Design's Moment Has Arrived: Why I Joined Pirros

If you’ve spent time in architecture or engineering, you know the pattern:

Talented teams working late, redrawing details they already solved years ago. Everyone senses there’s enormous wasted effort buried inside old project folders. We’ve just learned to accept it as part of the job.

But it doesn’t have to be.

For too long, the design phase of AEC has been underserved. While construction technology has exploded with tools for project management, field coordination, and collaboration, the tools built specifically for architects and engineers have not kept pace. It’s been well over a decade since design teams saw a truly category-defining innovation.

That’s why I joined Pirros.

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From PlanGrid to Pirros: Recognizing the Same Energy

When I joined PlanGrid, we were under $10M in ARR. It was a small, scrappy team with a big belief that we could change how builders work. We did. By the time of our acquisition, PlanGrid had grown to over $100M ARR and become a household name in construction.

That chapter shaped how I think about product, scale, and people. I had the privilege of working alongside incredible leaders and innovators at PlanGrid and later at Autodesk, where I saw firsthand how technology can transform an industry.

What struck me immediately about Pirros was that same energy. A mission-driven team solving an obvious, high-impact problem for one of the most creative and technically demanding professions there is: architects and engineers.

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The Problem Pirros Solves: Rework at Scale

Pirros tackles a pain every design professional knows too well: rework.

Architects and engineers spend thousands of hours recreating details that already exist somewhere in their firm’s past work. Pirros changes that by turning historical project content into living intelligence. It intelligently organizes and surfaces a firm’s best details, families, and standards in seconds.

This is not just about faster search. Pirros helps firms capture institutional knowledge, enforce quality, and scale standards across offices, disciplines, and projects without slowing teams down.

Whether you’re a 10-person studio or a global enterprise, the value is universal. Firms are realizing how much time, money, and risk they have absorbed by treating rework as inevitable, and they are done accepting it.

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The Team and the Culture

One thing I’ve learned from scaling startups is simple: the people matter more than anything. You need alignment with leadership, not just on vision, but on how you show up every day.

At PlanGrid, we lived by a simple rule: no jerks. It was not a slogan. It was a standard.

That same ethos is alive at Pirros. The team is sharp, collaborative, humble, and relentlessly driven. Everyone owns their work. Everyone cares deeply about the customer. That kind of culture is rare and powerful.

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Why Now: Design’s Moment Has Arrived

It’s been over 15 years since architects and engineers were given a truly value-based tool in the later phases of design. The last one that felt this fundamental was Bluebeam.

When Bluebeam arrived, adoption felt instant. It solved a real pain cleanly and completely.

We’re seeing that same momentum with Pirros. Word is spreading. Firms are sharing results. And recently, Pirros announced a $15M Series A, providing the fuel to double down on a simple but ambitious mission: give design firms the design-native tools they have long deserved.

This funding is not about growth for growth’s sake. It is an investment in architects and engineers, helping them work faster, reduce risk, protect quality, and unlock the full value of their expertise.

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We’re Just Getting Started

The growth is real, and it’s accelerating. But this is still the beginning.

If you’re an architect or engineer tired of recreating work you already solved, or if you’re passionate about building the next generation of design technology, this is the moment.

We’re hiring. We’re scaling. And we’re building something that will change how design firms operate for decades to come.

Join us as a customer, a partner, or a teammate, and be part of the next major shift in AEC.

Ross Wagner

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