Ramdas: Overcrowded software categories require double the GTM effort of vertical SaaS
Shreesha Ramdas · How Startup’s Should Find REAL Customer Pain w/ 4x Founder Shreesha Ramdas (Lumber) · Nov 14, 2025 · at 40:13
Shreesha Ramdas, founder of construction workforce platform Lumber, explains to host Siddharth Ahluwalia why repeat founders often choose vertical software over crowded horizontal markets.
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“The effort that's needed in overcrowded categories is double the normal effort. Versus in vertical, the challenge is to understand the domain really well, and to establish go to market activities that are very specific to that industry. But then you're not fighting the battle of the category itself being overcrowded.”
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“Few things that I did differently in lumber is once I narrowed down the problem that I'm going after, I just didn't go out and hire engineers.
I hired engineers, but I also hired a salesperson.
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