Founders: Baylin Spencer, Ashton Dobbin
Twelve months ago, Ashton Dobbin and Baylin Spencer knew nothing of the startup world. Today, they're at $50,000 annual recurring revenue, backed by Startmate and NextGen. Neither of them followed the traditional path. Baylin started businesses when he was 14, from clothing to AI automation, eventually dropping out of university in his second year. Ashton joined the trades straight out of high school before building his own successful carpentry business. Two friends who watched their parents run their own businesses instinctively knew there was a calling to build a great company. Both growing up exposed to the trades, they spotted a problem so underserved, multinational corporations were asking for their help from day one. Construction companies are spending thousands on surveyors and pouring hours of manual time into generating accurate estimates. EstiMate AI solves this problem in only minutes.
Ashton and Baylin were always destined to be great friends. They went to the same high school, although two years apart, so never really vibed then. It was only when their circles connected that they realised they had the same birthday, the same holiday spot every Christmas, and had both competed in elite AFL. Most startups go through months of trial and error to find product-market fit before it's too late. EstiMate’s origins defied these expectations. Early on, they found doors into multinational corporations with a multimillion-dollar client from the UAE. It was an ironic problem to have, where demand was almost too much to handle initially. The problem was dire and corporations needed help. Baylin views this as construction and technology never really intermingling. The people in construction don't know a whole lot about technology and people building in technology aren't that interested in construction. The gap was waiting for someone to come in and be the first movers. Since launching, EstiMate AI has priced more than $150M in projects, and that number grows every week.
When you meet these two for the first time, it's easy to recognise their hunger to win. Both coming from elite sporting backgrounds, their competitive drive has been honed as a weapon. In sports you're not always on a winning team so you need to learn the most from losing. Ashton and Baylin have learnt to have zero fear behind any action they take and to absorb feedback aggressively. If it doesn't work they'll move on to the next play and next one. Take action, learn and repeat. Sport has also given them exposure to constantly having honest conversations on performance and strategy. As a team you want the best from each other. No matter who they come up against, they're going to back themselves to win. Their advice to others is to keep biting off more than you can chew and just chew like anything until you figure it out.
As two founders unfamiliar with the startup scene, they applied to Startmate half thinking it was a scam. With a pre-seed-sized funding round already on the cards through their own investors, they chose to come to Startmate instead to help accelerate their growth. During the program, they 3x’d growth in a single week, connected with Lyra to hire their first engineer and are on track for six-figure annual recurring revenue.
