Sramana: What percentage of your business is in the U.S. today? Leigh Jasper: On a bookings basis it is around 15% and growing fast. Within a couple of years, I think it will be the biggest part of our business. The U.S. market is just very large. We have 35 offices globally with 400 people.
Sramana: You have moved to San Francisco and raised institutional financing from local VCs. Based on my knowledge of the industry, there is obviously a game plan here, and my inclination is to believe it is a roll-up game plan. Do you plan on rolling up another $70 million to $80 million of revenue by
Sramana: What is the total available market for the construction management software? Leigh Jasper: That market is probably $500 million at the moment. We are the biggest player in the space, followed by AutoCAD. After that there are around 20 smaller companies that do around $10 million apiece. We see this as a multi-billion dollar
Sramana: How long did it take you to get to a critical mass of Australian construction projects transitioned to the Aconex platform? Leigh Jasper: It took a few years to really build it up. Ultimately we served our clients well. The business has grown phenomenally. In 2001 we raised money and started getting some publicity
Sramana: Do you get a lot of repeat business from the same clients or do you have to find new construction projects and reach new clients? Leigh Jasper: The way we typically work with a company is by starting on one of their projects. During that initial project they see what the system does and
Sramana: Let’s talk about the beginning of the company. You said you went out to raise venture capital in 2000. Was your proposal based on a prototype or just an idea? Leigh Jasper: Back then it was very hard to build a prototype. Today there are a lot of tools you can mash together to
Leigh Jasper is the co-founder and CEO of Aconex, on online collaboration platform for construction, infrastructure, energy and resources projects. He has led the company through a decade of rapid growth, during which it became the world’s largest provider of project collaboration solutions for the construction, energy and resources sectors. Prior to founding Aconex, he
Sramana: I take it that your VCs are not antsy about an exit at the moment. John Berkowitz: They are very content. In any scenario we were a good decision for them. Valuation is increasing and business is going good. We are not getting any pressure to do anything that we are not already doing.