text: smartsheet smartsheet is a software as a service ( ) application for collaboration and work management that is developed and marketed by smartsheet.com , inc . it is used to assign tasks , track project progress , manage calendars , share documents and manage other work . it has a spreadsheet - like user interface . as of november 2014 , smartsheet is used by 5 million people at 55 , 000 organizations . it was initially unpopular until a redesign in 2010 , which was followed by an increase in adoption and larger funding rounds . smartsheet service smartsheet is used to collaborate on project timelines , documents , calendars , tasks and other work . it combines some of the functionality of microsoft excel , project , access and sharepoint . it competes with microsoft project . as of november 2014 , there are 5 million users of smartsheet at 55 , 000 organizations . features according to forbes , smartsheet has " a relatively simple " user interface . the interface centers on " smartsheets , " which are similar to spreadsheets typically found in microsoft excel . each smartsheet can have its rows expanded or collapsed to see individual tasks or large - scale project progress respectively . tasks can be sorted by deadline , priority or the person assigned to it . if a spreadsheet contains dates , smartsheet will create a calendar view . each row in a smartsheet may have files attached to it , emails stored within it , and a discussion board associated with it . when a new smartsheet is created , notifications are pushed out to staff to populate its rows and columns . as information is updated , other smartsheets tracking the same task , project or data - point are updated automatically . the service also has alerts for when a task deadline is coming up , and keeps track of document versions . smartsheet can import data from microsoft office or google applications . the software integrates with services like salesforce.com , dropbox and amazon web services . there is also a smartsheet mobile app for android and iphone operating systems . smartsheet is sold on a subscription basis with no free version . history smartsheet was first introduced in 2006 . according to the company 's co - founder , brent frei , initial adoption was slow because the software was too difficult to use . at the end of its first year , it had only 10 , 000 users . the company began making changes to the software in 2008 , eventually cutting 60 percent of its features for the purpose of making it more user - friendly . following the 2010 launch of the redesign , adoption grew to 1 million users at 20 , 000 organizations by 2012 . integration with microsoft office 365 and microsoft azure were added in 2014 . that october the account map tool was introduced , which uses an algorithm to visualize the flow of work across groups of employees . in august 2014 , version 2 . 0 of the smartsheet ios app was introduced . it made a spreadsheet - like user interface the focus of the app 's user interface , whereas previously the mobile interface was different than the spreadsheet - oriented desktop version . in 2015 , smartsheet started introducing closer integrations with microsoft office products , in part thanks to changes microsoft was making in their products to work better with third - party software . in january 2015 , smartsheet added support for microsoft 's identity management software azure active directory , which allowed users to log in to products like excel and smartsheet with the same login . users can also now make changes to smartsheets directly from microsoft outlook . smartsheet.com , inc . smartsheet.com , inc. is a private company that develops and markets the smartsheet application . as of april 2015 , it has about 200 employees and is headquartered in bellevue , washington . it operates data centers in texas , virginia and illinois . the company was founded in the summer of 2006 , shortly after co - founder brent frei sold his prior company , onyx software . initially it was funded mostly by frei . about a year after its founding , smartsheet had raised $ 4 million in funding and had just nine employees . by early 2012 it had raised $ 8 . 2 million in funding over three rounds and hired its first salesperson . after the smartsheet software was redesigned in 2010 , the company 's revenues grew by more than 100 percent each year , for four consecutive years . it raised $ 26 million in funding in december 2012 and another $ 35 million in may 2015 .