
Before BuildOps, Alok Chanani moved money through Iraq and built property in Southern California. Then he noticed how much skilled work was being held up by the paperwork around it.
It began as software built inside a real service contractor, nearly ran out of room before institutional investors understood the market, and found its first serious backers among its own customers. The result is a useful lesson in how narrow software can grow wide - without pretending every business works the same way.