Justin Smith is the Founder and CEO of Contractor+, the field service industry's first and only all-in-one customer relationship management app. He also happens to be an ex-convict just two and a half years out of federal prison for international drug trafficking.
Formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate five times higher than the rest of American workers. Yet since his release, Smith has launched Contractor+, achieved double-digit growth with single-digit churn, and initiated a $1 million seed round now underway via RegCF.
The founder's past mistakes aside, Contractor+ is making waves across the field service industry. Though everyone relies on builders, property managers, developers, general contractors, artisans, and every other type of on-the-ground service worker to keep our homes and infrastructures in shape, user-friendly management technology has long eluded business owners across this legacy industry.
As a lifelong entrepreneur with rich experience in property management and real estate, Smith, now 36, saw an opportunity to improve the field service workflow and make a huge impact on the lives of contractors and their clients.
Like what Uber did for transportation and Slack for communication, it was overdue for technology to enhance day-to-day interactions in such a critical field. All existing tech solutions for contractors are extremely siloed and only focused on solving problems within the organizational unit. Smith started looking for ways to consolidate and disrupt.
There was, however, one problem: the idea for Contractor+ came to him while serving a federal prison sentence.
"Like anyone serving a sentence, I needed a purpose," Smith said. "I had more than enough time to reflect on what caused me to end up in the position I was in, and thanks to the mental health treatment programs available at my prison, I was finally in the right setting to grow as a person, create something exciting, and strategize what my life would look like on the other side."
Smith was not the type of kid you'd expect to end up behind bars. Like other tech CEOs, he was born with a knack for computers and entrepreneurship. By age 10, he started building computers from scratch to sell to neighborhood families, and by age 13, he teamed up with his mother, a licensed contractor herself, to launch a dial-up internet service provider.
When these initial ventures slowed down, Smith switched his focus to web development. He built a website for his childhood paintball field, which caught the eye of mentor Jeff Lizik, the CEO of Action Fanatics. Though still a teen, his reputation as a web design and development expert and endorsement from Lizik enabled him to grow a flourishing freelance career - all before even heading for college.
Between undergrad and his master's, Smith made a pivotal move into fieldwork. He was hired as a web developer by one of Central Florida's most prominent real estate, property management, and handyman companies. Not long thereafter, he was promoted to VP.
Smith quickly grew the company's management scope to 800 properties and created an in-house contractor division. Though a techie, he worked on the ground with field workers across the many industries that intersect property management and construction.
"I loved sinking my teeth into the real estate industry. I've always been restless, and the ever-changing nature of fieldwork was the fast-paced outlet I didn't know I needed," Smith said. "Working with so many different types of people across different lines of business was chaotic, but it opened my eyes to why technology matters so much - with the wrong software, you fail. With the right software, you soar.
Smith eventually moved on to find a fresh entrepreneurial venture. Unfortunately, what caught his eye next would also be his greatest downfall. A local smoke shop owner asked him to identify the chemical makeup of a nameless pack of herbs. When he figured out the substance hadn't yet been scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act, he started importing the analog from China and selling it to smoke shops across Florida.
In January 2014, the DEA seized 284 kilos of Methylone (also known as MDMA or ecstasy) in transit to Smith's facilities. At that time, it was the largest synthetic analog raid in United States history.
"The part of my brain that craves excitement and creation took over. Even though it was a legal gray area when I started trafficking, there's no justification for what I did. I knew it was wrong. I deserved every bit of my 151 month sentence," he said.
Smith credits much of his current success to the Residential Drug & Alcohol Treatment Program he completed while in prison.
"Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, I finally learned to become a more rational, open-minded, and accountable person. Without it, I would never have developed the healthy foundation that's needed to run a high-growth business - the right way," Smith said.
Still incarcerated, Smith spent his free time drafting the mockups and architecting what has now flourished into a fast growing field service management software company.
Two years later, Contractor+ has grown to 20,000 users with churn below 4%. They're gaining considerable market share. It's become clear that Contractor Plus is here to stay.
Ryan Pineda from Wealthy Way, Brandon Schlichter from Investment Joy, and Mike Demler from Brink Software are advising Smith and his team as they host their upcoming $1 million RegCF seed round on a $4.6 million cap. Lead investor Ethan Logan, President of White Label MFG and founder of Electric Ventures, is kicking off the round with a $40,000 commitment.
"Field service workers deserve to benefit from technology just as much as every other industry. I hope the growth of Contractor+ proves to technologists and investors that there's an untapped market eager for the same things as everyone else - an easier way to grow a business, connect with clients, and manage their people," Smith said.
