Smartsheet's big idea looked like something every office already had: rows and columns. The Bellevue, Washington company took the spreadsheet grid and made it a place where teams planned projects, assigned tasks and tracked work together online. Customers paid by subscription, and use often started with one team before spreading through a company. When Smartsheet went public in April 2018, the stock jumped 30 percent on its first day.

A Grid Everyone Already Knew

Brent Frei co-founded Smartsheet in 2005, after an earlier run building the business software company Onyx. Mark Mader joined as chief executive the next year. The bet was that people who already lived in spreadsheets would adopt a work tool that looked like one. Smartsheet piled Gantt charts, forms, reports and automation on top of the grid. Users never had to learn a new way to see their work.

A 30 Percent Pop, Then Private

Smartsheet priced at $15 a share, above a raised range of $12 to $14, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SMAR on April 27, 2018. The offering raised $175 million. The stock opened near $18.40 and closed its first day at $19.50. In January 2025 Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners took the company private for $56.50 a share, a deal valued at about $8.4 billion.

Cover: Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray, Piet Mondrian. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a grid of colored blocks (a spreadsheet).