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How Renterra built an outbound cold calling engine | Andy Feis
Heavy equipment rental is a $100 billion market — and until recently, it ran almost entirely on pen and paper or legacy software built 30 to 40 years ago. In a recent episode of BUILDERS, we sat down with Andy Feis, Co-Founder & CEO of Renterra, to learn how five years of management consulting across manufacturing, mining, logistics, and construction led him to one of the most overlooked software opportunities in the country: modernizing the roughly 15,000 independent equipment rental companies that supply the majority of construction equipment in the U.S.
Topics Discussed:
Why 60% of construction equipment is now rented — up from 20% a decade ago — and the COVID supply chains, rate environment, and equipment specialization trends driving that structural shift
Why the assumed barrier to selling technology into this market turned out to be a myth
How Renterra built its go-to-market around high-volume direct phone outbound, with Andy personally making 10,000+ cold calls before handing it off
The free, white-glove implementation model Renterra uses to drive product usage and long-term retention
The sequencing from founder-led sales to first hires to scalable systems — and why it took 12–18 months to get right
How word-of-mouth has become a meaningful inbound channel without any deliberate marketing investment
Where AI fits into Renterra's product roadmap as it builds toward becoming the full technology layer for rental companies
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
Underserved is not the same as resistant: Andy's biggest pre-launch assumption was that a blue-collar, industrial buyer base would push back on adopting software. It turned out to be wrong. "Nine times out of ten when we explain what we're trying to do or show them the product, it's like thank God, we've been waiting for this." The real dynamic in this market wasn't resistance — it was absence. No capital had flowed in to build the right product, so buyers were excited the moment something credible appeared. Founders entering legacy or overlooked verticals should stress-test whether the assumed adoption barrier is real or whether it's a story the market tells itself because no one has tried yet.
Post-close usage is the metric that actually matters: Renterra's number one success metric after closing a deal is product usage. That single north star drives everything about how they handle implementation — free of charge, fully white-glove, unlimited training, unlimited support, with the explicit goal of getting customers live and seeing value as quickly as possible. Andy's logic: "Once we have a customer up and running, using the system well, we have them for a very long time." The free implementation is expensive, but it's deliberately framed as an LTV bet, not a cost center. Founders who charge for implementation or treat it as a hand-off risk optimizing the wrong variable — closed deals look like revenue until churn reveals they weren't.
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Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co
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Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role.
Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM
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By Front Lines Media
5
66 ratings
Heavy equipment rental is a $100 billion market — and until recently, it ran almost entirely on pen and paper or legacy software built 30 to 40 years ago. In a recent episode of BUILDERS, we sat down with Andy Feis, Co-Founder & CEO of Renterra, to learn how five years of management consulting across manufacturing, mining, logistics, and construction led him to one of the most overlooked software opportunities in the country: modernizing the roughly 15,000 independent equipment rental companies that supply the majority of construction equipment in the U.S.
Topics Discussed:
Why 60% of construction equipment is now rented — up from 20% a decade ago — and the COVID supply chains, rate environment, and equipment specialization trends driving that structural shift
Why the assumed barrier to selling technology into this market turned out to be a myth
How Renterra built its go-to-market around high-volume direct phone outbound, with Andy personally making 10,000+ cold calls before handing it off
The free, white-glove implementation model Renterra uses to drive product usage and long-term retention
The sequencing from founder-led sales to first hires to scalable systems — and why it took 12–18 months to get right
How word-of-mouth has become a meaningful inbound channel without any deliberate marketing investment
Where AI fits into Renterra's product roadmap as it builds toward becoming the full technology layer for rental companies
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
Underserved is not the same as resistant: Andy's biggest pre-launch assumption was that a blue-collar, industrial buyer base would push back on adopting software. It turned out to be wrong. "Nine times out of ten when we explain what we're trying to do or show them the product, it's like thank God, we've been waiting for this." The real dynamic in this market wasn't resistance — it was absence. No capital had flowed in to build the right product, so buyers were excited the moment something credible appeared. Founders entering legacy or overlooked verticals should stress-test whether the assumed adoption barrier is real or whether it's a story the market tells itself because no one has tried yet.
Post-close usage is the metric that actually matters: Renterra's number one success metric after closing a deal is product usage. That single north star drives everything about how they handle implementation — free of charge, fully white-glove, unlimited training, unlimited support, with the explicit goal of getting customers live and seeing value as quickly as possible. Andy's logic: "Once we have a customer up and running, using the system well, we have them for a very long time." The free implementation is expensive, but it's deliberately framed as an LTV bet, not a cost center. Founders who charge for implementation or treat it as a hand-off risk optimizing the wrong variable — closed deals look like revenue until churn reveals they weren't.
//
Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co
//
Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role.
Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM