Q1. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of your professional background, particularly focusing on your expertise in the industry?

20 years in the power tool business.  16 years at Hilti.  4 years at DEWALT (part of Stanley Black & Decker).  Roles in sales, sales management, product management, strategy, and digital. Experience across all channels (direct, distribution, retail, and e-Commerce).

Q2. From your perspective, what has been the most important shift in the power tools and construction ecosystem over the last few years, and why has it mattered so much commercially?
 
•    For power tools, it’s data.  The value of data has eclipsed the value of the power tools.  Yes, tools are still needed to build.  But even more valuable are aspects such as equipment management and utilization.  For example, it’s 5 pm, are all my tools back?  If not, which ones are missing, and who had them last?  Another example, a tool goes down.  What to do?  Data on remaining useful life, warranty coverage, repair vs. replacement costs, etc., enables better and faster decisions.
•    Subnote – tariffs represent the greatest shift in power tools for manufacturers in recent history.  The key question is, will they remain in place long-term?  Manufacturing decisions are not made on the basis of 4-year terms, but rather 4-decade horizons.  But these whiplash changes offer few attractive solutions.  Reshore and try to pass along the higher production costs, or stay offshore and try to pass along the higher tariff costs.  When I left Stanley Black & Decker, they had $700 million in new OPEX.
•    For the ecosystem, it’s about integration.  Today, there are complete workflows—products and software to go from start to finish. The bigger challenge is complete dataflows, how to move data along as the workflow progresses.  Not have silos.  Have a single source of truth—one place to update everything. 

Q3. What did your experience teach you about how tool buying behavior is changing compared to traditional distributor-driven models?

Transparency. The world has become flatter and more transparent.  Amazon has been a big driver of this.  Distributors don’t like Amazon, but market sensing revealed that 50% of Pros research on Amazon.  Why? Rich information – reviews, pictures, videos, pricing, etc.  Even if they don’t intend to buy on Amazon, the transparency places pressure on distributors to be competitive on pricing and faster on delivery.

Q4. How did you see competitive intensity changing as products became more comparable but platforms became stickier?

There has been commodization of performance.  Most power tools are good.  Some are great, but almost all Pro-grade tools are good. What separates (or creates the stickiness) is now based on other factors – the breadth of cordless tools, equipment management (asset tracking), and data utilization.  I remember speaking with a general manager for a large EPC.  To quote him, whoever wins the data, wins the tools.

Q5. Which customer segments or geographies looked attractive in the data but were hardest to scale profitably, based on what you observed?

Residential is the largest market, but it is also challenging.  Limited code enforcement, regulation, safety concerns, etc.  Some other markets, such as infrastructure, are large and attractive but rely on traditional project delivery methods, such as design-bid-build.  This makes it harder for them to embrace innovation, especially when Buy America/Buy American requirements are in play as well.

Q6. Where have you seen AI meaningfully improve commercial outcomes in industrial markets, and where does it remain more narrative than reality?

There are pockets and use cases, but it remains largely narrative.  You have to remember that Construction was behind even before AI started. They’re the last big global industry to embrace technology.  You are seeing select use cases.  For example, I recently spoke with an HVAC contractor.  They used Service Titan.  AI was being launched to optimize the scheduling.  How best to schedule their techs?  Taking into consideration time, distance, tolls, capacity, etc.  It was a smart use case, but in the crawl, walk, run analogy, Construction is still transitioning from crawl to walk.  AI is running.

Q7. If you were an investor looking at companies within the space, what critical question would you pose to their senior management?
 
•    Market – yes, data centers are hot.  But they won’t be forever. Probably not beyond 2030.  How diversified is their business?
•    Talent – the shortage of talent is a well-traveled story.  What are they doing to attract and retain good people?  In this business, good people are everything. 
•    Safety / Health / Mental Health – related to the previous point.  You can look at this from the business side (it keeps their insurance rates low) or from the altruistic side.  Or both.  But it’s no longer enough to advocate for safety.  Health and mental health are the long game.  What are they doing to protect their workers in the years ahead?
•    Progressive thinking – there are many shiny objects.  How do they balance progressive thinking with the tried and true?  Need both.