From Zeb Evans, CEO of ClickUp:
When we started ClickUp, I was adamant on remaining completely independent and not relying on outside funding, because I wanted to:
- Focus on the product, not the money
- Make our own decisions, move at our own pace
- Build a product for everyone and every vertical (which no VC would ever fund)
- Be sustainable: too many companies nowadays burn heaps of cash with no end in sight
By all accounts, we’ve accomplished these four goals.
Our obsession with product has proven to work phenomenally well, and we’ve broken through an industry that was previously untouchable if you weren’t heavily funded.
Today though, I’m announcing that we’ve raised $35 million for our Series A, which will enable us to expand our vision across the world.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhy did we raise our Series A?
Previously, I’ve never felt like it was the right time to raise – we were focused on building an exceptional product and team rather than growing at all costs.
Today, that still holds true, but the reality is that the product IS there.
Of course, we will never stop improving it, but we’re finally ready for the world to use the product.
Additionally, it’s time to stop flying under the radar – competition is fierce in our industry, it’s time for us to fight back.
And finally, it’s time to expand our vision globally: Millions of people save more time with ClickUp, but there’s a whole world of people out there that could use our help.
Summarize this article for me pleaseOur partners
Craft Ventures: Our partner (and board member), David Sacks, was part of the PayPal mafia (as COO) who worked with Elon Musk and other legendary entrepreneurs during the earliest days. He went on to start Yammer, which has many parallels in where we are today: product-led growth that eventually expanded up-market. Craft was an early investor in some of the world’s best companies and has some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met.
Georgian Partners: Many firms claimed to be avid ClickUp users, but no one stacked up to Georgian. Their entire team is comprised of extremely active ClickUp users! They’re widely known for machine learning and having an in-house team of engineers whose sole focus is machine learning – and this is something we’ll be unlocking in the near future. Their obsession with our product causes them to be invested in a uniquely material way, and every single person I’ve met on their team was so genuinely kind and excited to work with us. Not to mention, they’ve been early in some phenomenal companies (like Shopify) and can really assist in scaling our go-to-market strategy.
Both of these VCs are not your normal VCs – perfectly in line with one of our primary core values: normal f*cking sucks.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhere do we go from here?
My promise to you: Our obsession with product, customer service, and our vision will never change. Period.
We’ve sprinted fast in just 2 years to get a plethora of features released that would usually take 10+ years to develop.
During those sprints though, we’ve admittedly under focused on certain areas. Now, it’s time to fix that.
We’re using these funds to:
- Make our product lightning fast
- Optimize and improve onboarding and learning in ClickUp
- Make our mobile apps incredible (and fast)
My second promise to you: We’ll be best in class in all three of these points.Â
Of course, we’ll also continue improving our product every single week, and we’ll never stop iterating based on your feedback.
Summarize this article for me pleaseThank you, to you!
Simply put, we couldn’t have done it without you.
We are the quintessential example of organic growth primarily enabled by YOU – our loyal users.
For those of you that were on this journey with us, you know I’ve been there every step of the way listening to your feedback – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Ultimately, you are what made us successful, and I can’t give you enough credit and thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Those of you that shared us with your friends, coworkers, and families – this is for you.
Those of you that were champions in your company that put your job on the line in order to get ClickUp adopted – this is for you.
And those of you that never stopped believing in our vision – this is for you.
Let’s continue to make the world more productive, together 💜
PS: If we’ve made you more productive at all, please help us grow by sharing on Twitter, Facebook, or TechCrunch.
Summarize this article for me pleaseZeb Evans
Founder & CEO at ClickUp
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