I have vague memories of my mom reading The Little Engine That Could to me as a child. (Well, mostly just her voice repeating “I-think-I-can” over and over.) If you haven’t read the story, it’s about a small engine that succeeds in pulling a much larger train over a mountain, when none of the other bigger, stronger engines would take on the job.
When LiquidPlanner was founded in 2007, it resembled that little engine. The company began at the feet of industry giants that were all offering the same old broken approach to managing complex projects. Our founders had experienced serious project management pain before, and they knew that modern teams needed a better way to keep up with the pace of change and the nature of their work. With that belief, they quit their jobs, invested their own money, and set about to build it. I joined the company soon after.
Changing the game
The idea—to automatically calculate project schedules using priority order and best case/worst case estimates—was bold and risky. People said we were crazy to think project managers would give up their death grip on hard dates and accept uncertainty in their schedules. As it turned out, they were very wrong.
These days, teams of all types (agencies, manufacturers, engineers, law firms and more) are rallying around the concept that priorities rule the day. They realize that to be competitive, they need confidence in what they can get done, but they also have to be able to adapt quickly to changes on the ground. Our customers tell us that LiquidPlanner marries these two needs better than any other tool on the market.
This April, the LiquidPlanner scheduling engine calculated more than 2,100,000 statistically-correct schedules for over 2000 organizations in more than 60 countries worldwide, including companies like LeapFrog, Nordstrom, HTC, Ring Central and SpaceX.
Taking it to the next level
Of course there is more work to do to fully realize this vision, and we are poised and ready to do it. Over seven years, we’ve built an extraordinary team, a strong and dynamic culture, and the infrastructure and operations we need to scale. Today, we’re excited to announce a new partner in our mission: TVC Capital. Along with some extraordinary angel investors, TVC is investing $8M to help us deliver the best product, the best service, and the best value of any work management solution on the market.
From this investment, you should expect to see new product innovations, enterprise enablement, customer success and education, account management and more. Please keep an eye on us and send us your feedback.
Thank you
At LiquidPlanner, we pride ourselves in taking on hard problems and in doing things the right way, even when it’s hard. Thanks to the LP team for their hard work and grit. Thanks to our customers for their continued support and feedback. We won’t let you down. And to Seattle folks: we’re hiring. Please join us.
