We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric Fortenberry and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I’d say the most important factor behind my and my company’s success is that my team and I have both experience working in construction as business owners, as well as experience developing software to solve real problems. We aren’t just construction guys trying to build a software app and we aren’t just software guys trying to deliver solutions where we don’t fully understand the problems. We literally built JobTread out of a needs basis.

The other thing our customers frequently point out as a difference between us and any other company they’ve seen is our keen interest in listening to and collecting feedback from our customers about how we can continue to improve our product. We literally track every single piece of feedback and feature requests that we hear from customers. And we use that data to prioritize our development roadmap based on the features that will make the biggest impact.

Our previous experience building and selling a company has also been tremendously valuable. Many people on our team worked with us at the previous company. We’re a well oiled machine and able to leverage our nearly a decade of experience previously working together. Our teams, and especially our leadership team, has an unparalleled work ethic. We often work around the clock and do whatever it takes to be successful. And our work ethic is driven by our passion and determination.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m a passionate entrepreneur who founded JobTread in 2019. This is my second venture with the first being OrgSync, which we sold in 2015 to a private equity firm. After a successful exit from OrgSync, I was approached to serve as interim CEO for a local Dallas General Contracting company in the hopes that I could help streamline and remedy their broken processes.

I did a comprehensive search to find software that would help the company, but quickly discovered the existing products were either slow and clunky, not customizable, or didn’t have the functionality they needed. So I decided to build something myself. The new product not only helped the company get organized and stay on top of their financials, but it also helped us increase our gross profit by 43%! Once I saw the results, I knew we had built something great.

After successfully implementing the platform and substantially increasing the company’s sales and profits, I knew this was too good to leave with just this one company. So I spent the next two years rehiring many of my former employees, building out the platform, and making it ready for the broader market.

My team and I bring a rare combination of construction, financial services, and software development experience that position my company perfectly as an emerging leader in the construction management software market. Our company plans to continue optimizing its products and services and delivering the latest and greatest technology to a market that is asking for a better solution.

We officially launched JobTread to the market in January 2021 and signed up more than 200 businesses in the first year. By December 2022 we have nearly 900 active businesses and expect to reach 1,000 by the end of the 2022.

Below are a few of my takeaways and lessons learned from my experiences that demonstrate how I have gotten to where I am today. These lessons have become the set of values we created for our team.

Hire the Right People.
People are a company’s most important asset and it is important to get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, and make sure everyone is sitting in the right seat, as Jim Collins wrote in the book Good to Great. We seek highly motivated self-starters that always strive to deliver exceptional results for the people and companies we serve.

Focus on Culture.
JobTread is not just a Company; we are a team of people passionate about technology and making the lives of construction professionals easier. We have a work-hard, play-hard mindset and treat each other like family. Building a strong culture takes work, and we focus each and every day on making JobTread the best place to work.

Customer Service is Paramount to Success.
JobTread has become the Company we are today because of our intense focus on our customers. We are available around the clock to help solve any problem or issue and do our best to go above and beyond for our customers wherever possible. We continue to receive praise about our customer service and that is a huge differentiator between us and other competitors.

Outwork Our Competition.
We did not get JobTread to where it is today by working from 9:00-5:00. We are constantly analyzing every aspect of the business and looking for ways to continuously improve. It is our dedication to JobTread that has helped us become a major player in the construction software industry.

Be Passionate About Our Work.
Passion is what drives us to deliver amazing results. We believe in the work we do and trust in our team to execute on their goals. We applaud people kicking ass and recognize individual and team contributions. We rally around our mission and when everyone is excited and working together towards the same goal, the results are amazing.

Listen to Our Customers.
The development of our product has been guided, in large part, by our customers. They continue to feed us ideas, and we listen. We take all their ideas, discuss them as a team, and execute on the ones that make the most sense for the most amount of users. We view our customers as partners working collaboratively to deliver the best product possible.

Never Stop Learning.
We believe in continuous improvement and seek to always be growing both as individuals and as a team. There are always new skills to learn and techniques for us to adopt to perform our work more efficiently and with better results.

You Can’t Boil the Ocean.
Every day at JobTread we see endless opportunities to improve the way the construction industry operates. Building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s the blocking and tackling day to day that makes us successful and we understand that proper focus is necessary to achieving our goals.

Under-Promise and Over-Deliver.
Our reputation in the marketplace is everything. The worst thing we can do is promise something and then fail to deliver. It’s the quickest way to jeopardize our reputation and lose customers. We are very focused on setting expectations we are confident we can deliver on while delivering some unexpected surprises along the way.

Embrace Change.
Change is the only thing you can be certain will occur and we embrace it. Change is what moves us forward. We have to be agile and responsive across all areas of the team and that happens through strong communication and collaboration. We continuously look for new ways of approaching problems to find solutions.

May The Best Idea Always Win
Our team believes in collaboration and working together to find the best solutions. We encourage healthy communication and debate so all viewpoints are heard and we’re always looking for ideas that are in the best interest for our customers, partners, and team as a whole. We understand that the best ideas can come from anywhere and that timing is key to success.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As a parent of two small children, most of my free time is spent at White Rock Lake, the Dallas Arboretum, and the Dallas Zoo. We love being members of the Lakewood community and hit up all of the Lakewood regulars like Dream Cafe, Haystack, Hudson House and The Heights.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Growing up my Dad, Don Fortenberry, has always been a mentor and someone I look to for advice and guidance. His entrepreneurial experience at nine different ventures undoubtedly motivated me to be an entrepreneur. He was first person I hired at my first company and is now my CFO again at JobTread. At both of these companies he has helped my team and I stay focused on our numbers to ensure we reach profitability. He is extremely disciplined and helps us think about each and every expense and the value it will bring. My Dad truly has been the best influence I could have asked for and it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to work with him to build our second company together.

Website: https://www.jobtread.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jobtread/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jobtread/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jobtread

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JobTread

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jobtread

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