enjoyed it. If you have questions, comments, feel free to write me anytime. AaronBillwood.com and with that, we'll see you on the next one. Stay dirty everybody.
Release Date: August 11, 2025
Host: Aaron Witt, Founder of BuildWitt
In Episode #13 of Dirt Talk by BuildWitt, host Aaron Witt provides a comprehensive update on the latest developments within BuildWitt. This episode, titled "Indonesia, Sales, and Parity," delves into significant leadership changes, strategic sales restructuring, international expansion, and advancements in BuildWitt's software platform. Aaron's transparent and engaging narration offers valuable insights for investors, team members, and industry enthusiasts alike.
Substantial Leadership Restructuring
Aaron begins the episode by announcing key structural changes in the leadership team:
“This sets us up for a more traditional software leadership structure, which is important,” Aaron explains ([00:00]).
Rationale Behind the Changes
These adjustments aim to align BuildWitt with conventional software company structures, enhancing efficiency and strategic oversight. By delegating specific areas to dedicated leaders, BuildWitt positions itself for scalable growth and deeper industry engagement.
Regional Division of Sales Teams
Under Dan's leadership, the sales strategy has been restructured to better cater to diverse markets across the United States:
“Civil construction, as any of you can probably attest, is extremely different across America,” Aaron notes ([00:00]).
Benefits of Regional Specialization
Different regions in the U.S. present unique challenges and opportunities in civil construction. By specializing, each sales rep can:
Aaron emphasizes that this focused approach is a fundamental shift towards more effective and personalized sales tactics.
Jason’s Leadership in Dirt World
Jason’s transition to leading Dirt World marks a significant move in strengthening BuildWitt’s industry presence:
“Jason is damn good. He's incredible at doing it,” Aaron praises ([00:00]).
Upcoming Dirt World Summit
The Dirt World Summit is highlighted as a premier industry event aimed at fostering growth and collaboration:
“You will not hear from a lineup like this anywhere else,” Aaron enthuses ([00:00]).
Event Objectives
The summit aims to:
Effective Team Execution
Aaron shares an impressive update on team performance, highlighting the ability of the leadership team to operate seamlessly:
“The place didn't burn down, which is quite amazing,” Aaron remarks ([00:00]).
Building Trust Within the Team
Aaron attributes this success to the trust and competence cultivated within the team:
“We've built the trust within our team. I feel like we've built just a great team of individuals that get after it,” he shares ([00:00]).
Leadership Philosophy
Aaron emphasizes a leadership style that focuses on empowerment rather than oversight:
“I'm not here to be anybody's parent, anybody's babysitter. Everybody's here to do a job and to do it well,” Aaron states ([00:00]).
Partnership with Lieber Mining
Aaron recounts his recent trip to South Sumatra, Indonesia, collaborating with Lieber Mining:
“I once thought America was the best at mining and building. And then I started traveling,” Aaron reflects ([00:00]).
Observations and Impressions
Aaron shares his positive experiences and observations from the visit:
“It was spectacular. The operators are so talented truck drivers. They knew exactly where they needed to be,” Aaron enthuses ([00:00]).
Future Content
BuildWitt plans to document and share these international adventures through the YouTube channel, providing visual insights into their global collaborations.
Migration to BuildWitt Improve Platform
A significant focus of this update is the transition of customers from the old Training Platform to the new BuildWitt Improve Platform:
“We're now meeting with each one of these companies, each one of these administrators... to help them understand it so that they can make it as successful as possible,” Aaron explains ([00:00]).
Objectives for the Migration
Feature Development Roadmap
The development team is focused on enhancing the BuildWitt Improve Platform to achieve feature parity with the former Training Platform, with additional improvements:
“It's the same product in many ways it's much better. But same feature set and then there's a few key features we're adding as well,” Aaron highlights ([00:00]).
Strategic Goals
Future Prospects
Once feature parity is achieved, BuildWitt plans to finalize the migration, consolidating all users onto the improved platform and retiring the old Training Platform.
Aaron wraps up the episode by reiterating the positive trajectory of BuildWitt:
“Stay dirty everybody,” Aaron concludes, embodying the hands-on, proactive spirit of BuildWitt ([00:00]).
For more updates and detailed insights, visit BuildWitt.com or follow the Dirt Talk podcast series.