Paragon

What do they actually do

Paragon builds AI software for industrial distributors and manufacturers to automate routine commercial workflows. Its system ingests purchase orders and RFQs from emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets, extracts the required fields, and pushes clean data into ERPs so teams can process orders and generate quotes with less manual entry and faster response times. It offers built‑in integrations for major ERPs like Epicor, Infor, SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Sage, with support for custom or on‑prem systems as needed (Paragon homepage, Surge product page).

Beyond order processing, Paragon provides AI agents for customer engagement (to help inside sales cover more accounts) and a planning module for demand forecasting, with examples focused on seasonal industries such as HVAC where weather and seasonality drive backlogs and stock needs (Paragon homepage, About Paragon). The offering is organized into three modules: Forge (customer engagement), Surge (document and order automation), and Alloy (planning/forecasting) (Paragon homepage).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Inside-sales reps at high-volume distributors: They spend large portions of their day retyping RFQs and orders instead of selling, which creates backlogs and slows quote turnaround, hurting win rates (YC profile).
• Sales managers and commercial leaders at distributors/manufacturers: Smaller accounts receive little outreach, so reps focus only on the biggest customers and repeat revenue and upsell opportunities are missed (YC profile).
• Order-entry and customer-service teams: RFQs and POs arrive via emails, spreadsheets, and PDFs, forcing manual extraction and retyping that leads to errors and slow responses (YC Surge description, Surge page).
• Demand planners and inventory managers in seasonal industries (HVAC, lumber, electrical): They struggle to forecast demand and manage seasonal backlogs, causing stockouts or missed sales during peak periods (Paragon homepage).
• IT / transformation leads at distributors and manufacturers: Legacy, disconnected systems and overloaded contact centers make it hard to automate workflows or run data‑driven outreach without complex integrations and operational change (About Paragon).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run tightly scoped pilots with 5–10 high‑volume regional distributors in seasonal categories (HVAC, electrical, lumber), replacing manual quote/order steps and measuring response time and error rates to prove value quickly (YC profile, Paragon homepage).
• First 50: Use early pilot results and short, live demos in targeted outbound to sales managers, inside-sales, and IT leads, paired with a standard 30‑day pilot and implementation checklist; in parallel, recruit a few SI/reseller partners that already implement ERPs and contact centers to insert Paragon into active projects (YC Surge description).
• First 100: Productize onboarding and split GTM between (a) channel‑led deals via ERP/SI partners and associations, and (b) a streamlined direct program for high‑volume accounts with templated configs and self‑serve onboarding; publish metric‑focused case studies and stand up a partner‑success function to accelerate multi‑branch rollouts (About Paragon).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Industrial distribution and manufacturing have large teams handling quotes, orders, and customer interactions, and they rely on ERP‑centric workflows. Adjacent software categories (CPQ, RPA/document processing, demand planning) are each multi‑billion‑dollar markets, indicating substantial spend on automating these functions.

Bottom-up calculation:

Focus on mid‑market and enterprise distributors/manufacturers with high email/PDF order volume: ~20,000 global target accounts × ~$75k blended annual spend across one or more Paragon modules (order automation, engagement, planning) ≈ ~$1.5B TAM.

Assumptions:

• Targetable global accounts (~20k) include mid‑market/enterprise distributors and manufacturers with material inside‑sales and email/PDF order flow.
• Blended ACV of ~$75k reflects single‑module deals (~$40–60k) plus a mix of multi‑module expansions (~$100k+).
• Initial focus on North America with expansion to Europe and other mature distribution markets over time.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• PROS: Enterprise CPQ and pricing software used by distributors/manufacturers; automates quotes and provides AI pricing guidance and rebate management—overlaps on speeding quotes and pricing decisions (distribution, CPQ).
• Vendavo: Pricing optimization and “intelligent CPQ” with real‑time pricing, cross‑sell recommendations, and ERP/CRM integrations; competes where Paragon shortens quote cycles and improves pricing/suggestions (CPQ for distribution, product overview).
• Conga (formerly Apttus): Quote‑to‑cash and CPQ that automates quote, contract, and document workflows with deep CRM integrations; overlaps on end‑to‑end quoting and proposal execution (CPQ, quote‑to‑cash).
• UiPath: RPA plus Document Understanding to extract data from emails/PDFs/spreadsheets and automate ERP data entry; overlaps directly with order‑entry and RFQ processing (overview).
• Blue Yonder: Supply‑chain planning suite (Luminate) for demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and order management; competes on forecasting and availability for seasonal industrial categories (demand planning, wholesale & distribution).