Looking for Technical Cofounder for Heavy Civil SaaS

Hi Tony,
We’re a team of experienced full-stack developers with a proven track record of building robust SaaS products. We’d love to help spin out your ERP into a multi-tenant SaaS for civil contractors.

What we can offer:
Take ownership of the architecture and build-out for your SaaS, starting with the field time → payroll → job-cost visibility workflow.
Deliver a high-quality, maintainable, and scalable solution using Laravel/PHP (or your preferred stack).
Complete the 4–8 week paid trial efficiently, with clear deliverables and progress updates.
Collaborate closely with you to understand real-world contractor workflows and ensure the platform meets end-user needs.

Next Steps / Proposal:
Trial Scope: Define the slice of the product to implement in 4–8 weeks.
Payment Terms: Agree on trial payment for the team’s work.
Long-Term Partnership: If successful, discuss co-founder role and equity.

We’re excited about the opportunity to turn your internal ERP into a SaaS product that delivers real value to contractors.
Looking forward to hearing from you and discussing the trial in detail.
Best regards,
Robert

I get it. You need a clean break from the legacy system, start charging contractors fast, and prove the model before overbuilding. I built MVPs in two weeks with full design and code. Drop me a line if you are interested.

Hey Tony, sounds interesting, lets chat

Hi Tony,
Your heavy civil ERP-to-SaaS spin-out stands out, a live system already handling real field time, equipment rental, maintenance, and FOUNDATION integration since 2012 is genuine momentum in a complex vertical.

At Ergosphere Solutions Pvt Ltd, we’ve spent years building production-grade SaaS platforms and complex internal tools that later became multi-tenant products. We focus on sustainable architecture and deep workflow understanding rather than just delivering to a spec.

The 4–8 week paid trial project you mentioned is a smart way to test the partnership. We’d be happy to review the current system and scope the first slice of the SaaS version.
If that aligns, I’d love to hop on a quick call to understand your priorities and discuss approach.

Hi Tony, this is a really solid and well-defined idea 👏

The fact that your system is already being used in a real construction environment since 2012 is a huge advantage — especially for something as complex as payroll, job costing, and equipment tracking. That kind of domain expertise is hard to replicate.

I also like your phased approach starting with the field time → payroll → job cost visibility workflow. That’s a smart way to build a focused, valuable core before expanding into the broader platform.

Wishing you the best in finding the right technical cofounder — this looks like a strong foundation with real potential to scale 🚀

I'm interested in this. I built some training SaaS in the construction industry a few years ago with a startup. I'd love to chat and see if we have some synergy around this.
You can DM me here, or email me at [email protected].

Here is my linkedin profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-c-schupp/

Sounds like an interesting project. My team and I have been building Laravel web apps for SaaS startups for several years including a company that was recently acquired. I've actually built a project management system and a pricing system for a construction company before, though it was only for their internal use.

I live in Greer, SC and focus on long-term relationships (currently 5+ years with my main clients). Most of the work I've done is in Laravel with traditional startups that are solving a large problem for a small number of customers, which fits with your $600+/month target customer, rather than the trendy $20/month micro-SaaS apps. I enjoy working to understand the project goals and ensuring we're building a sustainable architecture rather than just coding to a spec document.

Would be happy to talk through what you're looking for to see if I'd be a good fit. I have some more info about past projects at https://boldcompass.com/projects/ or you can email me at [email protected]

Very cool idea

Hey Tony, I have built more than 12+ SAAS tools and 2 Android apps from ground zero by myself. I also have 15+ years of product management and technical development experience in the tech space. I have worked with eBay, Cisco, Starbucks, Forbes and GE. You can check my profile on linkedin as uday singh, founder of canonicalesg and johnify. Happy to talk and do a small trial with you.

Hey Tony — internal tool used by real crews daily since 2012, integrated with FOUNDATION, handling field time, equipment tracking, and maintenance dispatch? That's not a startup idea — that's a battle-tested product with years of domain-specific edge cases already solved.

The vertical SaaS play here is strong. Heavy civil contractors are underserved by generic SaaS, and an ERP built by someone who actually runs a construction company has a credibility advantage that's hard to replicate.

We run a dev studio that specializes in turning internal tools and proven workflows into multi-tenant SaaS products. Our typical approach: take the existing system, architect a clean SaaS version (tenant isolation, modern API layer, field-friendly UI), and ship the first module in a 2-4 week sprint. We've done this with complex operational systems before.

Your 4-8 week paid trial approach makes sense. If you're still evaluating technical partners, I'd love to look at the current system and scope what the first SaaS-ready module looks like.

DM me here if you want to chat.

Tony — this is a strong fit for my background.

I’ve spent 13+ years building and owning backend systems, infrastructure, and operational workflows end to end. A lot of my experience is in taking rough or early systems and turning them into stable, production-ready platforms that can scale.

I’d be very comfortable owning the technical side of taking an internal tool like this and rebuilding it into a real SaaS product. The 4–8 week paid project approach makes sense to me as a starting point.

Happy to connect if you’re still looking.

Hey, I’m not a technical cofounder, but I’m an app tester.
If you later need usability testing or feedback from users, I’d be happy to help

Hi Tony, not sure if you've found someone already, but im a computer/software engineer with experience create large infrastructure at Fortune 500 companies. If you are still looking for a partner to help, let me know!

Hi Tony,

I'm an experienced software engineer in building a SaaS product in the civil/construction industry — very similar to what you're working on.

I'd love to connect and explore the possibility of partnering up. I bring strong technical experience in building and scaling SaaS products, and I think there could be a great opportunity for us to collaborate.

Would you be open to a quick chat?

Thanks.

I would be glad to explore the opportunity to work with you. Could you please share your contact number? Alternatively, we can connect via email at [email protected].
I look forward to discussing this further.

This definitely resonates with me.

I’ve spent the last several years building and scaling systems that sit in that same category of "unsexy but mission-critical" - things like billing, scheduling, inventory, and operational workflows where accuracy and reliability matter more than flashy UI. Your time -> payroll -> job cost pipeline is exactly the kind of problem space I enjoy working in.

A few things that stand out to me about what you’ve built:

• You already have real production usage and tight integration with FOUNDATION, which is a huge moat compared to greenfield SaaS ideas.
• The equipment cost recovery + internal rental model is something most contractors struggle with but rarely solve cleanly.
• The fact that crews use it daily means the UX and offline/field constraints are non-trivial - this isn’t a typical CRUD SaaS.

From a technical standpoint, I’d be excited to help evolve this into a multi-tenant SaaS. My initial thinking would be:

• Laravel as a solid backbone for the core domain (auth, tenancy, APIs, queues)
• A modular architecture (inspired by systems like OpenEMR / SmartStore) so payroll, equipment, and maintenance can evolve independently
• React (or a MERN-style frontend) for field + office interfaces, with careful attention to offline-first or low-connectivity scenarios
• Clear tenancy boundaries (database - per - tenant or hybrid depending on scale and reporting needs)
• Strong job/queue processing for syncing with FOUNDATION and handling time-sensitive payroll flows

I also like your approach of starting with a focused slice and validating the working relationship before jumping into a full cofounder commitment-that’s exactly how these should be done.

I’d be very interested in:

• Seeing the current system and data model
• Understanding how the FOUNDATION integration is currently handled
• Identifying the first 4 - 8 week slice we could turn into a clean, SaaS-ready module

If it’s a fit on both sides, I’d absolutely be open to growing this into a long-term technical cofounder role.

Let me know a good time to connect and dive in.
My gmail is davidwang913526.

Most "looking for technical cofounder" posts skip the part that actually matters to the technical person: what have you already built or sold without them. If you have paying customers or even a signed LOI from a heavy civil contractor, lead with that, it changes every conversation. What's your current traction in the space?

This sounds like a strong and practical product — especially since it’s already been proven internally over years.

I’m interested in the trial project to understand the system and workflows in depth. Before moving forward long-term, I’d like to align on a few things:

• Technical ownership (architecture decisions, scalability direction)
• Product roadmap priorities for SaaS transition
• Expectations around equity and cofounder role post-trial

If that aligns, I’d be happy to start with a focused 4–8 week build and evaluate from there.

Let me know a good time to review the current system.