How Ideal Project Group used Tick to grow revenue by 300%
"There are certain software products that have helped us succeed as a company. Tick is up there with Basecamp and Github." - Andrew Wicklander, Founder
A few years ago Andrew Wicklander - Founder of Ideal Project Group & Tula Software - began seeing a common theme in the group’s projects: they were spending too much time on some and not enough on others.
Until this point, they were using spreadsheets to enter their time - 3 hours here, 2 hours there. But the company had grown and they were handling more projects. They needed a way to know where to use their time before it was gone.
They came to Tick looking for time tracking, but found an approach to time that changed more than just the way they logged their hours. They started using Tick to manage their time and saw an immediate improvement.
Here's how Ideal Project Group used Tick to manage their time and grow revenue over a year and a half.
It began with a shift in perspective.
Unlike other time tracking software, Tick presents time tracking as a way to budget time towards different projects and tasks. The idea that time acts as inventory struck a chord with Andrew at Ideal Project Group.
"I looked at our time and said, so out of these many people, this is our available inventory. This is how many hours we can reasonably sell in a given week. And, there’s that old adage that says the best way to improve something is to measure it."
They started tracking with Tick.
At the beginning of a project, Andrew lays out an estimate based on the number of hours each task will take. For Ideal Project Group, a project will have several "sprints,” each with its own estimate. Using Tick's budget tracking, they’re able to set out how much time (inventory) the client has purchased and track their time against that inventory.
"Tick helps keep us on budget during each development sprint and have the hard conversations with customers if needed."
While a sprint is in progress, Tick shows them where time is allocated. If any projects are at risk of going over budget, they can re assign team members, reallocate budgets or if necessary, address an issue with a client.
If the client has any questions, Tick's reporting allows the team to give them a clear understanding of what hours were spent on certain tasks. This allows them to be transparent with clients.
The growth soon followed.
Because they're able to manage their time more efficiently, over the course of a year and a half, Ideal Project Group has been able to take on more and more projects at a time, which has done wonders for their company.
"We’ve been using Tick for over a year and a half now. In that time I would imagine that our revenue has increased 300-400%… I honestly believe we wouldn’t have been able to manage that level of growth in a profitable way without it."