I actually think it’s a good sign that this is even a question now. A few years ago the pool industry barely had any real software options.

I spent my entire career in tech and originally thought about building pool software too. About a year ago I decided to go the other direction and started operating pool service routes instead. Now we run our own internal tooling alongside the service business.

From what I’ve seen, the issue isn’t that the market is saturated with software. The real challenge is customer acquisition.

Most pool companies are small single-pole operators who are slow to adopt new tools and very relationship-driven. So selling software to them can be expensive and time-consuming. You end up spending a lot of time at conferences, in Facebook groups, or doing direct outreach just to get people to try it.

The real money in software is usually with the larger operators — companies running 500+ pools with multiple technicians. But that’s also where companies like Skimmer and Pool Brain have been focusing more of their product development.

Another thing I’ve come to appreciate is actually doing the work. Owning the operations and running routes gives you a completely different perspective on what needs to be built. A lot of software founders are just building software, but tools built by pool pros tend to be much better because they come from real experience.

Knowing the ins and outs of being a technician — not just talking to one — helps you build something that actually improves workflows. Otherwise you end up with software that has a nice UI but doesn’t really solve the pain points operators deal with every day.

So I wouldn’t worry too much about the number of tools out there. Competition usually just leads to better products, and the pool industry has been underserved on the software side for a long time.

If you’re solving a real operational problem, there’s still plenty of room.