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In A World Obsessed With Innovators, This 30 Under 30 Founder Believes Maintainers Matter Too
Our culture tends to celebrate innovating for the future and takes for granted what we have in the present. This excitement for new products and services to make our lives easier leaves behind those who maintain our physical infrastructure that allows society to function every day. Ryan Chan, the founder of UpKeep, is working hard to build software that not only allows maintenance workers to better track and manage repairs via a digital workflow, but also gives recognition to those who do the hard work of keeping our buildings, bridges and roads up and running. Chan is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and has raised over $13 million in venture capital funding to fuel his mission to better recognize and support blue collar work.
Daso: You’re creating the potential for retrofitting versus just maintaining. How does your software, and more importantly, the philosophy that drives you and your company, to help people not only preserve buildings but also to improve them over time?
Chan: Our philosophy comes from understanding the data behind maintenance. Data was challenging to know through a paper-based system. You generate tons of paper that is difficult to comprehend what’s the problem. It’s impossible to look at historical trends if everything is on several sheets of…
