This week’s episode of The Business of Tech features Projectwork's executives Mark Orttung and Matthew Hayter talking about the company's rise so far and the inside details on the company's big US push. Plus, co-hosts Ben Moore and Peter Griffin discuss Bluesky’s sudden rise in popularity as people leave Elon Musk’s X by the millions. Stream the full episode below, or subscribe on iHeart Radio or wherever you get podcasts.

Wellington’s Projectworks hopes to follow in Xero’s footsteps and make a massive company out of software to reduce the administrative burden on small businesses.

It provides software project management and time-tracking for consultants, focusing on ease of use.

In October 2024, the seven-year-old company hit a $100 million valuation when it raised US$5m (NZ$8m) in a series A fundraising round.

While there are comparisons to be made with Xero around the product and approach, and Projectworks’ integration with the cloud accounting firm was part of its early success, the company is now forging its own path with plans to take on the US market.

Matthew Hayter, Projectworks co-founder, president and chief product officer, said in an interview on this week’s episode of The Business of Tech podcast that moving into the US was always part of the plan and so avoided things like tax or payroll that could cause jurisdictional headaches.

“We went all in on Xero, Australia, and now, more recently, we're starting to work more into the US, but we knew from the start we weren't doing anything locally that was going to box us in and prevent us from getting into the US market.”

Into the valley

Projectworks was spun out of tech consulting firm Provoke Solutions by Hayter in 2017, who left the CEO role in March.

In his place, Silicon Valley veteran Mark Orttung was named CEO to lead the company’s expansion into the US.

Orttung is a former executive of fintech Bill.com, which grew from a startup to now being listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He also did eight years as CEO of software services firm Nexient, which was acquired by Japanese telco and tech giant NTT in 2021.

Orttung joined Hayter in the interview, during which he spoke confidently about the prospects for Projectworks in his native US market, stating that existing products don’t meet small business needs.

“A lot of them will not call you back unless you have 500 employees in your firm or more, and most of them are not a joy to use. So there is this gap, I believe, in the market for us, which is really for small and mid-market consultancies who need something simple, something powerful and easy to use.”

Orttung said he has hired a development team based in California that includes many former Bill.com employees.

“They have a really good idea, architecturally, what we need to do, and they also understand this integration play.

“So, one of the things I think they'll help us do is just speed up our ability to move and add to the product and keep making it more valuable for our customers.”

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