Tread: Building the Future of Construction Materials Logistics

I joined Tread in November for one reason; I believe there is an incredible opportunity for software to revolutionize the $660Bn construction materials market. Using software to move dirt more efficiently around the globe is exciting because I’ve built my career bringing software to what I’ve lovingly termed “dirty, grubby, and unsexy” industries. 

The impact of getting this right is massive – we have the opportunity at Tread to “Accelerate Construction” across the globe. Construction requires coordinating complex and often simultaneous actions carried out by interconnected people at many different companies. Delays in this network and breakdowns in communication create expensive and sometimes disastrous outcomes. We believe we can do our part to get projects done faster, safer and more efficiently, and we know that’s a value proposition our customers care deeply about.  

On Tread’s 7th birthday, we want to recognize how much we have learned from our partners; some of the most forward thinking and innovative players in our space, while we work alongside them to solve pain points shared by everyone who is connected to the materials supply chain. While we still have lots to learn from our customers, we have seen the complexities (and similarities) of our industry through the eyes of Material Producers, Haulers, Civil & Construction Contractors, and Pavers, and have a strong perspective on how we can solve for some of their most important struggles.

We know the challenges of working with haulers of all sizes, from large, multi-state fleets to individual owner operators. It's important to these stakeholders that they can control their own schedules, dictate how they work and when, and that they maintain their independence and direct connection to their customers; we're grateful to help strengthen those relationships through simple and easy to use software. We know the time intensive, manual task of reconciling timesheets across all of those owner/operators, of ensuring that each of those timesheets has a materials ticket associated, and that it is coded perfectly so that invoices are reliable and timely. We are cognizant that logistics is just a piece of the puzzle, and that in order to deliver value, we must integrate deeply into a connected ecosystem of Materials and Accounting ERP solutions, as well as other workflow management platforms.

The diversity of our learnings are the result of the breadth and diversity of our customers. We have been humbled by the scale of some of our partners, which include some of the largest material producers in the world and includes global players like CRH, Cemex and Martin Marietta. We are grateful to work with national and regional standard bearers like Tomlinson, who willingly share their time and attention with us every day. The same level of service and focus is applied to the hard working and scrappy fleets and owner operators like Carter Trucking, Werdco BC, and Peyson Transport for whom we drive meaningful changes in how they work with their customers.

Tread exists for our customers to 1) DRIVE REVENUE 2) SAVE MONEY 3) IMPROVE VISIBILITY 4) FUTURE PROOF , AND 5) MITIGATE RISK. 

We believe that the digitization of our industry is here, and Tread is ensuring that we are doing all that we can to help ensure that digital adoption delivers meaningful long term value for our stakeholders. We believe that digitization is a long journey, one that we will take hand in hand with our customers, even when we take one step back before taking two steps forward. While we are moving fast, we are also strapping in for the long haul; we are hard at work introducing AI into our dispatching flows, ensuring seamless workflows for AR, AP, and Payroll, and endeavoring to be the simplest and most robust API driven TMS in the industry. Tread’s platform, while leading the market today in dispatch functionality, by the end of 2023, will be a generation ahead of where it is now. Our product roadmap and designs to revamp Tread will fundamentally change the way the industry works by empowering our customers with tools to work safer, faster, more efficiently and more collaboratively.

Since taking the helm as CEO four months ago, I have had to make several difficult decisions that impacted the structure of our company; those are not decision that are ever made lightly. As any business owner or manager knows, headcount decisions are the hardest part of the job, and often reflect evolving strategies and market factors. At Tread, we care deeply about our vision, are passionate about solving the industry's pain points and have always prioritized efficiently delivering maximum value to our customers over anything else. We are confident today that we have a team that is energized and excited to innovate in construction materials logistics for the next 5-10 years. Our team will continue to grow in the future to reflect our evolving focus and strategy, and it is important to us that we remain a workplace where people can evolve their careers together.

Tread is fortunate to be backed by some of North America’s most trusted technology venture investors, including Crosslink Capital, Ripple Ventures, Real Ventures, and Ridgeline Partners, all patient venture investors who are motivated to support the next ten years of growth. While many in technology and venture investing overlook our space, Tread's capital partners believe our vision and strategy unlocks a massive opportunity to deliver impactful software to an often ignored segment of construction. Tread’s team and capital partners know this segment is mission critical to supporting some of the most important infrastructure projects in the world. 

As we celebrate our 7th birthday, I want to share how grateful we are to be where we are today, supporting the customers we are serving, and shaping the future of an industry. Moreover, given what we've learned and how much we've accomplished over the last seven years, we're thrilled to Tread Onward and Upward with one of the hardest working and most important industries on the planet in the years and decades to come. 

Sameer Bhalla
CEO