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Hello there!
In case we haven’t been officially introduced, we are Builder.ai.
And since you’re here reading this, it means you’re a Builder yourself. We’ll tell you all about that later. Let’s start from the beginning: The birth of Builder.ai.
Not so long ago, we were known as Engineer.ai. As Engineer.ai, we did some exemplary work with some of the best brands around the world. We launched our platform, Builder Studio, in 2018. Within a year’s time, we observed, iterated, and analyzed how users interacted with us. We built software that could solve all kinds of problems. From helping Virgin Unite fight for the repeal of death penalty in the United States to improving healthcare in rural Kerala with Qure, we’re proud to have done it all.
But in January 2019, we decided to review our identity. Questions we asked ourselves included: What problem are we solving? When people think about our company or product, what are the feelings they have? What associations do they make? How can we make our customer journey easier? How can we help them super-seed their fear of failure? And how are we contributing to the reduction of the 78% of software projects that typically end in failure?
It felt overwhelmingly necessary to do such an introspection, similar to the likes of some of the most successful brands like Google, Nike, and Yahoo, who had renamed and rebranded themselves in the early years of their business. So, we brought on board one of the best global creative agencies in London. A few months, innumerable focus groups and reiterations later, we concluded with an evolved brand identity and brand name. We decided to officially become Builder.ai.
A deeper look at the process
We started by asking ourselves the big question:
What is the problem we’re trying to solve?
Building software is complex, risky and inefficient because the vast majority of software is built and managed by a cottage industry of small agencies and generalist developers. The overwhelming nature of software development, broken process, lack of transparency along with the explicit need to have know-how is why there is an astounding 78% failure rate of software projects in the SME/SMB space.*
Branding and identity workshop, January 2019
Who is our customer? What are their fears and how do we define them?
Entrepreneurial minded people outside and within organisations spot opportunities or needs that technology can help solve. Fear of irrelevance creates new ideas, but they don’t build their ideas because they’re afraid:
- They fear failure in their idea
- They fear for their existing business
- They fear for the ability to maintain their livelihood if they invest in new ideas.
Cycle of irrelevance & fear, branding and identity workshop, January 2019
Like we said, the lack of traditional know-how and the fear of failure often detracts many Builders from even starting at all. So, many ideas that could have been, never are. Entrepreneurs inside and outside of a company often succumb to this inertia. This cycle leads to wasted human potential, on an epic scale. We come from a belief that this is unacceptable.
What are their skills/resources and how do we segment them?
We’re targeting entrepreneurial spirits with ideas that they want to build. They may be building their business at their kitchen table, or struggling to ‘innovate at the edge’ of large corporate entities. They could be a local dentist seeking to make their clinic more customer-centric, or a start-up founder seeking a tech partner who can scale their vision.
The two common variables across them all? Their use of technology and business size.
Customer segmentation, branding and identity workshop, January 2019
We broke down each into category segments with ‘use of technology’ classified by big tech, startup tech, software first, software powered, and digitally starved. We then used standardized business size categories Enterprise, Medium Business, Small business, and Entrepreneur.
From there, our target segments were born, and we found our sweet spot.
And lastly, how does our technology solve their problem?
On-demand, tailor-made software lets you build what you want without any techie skills, risk-free. Our assembly-line building process and thousands of hours of collective knowledge, give you the best of both worlds: the infinite customization normally reserved for expensive agency-led solutions, with the on-demand speed, reliability and consistency of SaaS. You never need to choose between speed and market altering innovation again.
Branding and identity workshop, January 2019
SO, WHY BUILDER.AI?
Consolidating our brand identity. Approachable, simple yet distinctive by nature, Builder.ai was a natural choice that resonated with our early adopters, focus groups and audience, otherwise known as our “Builders.”
From this
To this
A Builder is anyone who believes that an idea can change the world; all it takes is some TLC. In the words of our Co-Founder and CEO, Sachin Dev Duggal:
“We believe that everyone should be empowered to unlock their true potential in being a Builder, irrespective of what they know, what they have and what they are afraid of. In everything we do, we believe in pushing the boundaries of conventional thinking; to look at every problem differently and from the ground up.”
Streamlining our product suite.
When we were Engineer.ai, our products were called ‘DevOps’ and ‘CloudOps’. That meant our customers dealt with three different identities and sometimes it could get confusing. Ergo, we want to simplify our brand to directly correlate and connect with our product offerings and our customers. Now, Builder.ai’s ecosystem consists of a full suite of products for all Builders, including:
Builder Studio lets you build mobile apps, websites and wearables – no tech skills needed. Builder Care is your aftercare warranty to make sure your software never goes out of date. Builder Cloud gives you big savings on your cloud spend (our customers saved over $4.5m in 2019).
Resonating with a global audience.
Did you know that most powerful ideas never even see the light of the day? This is because software development has always meant innumerable other challenges, such as delivering on time, creating flawless products, deciding on fair pricing and safeguarding the idea. Builder.ai (then called Engineer.ai) was launched with a real understanding of every single one of these challenges faced by startups and enterprises during digital transformation. Therefore, the logic behind ‘Builder.ai’ is simple: we don’t just build software. We help companies build phenomenal, revolutionary, business altering ideas.
EVERYTHING FRESH
Now that we’ve caught you up with brand and product name change, let’s look at everything else that is new and exciting. We’ve updated our logo, wordmark, typeface, colours and imagery like photography and illustrations.
We’re using dynamic, high contrast typography to express the brand’s personality and attitude. This makeover allows us to expand or compress the messaging to maximize impact. Similarly, the overall intensity can be turned up or down depending on the application. This new sleek pallet is more refined and retains the originality of the first iteration which flexibly empowers us to be a brand that is confident, vibrant and rooted in contemporary culture.
Globally, Builder.ai is going through an exciting phase where we’re seeing quick yet strategic growth, supporting both active digital markets and those that are ripe for digital transformation. We are able to do this because we can transcend the traditional necessities of technical knowledge by introducing a transparent end-to-end process that caters to the entire lifecycle of an idea – improving the efficiency of resources. We look forward to sustaining this growth by offering more businesses the ability to bring their software ideas to life and we can't do it without you, Builders. So join us by following us right here and across our social media channels.
