We launched Smartsheet in 2006, 昀椀rst as a product name and then as our brand. Our vision was to empower those at the endpoints—the people who directly managed work—to de昀椀ne what they needed to track, to enable sharing it with others, and to connect relevant 昀椀les in the context of their work. Perhaps most importantly, our product would provide what spreadsheets could not: a single version of the truth, presented in a common language anyone could understand, with structure that enabled reporting, alerts, and better data quality. Rank-and-昀椀le managers and their teams started to buy, trusting that Smartsheet’s value would bene昀椀t not only them, but percolate up to higher-level executives. As we began gaining customers, we again expanded our vision and continued to innovate—targeting not just the people at the endpoints but larger teams, then divisions, and ultimately, whole enterprises. But to get there, we 昀椀rst had to face another challenge. Our product was stacked full of features— too “enterprisey,” in a sense—and the user interface presented too steep a learning curve for us to grow the way we wanted to. Realizing this, in 2008 we made the hard decision to adjust our course again, reimagining the platform entirely with a focus on the user experience and rewriting the code from start to 昀椀nish. The objective: build a more capable product while cutting 40 percent of what people needed to learn to realize its full potential. We’re not afraid to pick up the train and put it on a new set of tracks when it’s the right decision. Throughout our journey, we’ve never been about one big idea that changes the world. We’re made up of thousands of ideas that have changed Smartsheet and they’ve come from everywhere in the organization. The Smartsheet platform for dynamic work evolved from our e昀昀ort to create a solution customers felt they couldn’t live without. From the very beginning, it’s been our willingness to innovate, progress, and expand the way we serve our customers that’s allowed us to grow into a market leader and make a di昀昀erence in the world. | 11 WHO WE ARE
The Story of Smartsheet Page 10 Page 12
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