Joining HOVER
I am excited to announce that I have joined the product team at HOVER. I am a few months into my journey and I can honestly say the reasons I signed my offer still hold true. You can read more about HOVER in these articles from, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. I am writing this article mainly for other folks who are also interested in joining HOVER and I hope that my journey and learnings can help guide your next move. We’re hiring! Check out our open roles.
When I considered making a career move from PlanGrid / Autodesk (Autodesk acquired Plangrid in 2019) I knew I wanted to stay in construction tech. I’ve always thought of myself as a builder. Growing up I had access to a woodshop, and a metal shop and I spent a great deal of time working on cars, boats, and houses. Joining HOVER was a unique opportunity to infuse my passion for building products with code with my other passion for building products of a more tangible nature. There is a unique satisfaction in working at the intersection of technology and the “real world”. HOVER empowers contractors by leveraging the efficiencies of software technology to help them better serve their businesses and customers.
HOVER has an ambitious vision — to create a structured spatial model of the planet that transforms the way people interact with the world. Our mission is to help people improve their homes with the world’s best 3D property data.
How it works
HOVER can create a fully interactive 3D model of a property and provide accurate measurements from an iOS or Android device with as few as 8 photos.
With these highly accurate 3D models, small-to-large exterior contractors and insurance companies then generate measurements, estimates, proposals, contracts, and production orders.
HOVER has built an incredible business with a strong product-market fit that only really begins to scratch the surface of its business opportunity.
So, why did I join?
Below was my criteria for finding the right company fit:
1. People
2. Product
3. Potential
And in that order.
People
I was very fortunate to interact with a large group of folks during the interview process at HOVER. And If I had to describe my interview experience at HOVER it would be — authentic.
The Culture —
Authenticity at work is a foundation for the two most important factors required for any relationship or team to be successful. Authenticity is the notion that people bring their true selves to work and they are vulnerable and honest. This yields a level of trust and collaboration in a high-performing team. I want to be clear— I am by no means suggesting that to be authentic you need to be best friends with every coworker, that you need to wear your heart on your sleeve, or that you should divulge all your deepest secrets at work. But instead, workplace authenticity is about coworkers being able to express their genuine opinions, respectfully disagree with other team members, and feel safe to take risks. Google conducted a massive research study on what makes a high-performing team and found that this sense of psychological safety is one of the top factors of success among the 35 statistical models the data team ran with their insights. People are more likely to effectuate change when they are authentic, and when people, employees, and leaders alike all believe they can effectuate change, they will better apply themselves to whatever it is they are doing. HOVER has a dedicated honest team working toward a collective goal.
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It is my opinion that leadership shapes the culture and the people define it. As one of my Y Combinator partners famously said to our graduating class of founders at YC, “If you are an a**hole, your employees will all be a**sholes. So, don’t be an a**hole.” I have seen this play out on both sides of the coin and he was spot on.
Examples:
- HOVER builds and promotes individuals within.
- Commitment to diversity
- Values
HOVER’s values are short and sweet. Think. Do. Serve.
Every company has values, some of those companies actually talk about these values, but few companies are able to engrain these values into their day-to-day work.
Product
HOVER achieved an initial clear product-market fit with a singular use case —accurate roof measurements from your phone— that has built a foundation for a much bigger business. Whenever I read about a company that has built a great business on a singular use case, I immediately think to myself, “Wow, they must be killing it”.
I remember when I joined Carta shortly after their Series C I had friends say, “Why?” all they do is cap tables? Well, fast forward 5 years and Carta built an incredible business on the success of that singular product which then supported the development of CartX, Carta Launch, and Carta Total Comp. Like Carta, HOVER had a singular use case with an incredible product-market fit, and the larger these companies grow, the stronger their network effects become, and the stronger the network effects the faster (and steadier) the flywheel spins.
As an example, HOVER started by working almost exclusively with roofing contractors and homeowners. And Carta, formerly eShares, started by serving small investors and founders.
Now, HOVER has partnerships with some of the largest residential contractors, distributors, manufacturers, and insurance carriers like USAA, Allstate, and Farmers.
At Carta, each company added to their platform added more investors, and those investors added more companies, and those companies added more law firms, and each addition thereafter continued to power the flywheel of their business. The same is true for HOVER. Each insurance carrier HOVER adds to their platform in turn adds more adjustors, each of whom adds a homeowner, who then add contractors, more contractors add distributors, and more distributors add more manufacturers and so on. For HOVER this is a network effect that has created an unstoppable flywheel. I believe HOVER has the culture, the leadership, and market opportunity to take this momentum to the next level.
Potential
HOVER is going after a $300 billion+ market opportunity centered around the most sacred place for most people —your home. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, shelter is at the foundation of human needs. In other words, people will always spend money to create, optimize, and upkeep their homes. HOVER will be the platform to connect homeowners, contractors, distributors, and manufacturers, to measure, conceptualize, design, quote, contract, pay, order, and install the materials for all your home projects.
We’re hiring! Please check out our open roles. Interested in learning more — let’s connect!
