Part 1: Who We Are
The Story
I spent 19 years running a consultancy. I loved the work, the people, the clients. What I didn't love was running blind.
Every month I'd find out about problems that had already happened. A project that had quietly gone off-track. A team member who'd burned out before anyone noticed. Margins that eroded weeks ago, only visible now in the month-end report. I was always reacting, never getting ahead.
I tried every tool. Spreadsheets (obviously). Then "proper" PSA software. Expensive ones, cheap ones, enterprise ones squeezed into mid-market. None of them actually helped me see what was coming. They were brilliant at telling me what had already gone wrong. Retrospective dashboards. Historical reports. A detailed autopsy of last month's problems.
I used to joke that running a consultancy felt like driving at night with the headlights off. You only see the obstacle when you've already hit it.
When I stepped down from hedgehog lab in 2025, I knew what I wanted to build: the thing I always wished existed. Something that actually thinks. That spots patterns humans miss. That tells you a project is quietly going off-track, a team member is heading for burnout, a client relationship is cooling. While you can still do something about it.
That's thredspan.
We're not building another PSA. We're building Professional Services Intelligence: an AI-native platform that tells you what's coming, not just what happened.
Where We're Headed
Our ambition is to be the most trusted platform for running a professional services firm.
Not the biggest. Not the one with the most features. The most trusted.
We want leaders to actually enjoy running their businesses. To spend their time on the work that matters, not drowning in spreadsheets and firefighting problems they found out about too late.
If we get this right, we'll change how professional services firms operate. From reactive to proactive. From gut feel to genuine insight. From surviving to thriving.
Purpose
We believe people should focus on great work. Technology should handle the rest.
This is why we exist. Technology should take away the bad work, support the good work, and make space for the great work. That's true for our customers and for us.
Vision
We will help professional services leaders run successful businesses they actually enjoy running.
Success and enjoyment shouldn't be mutually exclusive. If our customers are succeeding but miserable, we haven't done our job.
Mission
Be the most trusted platform for running a professional services firm.
Trust is earned, not claimed. We earn it through honesty, through building something genuinely useful, and through showing up when it matters.
Our Values
These aren't words on a wall. They're how we make decisions when nobody's watching.
1. Put humans at the centre
We're an AI company that builds for humans, not to replace them.
AI handles the bad work. Humans do the great work. That's the division of labour. We build technology that serves people, not the other way around.
What this looks like:
- Asking "how does this help the person using it?" before building anything
- Designing AI to augment decisions, not make them for people
- Checking in on teammates, not just their output
- Making time for conversations that aren't about work
- Questioning automation that removes human judgment where it matters
What this doesn't look like:
- Building features because the tech is cool
- Replacing human interaction with bots when it matters
- Treating people as resources to be optimised
- Ignoring burnout because deadlines are tight
- Assuming AI knows better than the person doing the job
2. Earn trust through honesty
No spin. No hiding. If it's broken, say so. If you made a mistake, own it.
Trust is earned through radical honesty. With customers, with each other, about what's working and what isn't. We'd rather lose a deal by being honest than win one by overselling.
What this looks like:
- Telling customers when something won't work for them
- Admitting mistakes quickly and publicly
- Giving feedback directly, not through back channels
- Saying "I don't know" when you don't
- Sharing bad news early, not when it's too late
What this doesn't look like:
- Overselling features that don't exist yet
- Hiding problems and hoping they resolve themselves
- Softening feedback until it means nothing
- Blaming others when things go wrong
- Saying what people want to hear
3. Obsess over the people we serve
Not customers. People.
Leaders drowning in noise. Founders trying to scale without losing their minds. Operations people buried in spreadsheets. We build for them. We feel their frustration. We fix their problems.
What this looks like:
- Talking to customers every week, not just reading analytics
- Building features because customers need them, not because competitors have them
- Feeling genuine frustration when something doesn't work for users
- Asking "if I were running a consultancy, would I want this?"
- Celebrating customer wins like they're our wins
What this doesn't look like:
- Building in isolation and hoping customers like it
- Prioritising what's easy to build over what's needed
- Dismissing feedback because "they don't understand the product"
- Treating support as a cost centre, not a learning opportunity
- Optimising metrics that don't matter to real people
4. Make it simpler
Every feature, every process, every decision. If it adds noise, cut it.
Say no more than yes. Finish before starting. Complexity is easy. Simplicity takes craft.
What this looks like:
- Removing features that aren't earning their place
- Saying no to good ideas so we can focus on great ones
- Finishing one thing before starting the next
- Writing docs that a new person can actually follow
- Asking "can this be half as complex?" before shipping
What this doesn't look like:
- Adding options because we can't decide
- Starting three things and finishing none
- Building for edge cases before the core works
- Overengineering for problems we don't have yet
- Confusing "comprehensive" with "good"
5. Stay curious, not certain
The best answer today might be wrong tomorrow.
Ask questions. Listen more than you talk. Assume you're missing something. The moment you think you've figured it out is the moment you stop learning.
What this looks like:
- Asking questions even when you think you know the answer
- Changing your mind when the evidence changes
- Seeking out perspectives different from your own
- Running small experiments instead of big debates
- Saying "what am I missing?" regularly
What this doesn't look like:
- Defending your idea because it's yours
- Dismissing feedback from people with less experience
- Waiting for perfect information before acting
- Treating past success as proof of future rightness
- Confusing confidence with competence
What We Measure
We don't measure what competitors measure. They track usage. We track impact.
| What we measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Customer business metrics | Are they actually succeeding? (utilisation, margins, delivery) |
| Time reclaimed | Are we removing the bad work? (hours saved on reporting, admin, data gathering) |
| Referrals | Do they trust us enough to stake their reputation? |
| Decision confidence | Are they leading with clarity? |
| Enjoyment | Do they love running their business more than before? |
If our customers aren't succeeding and enjoying it, nothing else matters.
Meet the Team
We're a small team right now. Learn about the people building thredspan.
This is Part 1 of the thredspan handbook. Next: Part 2: How We Work