“It’s about time…”

This month, that phrase is much more than a just marketing pitch at BuildingConnected, the San Francisco-based provider of time-saving, intuitive bid procurement services for commercial builders. With the firm now approaching its 5th birthday, CEO & Founder Dustin DeVan dropped by BuiltWorlds last week to film a new segment of our BW Venture series. He brought along big news:

“BuildingConnected is excited to announce that we have closed on $7 million in new financing, bringing our total investment to date to $17.7 million,” said a smiling DeVan. “This latest investment round was led by Brick & Mortar Ventures, with continuing participation from all of our current investors: Crosslink Capital; Bee Partners; FreeStyle; and Homebrew. We also received new participation from Kiddar Capital; Silicon Valley Bank; and Dave Eisenberg, CEO of Floored.”

This year, alone, the provider of pre-construction software for both commercial builders and owners has nearly tripled its customer base, growing from 330 general contractors last January to over 1,000 today in the U.S. and Canada. “In October, BuildingConnected was used to manage the bidding process on over $40-billion in new construction,” noted DeVan.

“We have closed on $7 million in new financing, bringing our total investment to date to $17.7 million”

In last week’s candid discussion with BuiltWorlds’ Alexis Chastain, DeVan offered several insights on the life of a startup. In fact, so many people ask him for advice on how to launch their own startups that he plans to start blogging about his experiences soon. In the meantime, we asked DeVan for his three top pieces of advice for those brave enough to venture down that tech startup path. Here’s his answer:

1. Build your network: Go to coffee shops, attend events, write blogs, and pitch everyone you meet;
2. Don’t out-source tech: You need the expertise in-house to make the best development decisions;
3. Bet on yourself: You can’t expect investors to bet on you unless you take on the initial risks, yourself.

• For more, watch the complete BW Venture video above, and visit our growing library on YouTube.

Our thanks again to Dustin for honoring us with his firm’s big announcement!