Zak Schwarzman, General Partner, MetaProp:
We are excited to welcome Alok Chanani, the Co-Founder and CEO at BuildOps, in this edition of MetaProp’s Founder Spotlight series.

We’ve had the privilege of partnering with Alok and his team since the earliest days as they set out to reimagine how commercial trade contractors operate. Today, BuildOps is the leading provider of mission critical software for commercial contractors—and with a recently announced $127M Series C and newly minted unicorn status, the momentum is undeniable.

Alok, since launching in 2020, BuildOps has established a remarkable foothold in a complex and often overlooked part of the built world. How did you get here? What milestones stand out most from the journey so far?

Alok Chanani, Co-Founder & CEO, BuildOps:
From the beginning, we saw a huge gap in the market—commercial service contractors didn’t have software that truly reflected how their businesses operate. BuildOps was built from the ground up specifically for this segment, which demands deep configurability, product flexibility, and ease of use. We set out to deliver a platform that wasn’t just functional, but essential—software that could serve as a true system of record.

Since our launch, growth has been both rapid and deliberate. We crossed seven figures in revenue in our first year, tripled in both 2021 and 2022, and doubled again in 2023 and 2024. We now serve over 1,000 commercial contracting businesses across the U.S., from mid-market operators to large enterprise portfolios, and we continue to see strong demand across mechanical, electrical, plumbing, refrigeration, and fire and life safety.

Proudest milestones? I’m proud of the trust we’ve earned from the industry we set out to serve. That trust is the foundation for everything we’ve built—and everything we’re building next.

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Zak: What’s one unexpected challenge you’ve encountered—and how did you overcome it?

Alok: One of the most underestimated challenges in company-building is early hiring. It sounds obvious, but the first 10 people you bring in define the culture, the cadence, the quality bar. And that culture scales. The first 10 shape the next 100, and the first 100 shape the next 1,000.

In those early days, we had opportunities to bring on incredibly talented individuals—people who could drive metrics fast. But sometimes we had to say no because the alignment wasn’t there with the long-term culture we were trying to build. Those decisions aren’t easy when you’re scrappy and trying to hit milestones. But they matter. You have to decide early on what kind of company you’re trying to build and stick to it, even when the tradeoffs are hard in the moment.

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Zak: Looking back on your journey, what advice do you have for other PropTech founders? Are there particular challenges, opportunities, or dynamics unique to this space that you think they should be aware of?

Alok: First, there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook. Commercial real estate is fragmented. The stakeholders are varied. The workflows are complex. This category rewards depth, patience, and a willingness to truly understand the operational realities of your customers.

You have to build for the long game. For us, that meant setting Herculean goals that took years to execute—but those decisions created durable advantages that compound over time.

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Zak: As you lift your head up from this round and major accomplishment, what are you focused on for this next phase of growth? What excites you?

Alok: What excites me most is what we can now unlock for our customers. With our latest investment, we’re accelerating innovation—introducing AI-powered scheduling, predictive maintenance, and live project tracking. These are game-changers that help contractors get ahead.

We’re also investing heavily in customer support, strengthening our API infrastructure, and deepening our footprint in the U.S. and Canada across key trades like MEP, refrigeration, and fire/life safety. And as we scale, we’re looking beyond—into adjacent trades and deeper industry partnerships.

But the mission remains the same: to serve the unsung heroes of the trades. What matters most is building a fundamentally sound, value-driven business that’s indispensable to our customers.

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Read more about BuildOps and their $1B valuation in TechCrunch.