Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

Episode #174: Ex-Microsoft Head of Product: Anand Subbaraj on Building AI for the Trades

Release Date: March 4, 2025

Introduction

In Episode #174 of Owned and Operated, hosts John Wilson and Jack Carr welcome Anand Subramanian, the CEO and Co-founder of Zooper, an AI-powered field service management solution. Anand brings a wealth of experience from his 15-year tenure at Microsoft, where he led product initiatives that impacted over a billion users globally. This episode delves into Anand's journey from a corporate giant to an entrepreneurial leader aiming to revolutionize the home services industry through artificial intelligence.

Anand's Background and Microsoft Experience

Anand begins by sharing his extensive background at Microsoft, where he served as a product manager and later led several high-impact products. He highlights his role in incubating new products and challenging industry incumbents, which fueled his passion for building innovative solutions.

Anand Subramanian [00:00]: "I'm a product person. I love building product. We ended up creating a marketplace of about 60 plus applications. AI is going to augment and help technicians to improve productivity and efficiency. AI needs to be the foundation of everything that we are building."

Founding of Zooper

The inspiration to create Zooper stemmed from Anand's frustrating personal experience with customer support while servicing his refrigerator. The inefficient and prolonged support process highlighted a significant gap in the field service management industry, prompting him to explore solutions that could offer a superior customer experience.

Anand Subramanian [04:09]: "Zooper was started based on a terrible personal experience that I had while getting my refrigerator serviced... I'm a product person. I love building products. And I was thinking at that time that this is a real problem."

Zooper, derived from "extremely super," aims to empower organizations to transform their field workforce into super professionals, delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Transition from Microsoft to Entrepreneurship

Leaving a secure position at Microsoft during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was a bold move for Anand. He discusses the challenges of convincing his family about this career shift and the motivation behind taking the entrepreneurial leap.

Anand Subramanian [07:49]: "The biggest challenge at that time was to convince the family that it is the right career move to leave such a privileged job."

Early Days and First Customer

Entering a crowded market with over 150 field service management products, Anand identified four key hypotheses to differentiate Zooper:

1. Specialization: Field service management requires niche, specialized solutions beyond generic CRM or ERP extensions.
2. Integration Flexibility: Seamless integration with existing tech stacks through open APIs.
3. Customization: Avoiding overly opinionated systems that constrain business operations.
4. Enhanced Customer Experience: Meeting modern consumer expectations shaped by platforms like Amazon and Uber.

Zooper's first major milestone was securing a deal with one of the largest furniture retailers globally to manage their installation and assembly group, validating Zooper's value proposition.

Anand Subramanian [15:17]: "We end up getting that deal and we still celebrate that milestone as super day. Huge milestone for us."

Scaling Zooper Globally

Building a global team of over 200 employees across different continents posed significant challenges. Anand emphasizes the importance of fostering a high-performance culture and creating a flexible, configurable platform adaptable to various industries.

Anand Subramanian [15:56]: "Creating that culture that promotes high intensity and high performing team across the globe... Promotes growth across a global organization."

Zooper now serves multiple industries, including manufacturing, HVAC, electrical plumbing, pool maintenance, and is expanding into roofing services, demonstrating the platform's versatility.

Integrating AI into Zooper

AI is not just a buzzword for Zooper; it is the foundational element driving the platform's innovation. Anand discusses how Zooper leverages AI in scheduling, dispatching, and call center operations to enhance efficiency and productivity.

Anand Subramanian [22:08]: "AI needs to be the foundation of everything that we are building... our engine was already leveraging AI from the beginning."

Zooper's AI capabilities include:

• AI-Assisted Dispatching: Optimizing scheduling and dispatch through machine learning.
• AI-Powered Call Centers: Handling after-hours calls and coaching CSRs for improved performance.
• Technician Productivity: Augmenting technicians with AI agents to handle repetitive tasks, allowing focus on complex issues.

Anand distinguishes Zooper from competitors by developing industry-specific language models trained on extensive historical data, ensuring tailored and effective AI solutions.

Anand Subramanian [29:11]: "We have knowledge and expertise within the team... AI native companies that are leveraging historical data and domain-specific datasets."

Future Directions and Vision

Looking ahead, Anand envisions AI transforming the field service industry from reactive to predictive and outcome-based models. He anticipates AI enabling proactive maintenance, real-time data access for customers, and autonomous field service management.

Anand Subramanian [31:11]: "AI is going to revolutionize and disrupt the industry big time... from being prescriptive to predictive to outcome based."

An outcome-based approach ensures minimal downtime and enhanced reliability for critical machinery, shifting the focus from mere repairs to ensuring optimal operational performance.

Funding and Growth

Zooper is a Series B company, having raised approximately $46 million from notable investors including Fuse, Sequoia Capital, HubSpot, and Zendesk. These investments have fueled Zooper's rapid growth and global expansion.

Anand Subramanian [40:42]: "We are a series B company. We raised about 46 million so far... We love collaborating with them."

Customer-Centric Culture

Anand underscores the importance of a customer-obsessed culture. He actively engages with customers through workshops and field visits to ensure that Zooper's solutions align with their needs and expectations.

Anand Subramanian [44:25]: "I spend a lot of time working with customers... understanding what technicians are doing. And I just love doing that."

Zooper employs a "customer backward approach," ensuring that every feature is developed with direct customer input and flexibility.

Anand Subramanian [46:13]: "Understanding the use case and requirements of the customers... build, measure, learn, repeat."

Conclusion

Anand Subramanian's journey from Microsoft to founding Zooper exemplifies the fusion of technical expertise and entrepreneurial spirit. Under his leadership, Zooper is poised to redefine the field service management landscape through AI-driven innovations, customer-centric solutions, and scalable global operations. For those interested in learning more or booking a demo, visit Zooper.co.

Anand Subramanian [48:36]: "Our website at Zooper.co... follow us on LinkedIn and social media. You can reach out to me."

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Notable Quotes

• Anand Subramanian [00:00]: "AI is going to augment and help technicians to improve productivity and efficiency. AI needs to be the foundation of everything that we are building."
• Anand Subramanian [04:09]: "Zooper means extremely super, and our mission is to enable and empower organizations to transform their field workforce into super professionals and offer super experience to their customers."
• Anand Subramanian [15:17]: "We end up getting that deal and we still celebrate that milestone as super day. Huge milestone for us."
• Anand Subramanian [22:08]: "AI needs to be the foundation of everything that we are building... our engine was already leveraging AI from the beginning."
• Anand Subramanian [29:11]: "We have knowledge and expertise within the team... AI native companies that are leveraging historical data and domain-specific datasets."
• Anand Subramanian [31:11]: "AI is going to revolutionize and disrupt the industry big time... from being prescriptive to predictive to outcome based."
• Anand Subramanian [46:13]: "Understanding the use case and requirements of the customers... build, measure, learn, repeat."
• Anand Subramanian [48:36]: "Our website at Zooper.co... follow us on LinkedIn and social media. You can reach out to me."

Additional Highlights

• Partnership with Evoca: Early in the transcript, Tyson praises Evoca's AI-driven call center solutions, highlighting improvements in CSR performance and operational savings.

  Tyson [00:25]: "Evoca has been an awesome partner for us in our call center... AI agent all the way through booking."

• AI-Powered Features: Zooper offers a multi-tiered pricing model with AI-integrated features such as Zooper Pay, Zooper Fleet, and workflow automations, all designed to enhance operational efficiency.

  Anand Subramanian [25:30]: "Our goal is to really offer AI as a complementary capability or AI to augment the human Persona that are using the platform."

For more insightful discussions and actionable advice on growing your plumbing, electrical, or HVAC business, subscribe to Owned and Operated and join hosts John Wilson and Jack Carr every Tuesday.