Inspiring Conversations with David Berg of CommanderAI

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Berg.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I spent five years in trash truck sales using nothing but spreadsheets and determination. It was absolutely brutal. This experience led me to quickly realize that our industry had been severely overlooked when it comes to modern systems and processes. I see a few key reasons for this. First, waste management companies have traditionally relied on cold-calling unqualified leads, door-knocking, marginal contact intelligence, and spreadsheets for opportunity tracking. While not efficient, influencing sales reps to move from a process they’re comfortable with to a technology platform can be daunting.

Additionally, most sales software and CRM vendors do not understand the unique needs of the waste management market. In fact, Gartner found that 90% of CRM solutions are not tailored to the specific needs of waste management and transportation industries. Other solutions are slow, complex, and don’t have workflows that meet the needs of waste haulers. As a result, implementations often fail. This results in slow time-to-opportunity, missed jobs, and empty routes. We purpose-built our platform for the fragmented, boots-on-the-ground world of waste management using sales terminology our customers use in their day-to-day conversations.

On top of these challenges, we also have a younger generation of workers making up a larger portion of the waste management industry – and many of these workers are now moving into leadership positions. This generation uses AI in their daily lives and not only wants, but expects, to benefit from it at work. All of these factors create a huge market opportunity for CommanderAI.

As to why I chose to start my business in Los Angeles, I was born and raised here, giving me deep local roots. CommanderAI CTO, Shantanu Bhardwaj, also has long ties to the area, having lived in Santa Monica for many years. I’ve worked here for four years, and I know it’s the perfect place to build a company. The area offers a certain calmness and little distraction that allows us to be hyper-focused on our goals. Plus, we have access to great hiring talent from all the excellent schools nearby.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Startup life is full of new challenges and opportunities – EVERY, SINGLE DAY. At any given time, our team is fundraising, selling, keeping customers happy, hiring, and building new product while fixing bugs in the current one. The list goes on and on. While some might think this is overwhelming, this is where our team thrives.

Now, has it been smooth? Absolutely not. Our biggest struggle was the initial skepticism inherent to this industry. Waste haulers are skeptical of ‘tech solutions’ built by Silicon Valley insiders who don’t understand their actual business. We had to prove that CommanderAI was different. Our platform is AI-driven, but still human-led, and built by one of their own. We turned that industry skepticism into our competitive advantage, and now we’re gaining rapid momentum.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about CommanderAI?
The most important thing to know about CommanderAI is that we truly understand our target customer at the deepest level. Our founding team has worked with 35% of the top companies in waste management, driving more than $75 million in sales over three years. We know waste haulers’ challenges and opportunities inside and out because they were our own.

Each day we ask ourselves how we can make our customers’ daily lives easier and their businesses more successful. In the last 90 days alone, CommanderAI has uncovered more than 30,000 leads that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Customers are also achieving a 3% response rate to emails and LinkedIn messages, tripling the waste management industry average. We credit this to our software’s ability to talk like a hauler. We are trusted by dozens of waste management and transportation companies for our ability to help them find, engage, and close more opportunities.

What’s next?
Sales management has been an extremely manual and complex process for the waste industry. Right now, we’re focused on improving each piece of that puzzle and have the right team, knowledge, and AI-powered tech to get the job done. This represents a multi-billion dollar market opportunity for CommanderAI.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.commanderai.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commander__ai/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/commanderai/