The New Playbook for Construction Tech:
Why Operators Are Leading the Next Wave of Innovation
By Ty Waters | Chief Revenue Officer in ConTech
June 11, 2025
The construction industry isn't evolving—it's transforming. And the most telling signal isn't coming from startups or even VCs. It's coming from operators.
For years, the dominant narrative in construction tech centered on digitization: move workflows from paper to cloud, from jobsite to dashboard. That era produced tremendous progress. But what's coming next is deeper, more consequential, and more permanent: the rise of operational intelligence as a strategic differentiator.
In this next phase, those closest to the jobsite P&L are leading the innovation cycle—and that's exactly where investors should be paying attention.
Construction Is No Longer a Lagging Market
There's a persistent myth that construction lags behind in technology adoption. But the data tells a different story.
According to McKinsey & Company's 2023 Global Infrastructure Outlook, global construction is expected to reach $15 trillion annually by 2030, with digitally enabled workflows growing fastest in mid-market contractors and specialized trades.
Furthermore, CEMEX Ventures' Q1 2025 Industry Insights report identifies an accelerated investment trend in solutions focused on financial transparency, bid strategy, and operational performance—signaling a shift away from pure scheduling and toward integrated intelligence.
The market is maturing. And with that maturity comes new expectations: Founders must now understand not only how construction works, but how capital flows through it.
Why Operators Are Gaining Influence
The most effective innovations aren't being built in isolation—they're being built by or alongside seasoned operators who understand:
- The timing and cash flow realities of subcontractor-heavy work
- The critical path dependencies in design-build delivery
- The razor-thin margins on bids and the lagging visibility of profitability
- The gap between financial projections and job-level performance
The result? A wave of tools focused not just on automation, but on decision intelligence.
As highlighted by the Revenue Operations Alliance, modern RevOps in legacy industries must evolve beyond marketing and sales to become full-spectrum business strategy engines. That evolution is already happening in construction—led by CROs, CFOs, and COOs who know what actually moves the needle.
What This Means for Venture Capital
For venture capital firms serious about the built environment, this signals a strategic pivot:
The next investable wave of construction tech will not be driven by Silicon Valley abstractions. It will be driven by deeply embedded insights from inside the industry.
A recent Emerald Insight publication titled "Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management" points to the critical need for platforms that can integrate fragmented data systems, produce proactive forecasts, and align with boots-on-the-ground realities—all of which require product founders to either come from construction or partner closely with operators.
As this new class of operator-led innovation emerges, VCs should be asking:
- Who on this team understands the full construction finance lifecycle?
- What operational insight is this product uniquely exposing or solving?
- Does the solution address a fundamental friction in how jobs are won, delivered, or funded?
Looking Ahead
Construction is not broken—it's complex. And complexity is not an obstacle to innovation; it's a catalyst for meaningful, defensible products.
The most exciting ConTech platforms of the next five years won't just digitize—they'll restructure how information, money, and strategy move through the field. And they'll be shaped by those who've lived it firsthand.
Founders without operating experience don't need to sit this out. But they do need to listen. Because the next big opportunity in construction tech isn't about disrupting from the outside. It's about decoding from within.
About the Author
Ty Waters is a Chief Revenue Officer working at the intersection of construction, technology, and business strategy. With over 20 years of experience spanning the military, education, sales, and executive leadership, she brings a multidimensional perspective to innovation in complex, operationally intense industries. She writes about ConTech, capital trends, and growth strategy at Mind Expanding Ideas.