Should I Build It Should I Build It
19 Apr 2025
SaaS

CRM to architects and bulding industry. Manage files ando projects

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

The idea of a CRM tailored to architects and the building industry falls into a crowded space. Our analysis indicates that this category is a 'Swamp,' meaning there are already several solutions available, but none have achieved widespread acclaim. With 13 similar products already identified, the competition is significant. Engagement with these existing products is low, with an average of only 1 comment per product, which points to the fact that people are not crazy about these solutions. This suggests that while there's a need, current solutions aren't fully meeting the market's needs. Unless your CRM offers a fundamentally different and highly compelling value proposition, it will be challenging to stand out and capture market share. Given this landscape, it's crucial to carefully consider whether you can truly offer something unique and superior to the existing options.

Recommendations

  1. Given the 'Swamp' category, thoroughly research why existing CRMs for architects and the building industry haven't gained significant traction. Identify pain points that current solutions fail to address. Look into the negative reviews or missing features that cause churn.
  2. Instead of a broad CRM, niche down to a specific segment within the architecture and building industry. For example, focus on residential architects, sustainable building firms, or contractors specializing in renovations. What are their unmet needs?
  3. Consider if building a complete CRM is necessary or instead create tools/plugins that integrate with existing popular CRMs or project management systems. This approach leverages established platforms and reduces the scope of development and market entry hurdles. Maybe you can build on top of Atomic CRM's API?
  4. Explore adjacent problems that architects and building professionals face, which might be more promising. For example, focus on project collaboration tools, BIM (Building Information Modeling) integration, or automated documentation management. Do these offer more white space?
  5. Before investing significant resources, conduct in-depth interviews with architects and building professionals to validate your assumptions. Present mockups or prototypes to gather feedback on usability and feature prioritization. Don't build in a vacuum.
  6. Look at the Atomic CRM comments and criticisms to understand what they failed at, as well as what they succeeded at. Focus on UI, integrations, cost and make sure to address those in your solution.
  7. Given that many similar project management software launches have lukewarm comments and feedback, consider a very targeted go-to-market strategy and focus on product-led growth. Make sure it's extremely easy for a user to start using the software without sales involvement.

Questions

  1. What are the 1-2 key features that will truly differentiate your CRM from existing solutions and provide significant value to architects and building professionals?
  2. What specific, underserved niche within the architecture and building industry will you target initially, and how will you reach them effectively?
  3. How will you measure the success of your CRM beyond user acquisition, focusing on key metrics like project completion rates, client satisfaction, and revenue growth for your target users?

Your are here

The idea of a CRM tailored to architects and the building industry falls into a crowded space. Our analysis indicates that this category is a 'Swamp,' meaning there are already several solutions available, but none have achieved widespread acclaim. With 13 similar products already identified, the competition is significant. Engagement with these existing products is low, with an average of only 1 comment per product, which points to the fact that people are not crazy about these solutions. This suggests that while there's a need, current solutions aren't fully meeting the market's needs. Unless your CRM offers a fundamentally different and highly compelling value proposition, it will be challenging to stand out and capture market share. Given this landscape, it's crucial to carefully consider whether you can truly offer something unique and superior to the existing options.

Recommendations

  1. Given the 'Swamp' category, thoroughly research why existing CRMs for architects and the building industry haven't gained significant traction. Identify pain points that current solutions fail to address. Look into the negative reviews or missing features that cause churn.
  2. Instead of a broad CRM, niche down to a specific segment within the architecture and building industry. For example, focus on residential architects, sustainable building firms, or contractors specializing in renovations. What are their unmet needs?
  3. Consider if building a complete CRM is necessary or instead create tools/plugins that integrate with existing popular CRMs or project management systems. This approach leverages established platforms and reduces the scope of development and market entry hurdles. Maybe you can build on top of Atomic CRM's API?
  4. Explore adjacent problems that architects and building professionals face, which might be more promising. For example, focus on project collaboration tools, BIM (Building Information Modeling) integration, or automated documentation management. Do these offer more white space?
  5. Before investing significant resources, conduct in-depth interviews with architects and building professionals to validate your assumptions. Present mockups or prototypes to gather feedback on usability and feature prioritization. Don't build in a vacuum.
  6. Look at the Atomic CRM comments and criticisms to understand what they failed at, as well as what they succeeded at. Focus on UI, integrations, cost and make sure to address those in your solution.
  7. Given that many similar project management software launches have lukewarm comments and feedback, consider a very targeted go-to-market strategy and focus on product-led growth. Make sure it's extremely easy for a user to start using the software without sales involvement.

Questions

  1. What are the 1-2 key features that will truly differentiate your CRM from existing solutions and provide significant value to architects and building professionals?
  2. What specific, underserved niche within the architecture and building industry will you target initially, and how will you reach them effectively?
  3. How will you measure the success of your CRM beyond user acquisition, focusing on key metrics like project completion rates, client satisfaction, and revenue growth for your target users?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 13
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 1
  • Net use signal: 6.0%
    • Positive use signal: 6.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 3.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 3.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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