Meet our founder

The construction industry is one of the largest and most important industries in the world. It is responsible for building, maintaining and powering the places where we live, learn, work and play. It’s also one of the toughest industries to work in, defined by complexity, constant uncertainty and high risk. Looking past the chaos of the worksite, you find incredible individuals – the builders, designers, developers, engineers and tradespeople – who are up for the challenge and find great purpose in building the world around us.

The intersection of construction and technology

I’ve always been passionate about building things, and I’ve often straddled two worlds that felt disconnected: construction and technology. In my student days, I worked in a cabinet shop and on construction worksites. Later, after trying my hand as a real estate developer, I discovered the world of software. Being immersed in the Silicon Valley 1990s tech boom inspired me to found my first startup, Webcage. That company enabled Fortune 1000 companies to move from analogue call centres to web-enabled self-service intranet technologies. I learned first-hand the impact digital transformation could have on many different industries.

Several years later, I started building my own home. I was shocked to discover that, despite the sweeping impact of technology across most sectors, the construction industry still largely relied on manual processes. Everything from the project program and budget to the inevitable and endless variations that occur on a construction project was handled through increasingly outdated communication channels, such as fax, phone and paper. Across the industry, inefficient practices and costly rework led to suppressed profitability and immense physical waste. So I started Procore, based on my steadfast belief in the power of bringing humans and technology together to transform industries and improve lives. I chose the name Procore since our technology would enable people in the construction industry to focus on their PROfessional CORE competencies – in other words, their craft.

The product didn’t immediately take off, as at the time, the industry didn’t have the infrastructure to fully benefit from a cloud-based offering. In fact, it took over a decade for devices like smartphones and tablets, as well as Wi-Fi, to become ubiquitous on worksites. Once that happened, our customers were able to fully leverage the power of Procore on site, and our growth really accelerated. Our platform helped project teams collaborate more easily by connecting owner-developers, head contractors, speciality contractors, architects and engineers in one place. We built more solutions for our existing customers and expanded to serve new stakeholders and international markets.

The people who build the world

Procore’s North Star, from day one, has been to put people first in everything we do. This informs how we treat our customers and employees, and how we build our products. It drives us to build customer-first products and culture-first teams.

Behind every successful project, there are great people. That’s why we partner hand-in-hand with our customers to ensure the next generation of our products tackle their biggest challenges. Our customers also have access to real, in-house customer support representatives who are there to help every step of the way.

The journey ahead

Procore is connecting everyone in construction on a global platform. That has been our mission since Procore was founded in 2002. Only when we have all the people, systems and data working together on one platform can we reap the ultimate benefits of construction technology.

When people ask me what my goal is for the future of Procore, my answer is simple: I never want to stop providing people in the construction industry with technology that makes their lives easier, safer and more productive.

Tooey Courtemanche

Founder, Chairperson