🚀 Gust Mission Control Founder Spotlight: Tim Wolter, Founder of SafetyVue 🦺

Welcome to the Gust Mission Control Founder Spotlight! Gust Mission Control is a founder support community providing expert insight on almost all aspects of startups. In this ongoing series, we’ll highlight the experiences of founders in the Gust Mission Control program, with insights as they navigate the challenges of early-stage entrepreneurship.

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From Adversity to Innovation: How Tim Wolter is Transforming Construction Safety

Entrepreneurship often begins with a problem—one that a founder can’t ignore. For Tim Wolter, that problem wasn’t just professional; it was personal. His journey to founding SafetyVue—a proactive safety software for construction—was shaped by two powerful experiences: a school system failing to accommodate his daughter’s learning needs and a life-altering accident in the construction industry.

Through grit, ingenuity, and relentless problem-solving, Tim has built a company tackling one of the construction industry’s most pressing challenges: preventing accidents before they happen. This is his story.

Building Solutions from the Ground Up 🔨

Tim’s entrepreneurial spirit showed up early. At 18, he co-founded a tattoo shop. Later, his curiosity for problem-solving led him into construction, where he gained hands-on experience in architectural design and construction management.

But everything changed when a drunk driver hit him, forcing him to leave the physically demanding world of construction. Pivoting to technology, Tim began integrating software into construction processes, eventually landing in safety tech—an industry that, as he puts it, is still largely reactive rather than proactive.

“I’ve seen firsthand how a split-second mistake can cost someone their life,” Tim says. “We need to be ahead of safety risks, not responding to them after the damage is done.”

💡 The Moment of Insight

One of the defining moments of Tim’s journey wasn’t in construction—it was in education. His daughter, a bright student, was struggling in school. The teachers suggested ADHD, but Tim suspected something else.

“She wasn’t struggling because she couldn’t learn. She was struggling because the environment didn’t work for her,” he recalls. “So I went home, and started thinking.”

That thinking led to adaptive learning technology—a personalized approach that eventually helped his daughter achieve straight A’s. While his initial foray into edtech didn’t take off, it sharpened his understanding of how environments shape learning and performance.

The same principle applied to construction: workers weren’t unsafe because they didn’t care; they were unsafe because they weren’t equipped to learn in a way that stuck.

🚨🦺 SafetyVue: A Proactive Approach to Construction Safety

Tim and his co-founder took that insight and built SafetyVue, a platform that uses real-time data to predict and prevent safety issues before they escalate.

Here’s how it works:

✅ Data-Driven Insights – SafetyVue analyzes job site data to identify emerging risks.

✅ Proactive Training – When risk patterns emerge, workers receive targeted, real-world training to prevent accidents.

✅ VR Simulations – Workers experience real-world job site hazards in a controlled environment, improving retention and decision-making.

Unlike traditional safety compliance tools, which focus on checking boxes, SafetyVue is designed by construction professionals for construction professionals.

“The industry is crowded with software companies that don’t understand construction,” Tim says. “We are construction professionals building technology, not the other way around.”

Overcoming the Walls (or Breaking Them Down)

Tim doesn’t believe in walls.

“Walls are just problems waiting for solutions,” he says. “There’s always a way through, over, or around them.”

That mindset has carried him through fundraising, product development, and industry skepticism. As any founder knows, raising capital is tough—especially when your product sits at the intersection of two industries (construction and tech) that don’t traditionally mix.

But Tim has stayed focused on the mission, bringing in early customers, refining his product, and proving demand.

“Investors will tell you it’s not going to work. Customers will tell you they need it. Listen to the customers.”

What’s Next for SafetyVue?

With nine customers on board, including enterprise and SMBs, and organic traction growing, SafetyVue is moving forward.

“We’re building a future where safety isn’t an afterthought,” Tim says. “In five years, construction safety will look completely different—and we’re making sure we’re at the forefront of that change.”

Tim’s story is a testament to resilience, problem-solving, and the power of purpose-driven entrepreneurship. It’s also a reminder to founders:

✅ Listen to the people who need your product, not just the ones who fund it.

✅ Embrace setbacks—they’re just redirections.

✅ Surround yourself with people who challenge you, not just those who say ‘yes’.

Tim’s journey is far from over, but one thing is clear: he’s not just building a business—he’s building a safer future for the industry he came from.

 

Join the Conversation

Do you know someone in construction who should hear about SafetyVue? Connect with Tim and his team—because safer job sites mean better outcomes for everyone.