With 4.5 million small businesses running on the QuickBooks platform, Intuit offers ample opportunities for app developers to attract customers and expand their businesses worldwide. Here at Intuit, we know that growing your business involves more than having a loyal customer base. It also means delivering a strong product that evolves to meet the ever-changing needs of the market. To support the success of Intuit app developers, and continue our mission of Powering Prosperity Around the World, we introduced the Developer Growth Program.

We jumpstarted the Developer Growth Program with the help of five app companies listed in the QuickBooks App Store; Asset Accountant, Genius Sheets, Helm, Re-Leased, and Syft Analytics. By enlisting in our nine-month pilot program, these developers have been able to work directly with the Intuit Developers & Partners group and an exclusive network of accountants, UX experts, solution architects, and go-to-market managers—all of whom are charged with helping app companies maximize their marketing impact, connect with more customers, and increase their app revenue.

The success of this initial cohort of app companies led us to expand the Developer Growth Program with three new app companies. According to newcomers Katana and Uncat, the program has been extremely beneficial—something Buildertrend seconds.

According to Vengan Anandan, director and general manager of the financial management business unit at Buildertrend, “The experience has been great thus far.”

Here's a closer look at what Buildertrend is all about, what Anandan and his team have learned from participating in the pilot program, and if they believe the Developer Growth Program will benefit other app companies.

Getting to know Buildertrend

Founded in 2006, Buildertrend provides home builders, remodelers, and specialty contractors with a comprehensive solution that simplifies their jobs. Their vision is to lead residential contractors away from paperwork and spreadsheet disorganization and, ultimately, redefine construction for the modern builder.

Anandan explains further. “Buildertrend is a cloud-based construction management solution designed to streamline project management processes in the residential construction industry. It provides a range of tools and features to help contractors, home builders, and remodelers manage their projects and businesses more efficiently. In addition to project management, Buildertrend supports other key business management functions for residential construction companies, including financial management, materials management, and customer relationship management (CRM).”

But that’s not all. Anandan says Buildertrend’s products help small and medium construction companies in the residential market maximize job profitability, improve cash flow, and streamline their bookkeeping and accounting processes using the Buildertrend integration with QuickBooks.

If the many five-star reviews in the QuickBooks App Store are anything to go by, Buildertrend is well on its way to achieving its mission of bringing order and efficiency to the construction process. One reviewer, Jill M, writes, “Linking Buildertrend to QuickBooks allows us to be more efficient and organized. I love that I can enter all of my details in one application, and my accounting is managed!”

Glowing reviews like these encourage the Buildertrend team to continue developing their award-winning solution further—and they seem to be doing a pretty good job. Buildertrend has served more than 1 million construction pros, completed more than 2 million projects on the platform, and celebrated more than 1.5 million mobile app downloads in over 100 countries. With this level of success, Buildertrend still faces challenges.

“Our biggest challenge as an app company has been solving the unique needs of various customer types and personas within our diverse residential construction ecosystem,” says Anandan. “Our main goal is to become mission critical for general contractors, which means solving for a variety of personas. This includes the business owner, the homeowner, the project manager who manages day-to-day construction costs, the bookkeeper in the office who is in charge of financial record keeping, the accountant who is responsible for closing books and filing taxes, as well as various subcontractor and vendor personas.”

Buildertrend markets itself as an end-to-end (E2E) solution, so Anandan says it’s important that they solve for all of these personas effectively. To accomplish this, the Buildertrend team is investing in their product and making strategic partnerships with companies like Intuit.

This is where the Developer Growth Program comes in.

A strong partnership and deep insights

In discussions about becoming a QuickBooks Online reseller and building a more strategic partnership with Intuit, Buildertrend learned about the Developer Growth Program. Anandan says they decided to join the program as a way to “gain insights on how we can better partner with Intuit, a global technology company with a market-leading financial management experience already serving many of our residential construction customers today.”

He adds, “The program seemed like a great opportunity to get to know the folks and culture at Intuit and to gain valuable insights about our integration. This is especially true given QuickBooks Online is an important part of our customers’ E2E financial management experience.”

Though the program is still in progress, Anandan says their participation has already supplied them with a list of benefits, including:

• Receiving structured feedback from the panel review sessions.
• Ensuring their cross-functional team has a common set of insights in support of a better experience with Buildertrend and Intuit.
• Gaining a great perspective on the accountant persona.

Anandan says, “Our product and UX teams spend a lot of time talking with construction business owners, as well as their on-staff project managers and bookkeepers, to understand and solve financial management pain points. But we don’t talk directly with accountants, who usually work for separate accounting firms.”

Every App company can benefit from the Developer Growth Program

For Anandan, the Developer Growth Program is influencing how they move forward as a business and as an Intuit partner. “The program feedback thus far has been pretty instrumental toward solidifying our product roadmap for the remainder of the year. Thanks to the valuable insights provided by Intuit panelists, we’ve been able to prioritize tasks that we were already aware of, as well as identify new areas for improvement.”

“Overall, we’re leveraging all of this to re-think how we architect our accounting integration to maximize the experience of any customer using Buildertrend and QBO. Additionally, the program has allowed us to get to know Intuit better and has furthered our resolve to develop a strategic partnership focused on offering the best E2E business growth tool for residential construction businesses.”

Anandan believes the Developer Growth Program can benefit every app company looking to grow their product and their relationship with Intuit.

“The Developer Growth Program is great for app companies to build a bridge between themselves and Intuit. The feedback ascertained from the accountant panel, solutions architect, and UX sessions provide a single set of strong, validated feedback which can be leveraged in product roadmap decisions,” he says. “Given the dominance of QuickBooks in the small and medium business (SMB) accounting software space, participating in this program is relevant for any company building business software for SMBs. Accounting is a crucial part of the business for any SMB.”

We couldn’t agree more, and we’re excited for other app companies to experience the same benefits as Buildertrend. To inquire about program details and how to participate, visit our developer forums. We’re always looking for innovative apps that can address the needs of the QuickBooks community. Our step-by-step guide makes it easy to list your app on the QuickBooks App Store.