Asana sets out to ‘organize’ the enterprise

Asana, the startup that helps individuals and teams get tasks done, has its eye on the prize: large enterprises.

Asana’s team [above] has found that its workflow management tools are popular with small groups of professionals in companies of all sizes. Asana claims its used by thousands of teams to generate over 55 million tasks, and 85 million messages.

But not every task can be completed by small teams. So today, the company has launched its “organizations” service, which is ideal for companies that require greater visibility across hundreds of teams, and thousands of employees.

The San Francisco-based company is the brainchild of former Facebook employees Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein, and was founded in 2009. Originally geared to consumers, Asana’s adoption has grown rapidly, and its mobile and web-based products are used for both personal and professional tasks.

In a phone interview, Rosenstein said the company’s strategy is an “easier sell” than “wining and dining a CIO.” Asana can demonstrate how several teams within the marketing or sales departments are already using the product, but they aren’t communicating with each other.

Business operations lead Kenny Van Zant explained that unlike most companies who offer a free or premium service, Asana is intended to be flexible. Individual employees or teams of under 30 people can still continue using the free version. But for those that make the switch to the ‘organizations’ product, you can now:

• Create an account with your company email address, and you’re automatically added to the ‘Organization,’ and can view what other teams are up to in your browser. It’s a bit like Facebook verifying students with a “.edu” email. This new feature makes it easy for a new employee to get set up.
• Automatically create and name a new team, and invite anyone from the organization. Each team has control of its membership (similarly to a Facebook event, teams can be hidden, made available on request, or public within an organization).
• View a single, unified inbox and task list if you belong to multiple teams.
• Enable IT to create admin accounts to view user activity, set security and access policies, and centralize billing.

Asana has pulled in $38.5 million in venture financing and doesn’t intend to raise another round anytime soon, according to Rosenstein. The startup has grown to 40 employees.

Top image via Asana / Facebook Page