Highlights
- VeraAI offers AI-driven design and visualization tools tailored for kitchen and bath remodelers to streamline sales.
- Traditional design tools like CAD are too complex, deterring over 75% of remodelers from using them effectively.
- Current remodeling sales cycles average three weeks, sometimes stretching to five months, due to fragmented consultations and lack of visualization.
- Market research validates the problem: nearly half of clients cite poor visualization as a barrier, and over 80% of remodeling businesses don’t use design tools.
- VeraAI’s software combines simplicity with real product catalogs and natural language AI guidance, enabling one-consultation accurate design and sales.
- Innovative pricing blends SaaS subscription with a credit consumption system, lowering entry barriers and aligning costs with value delivered.
- Founders emphasize hands-on user engagement, continuous feedback, and strategic partnerships as keys to product-market fit and growth.
Summary
In this episode of The Innovators and Investors Podcast, host Kristian Marquez interviews Andrea Dattillo and Jeff Esposito, co-founders of VeraAI Technologies, a startup focused on revolutionizing the kitchen and bath remodeling sales process through AI-enabled visualization software. Jeff, with over 20 years of hands-on experience in remodeling sales and design, shares the industry pain points, mainly the drawn-out, complex sales cycles caused by inadequate visualization tools. Traditional CAD systems are too complex and time-consuming for remodelers who lack architectural expertise, leading to momentum loss and customer hesitation. Andrea and Jeff identified a significant market need: easy-to-use, fast, and efficient software that leverages AI and natural language processing to create accurate designs and quotes in one consultation, improving customer experience and sales velocity.
The founders highlight that about 76% of remodelers find existing tools too difficult, and many remodelers do not use any design tools at all due to their complexity. Their solution integrates real product catalogs with AI guidance, enabling remodelers to quickly design, visualize, and price projects during customer consultations. Unlike CAD, which requires extensive training and manual effort, their platform automates much of the process, reducing sales cycles from months to weeks or even a single consultation.
Andrea and Jeff also discuss the validation of the market need through extensive research, referencing data from the National Kitchen and Bath Association, Harvard Business Review, and industry-specific studies. They emphasize the cost and delays caused by poor visualization, which results in expensive change orders after contracts are signed. They discovered a sizable market of over 575,000 contractors specializing in kitchen and bath remodeling in the U.S., affirming the opportunity.
Regarding product development, they recount challenges faced early on, particularly the pitfalls of outsourcing development without technical leadership, which delayed progress and misaligned outcomes with their vision. After hiring an experienced CTO with a strong background from major tech firms, they refined their approach, focusing on iterative user experience testing and engaging industry users from the very early stages.
The founders explain their go-to-market and pricing strategy: a SaaS model featuring a consumption-based credit system that balances a base subscription with usage fees tied to design complexity and iterations, making it accessible and scalable for both small and large firms. This aligns incentives as users only pay when they generate value, helping lower barriers to adoption in a traditionally slow-to-adopt industry.
Customer engagement is a priority; the founders regularly meet with remodelers, manufacturers, and suppliers to continuously refine the product and build a broad network. They share their philosophy of active, hands-on market involvement versus building in isolation. The founders also reflect on lessons learned, advising new entrepreneurs to research thoroughly, beware of partners claiming too-good-to-be-true promises, and stay resilient through challenges. Finally, they invite listeners to connect via their website VeraAI.co.
Key Insights
- Co-founder synergy enhances market understanding and product relevance: Jeff’s extensive remodeling sales experience coupled with Andrea’s tech and process expertise creates a comprehensive approach to solving real market pains. This strong founder alignment boosts credibility and insightfulness, critical for product success in niche industries.
- Complexity of CAD stifles adoption among remodelers: The remodeling industry traditionally borrows CAD tools not designed for its unique workflows. The need for architectural expertise and manual work makes these tools impractical for typical salespeople. VeraAI’s goal to create a purpose-built, AI-enhanced tool that requires minimal training addresses a fundamental mismatch in existing software offerings.
- Visualization is a key bottleneck in remodeling sales: Research shows that close to 50% of clients delay or hesitate due to inadequate visualization, which leads to longer sales cycles and costly post-contract change orders. By enabling instant and accurate visualizations combined with pricing, VeraAI can accelerate decision-making, reduce operational friction, and increase revenue predictability for remodelers.
- Size and readiness of the remodeling market represent a significant opportunity: Over 820,000 registered remodeling contractors and a majority involved in kitchen and bath remodeling demonstrate a vast addressable market. With rising home equity and a trend toward aging in place, remodeling demand is strong, making tools that improve efficiency timely and potentially transformative.
- Early development challenges highlight importance of technical leadership: The team’s initial experience with hourly outsourced developers underscored the risk of misalignment and inefficiency without dedicated, knowledgeable technical management. Hiring a seasoned CTO with a track record from Apple and Verizon brought structured ideation, development discipline, and strategic direction, essential for advanced AI SaaS products.
- Consumption-based pricing aligns vendor and customer success: Unlike traditional SaaS with high upfront fees, VeraAI’s credit system ties costs directly to usage and success, making adoption less risky for small firms and scalable for larger enterprises. This model fosters long-term relationships by incentivizing the platform to deliver ongoing tangible value rather than merely locking users into contracts.
- Continuous customer and industry stakeholder engagement accelerates product-market fit: Active outreach to remodelers, manufacturers, suppliers, and early beta testers enriches product features and customization. This close loop of user feedback—from UI/UX to backend functionality—mitigates risks of product-market mismatch and helps tailor a flexible, localized solution addressing diverse remodeling firm needs across regions.
- Founders’ resilience and boots-on-ground approach exemplify startup best practices: Their commitment to meeting customers personally, attending trade shows, and engaging in real conversations ensures an unfiltered understanding of market dynamics. These practices not only nurture valuable relationships but help pivot and evolve the product continually to meet emerging challenges and opportunities.
- Caution to new founders: diligence and skepticism are essential when choosing partners: Their advice to “not rush,” vet partners thoroughly, and trust instincts reflects hard-earned wisdom. Given the prevalence of false promises in startup ecosystems, thoughtful selection and clear communication are crucial in safeguarding vision and ensuring resources are deployed effectively.
In conclusion, VeraAI Technologies is strategically poised to disrupt the kitchen and bath remodeling market by leveraging AI to simplify design, improve customer conversions, and shorten sales cycles. Their grounded understanding of industry challenges, combined with thoughtful tech leadership and market engagement, lays a strong foundation for growth. The company’s innovative consumption-based pricing and continuous feedback mechanisms further enhance its scalability and alignment with customer success.
Stay up-to-date with Andrea Dattilo and her work with VeraAI.
Follow the show on your podcast channel of choice or listen below:
