I’m delighted to finally be investing in Asana, which I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
One of the things I’ve learned about companies is that 1) clear tasks and goals, 2) clearly communicated, and 3) with clear and frequent measurement are very important to success. Most companies fail at all 3 of these, and they become more important as companies get bigger. Asana is the best way to excel in these 3 areas.
“You make what you measure” is really true, and most companies don’t measure well at all. I spend a lot of time talking to people who work at startups, and most employees feel like they don’t have a good sense of what specifically the company needs to get done and how all the tasks are going. Better work tracking leads to better collaboration and better decision-making.
Another thing I’ve learned investing in startups is how important it is to have some users that really love a product (instead of liking it pretty much). Asana has the level of product love that all great companies have in common. As a small example, their recurring revenue has been incredibly sticky and more than doubled every year.
Asana is the kind of lever that could someday massively increase the productivity of hundreds of millions of people around the world. There’s not only an opportunity for Asana to be a huge company, but also for Asana to materially increase the output for the planet—somewhat amazingly, software has not yet eaten this important part of the world.
Finally, Asana has an incredible team that, as far as I can tell as an outsider, really believes in the mission and loves the work environment (the Glassdoor reviews, something I check before every late-stage investment, are among the best I’ve ever seen).
These are all the ingredients that go into the development of an incredibly impactful and valuable company. I’m very happy to be along for the ride.