Last week marked a significant milestone: Smartsheet is now a private company, and has the backing of two world-class investors in Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners. This moment brings with it a mix of pride, gratitude, and enthusiasm—not just for what we’ve achieved, but for the opportunities this creates for our future.
Why Go Private? The Strategic Value of the Move
Since we announced our intention to partner with Blackstone and Vista, one question has come up again and again: Why go private? My answer is simple: because it’s the right move for Smartsheet. It’s the right move for our customers, our team, and the vision we have for the company.
Decisions like this aren’t made lightly. They’re the result of careful planning—evaluating the business, listening to our customers and stakeholders, and considering the best path forward. Some of the decisions we need to make right now in terms of how we invest, how we design our software, and how we bring it to market, don’t always fit neatly into the public quarterly calendar. Going private enables us to make decisions with a longer-term view and transform more meaningfully over time.
When Smartsheet became a public company in 2018, we reached a pivotal milestone that allowed us to scale and serve millions of people and tens of thousands of enterprises worldwide. Now, with the support of Blackstone and Vista—who deeply understand the value of Smartsheet—we have a runway to build boldly and innovate across all aspects of the company, from product development to go-to-market strategy. Their investment is more than just capital; it's a partnership that reflects the trust and belief in what Smartsheet has to offer.
Accelerating Innovation for Our Customers
At Smartsheet, innovating for our customers has been the core of everything we do. Being a private company gives us the space and flexibility to push the envelope even further and faster. We can continue to build the kind of powerful, intuitive tools our customers need to stay ahead in an increasingly complex world of work, while placing longer-term investments that will help us take great leaps forward.
From cutting-edge automation to smarter workflows and powerful security, we’ve already made significant investments to strengthen our platform. But this is just the beginning. By doubling down on the foundation we’ve built, we can help our customers—no matter their size—stay agile, keep their teams aligned, and drive real outcomes with the confidence they need to tackle what’s ahead.
And we’re doing it the Smartsheet way: balancing operational rigor with curiosity and tenacity. That means ensuring our solutions solve today’s problems, while also anticipating tomorrow’s challenges. This is about providing organizations with the best tools to break down silos, streamline operations, and scale their successes. It’s about shaping the future of work.
Delivering Value for the Smartsheet Team
None of this would be possible without the incredible people at Smartsheet. I’m grateful for the talent, effort, and unwavering commitment they show up with every day.
As a private company, we have the ability to make decisions that will benefit our employees in the long-term. This shift creates a renewed sense of ownership among our team and gives us the opportunity to attract and retain top talent in an environment where innovation thrives. It also gives our people the framework and resources they need to experiment, take risks, and continue delivering in support of value creation for our customers and Smartsheet.
A Commitment to Collaboration and Partnership
Smartsheet’s transition to a private company is about more than achieving durable growth and a lasting brand. It’s about how we continue to build stronger, more collaborative relationships with our customers and partners. They’ve always been at the center of what we do, and their trust is the foundation upon which we’ve built this company.
I look forward to partnering with Blackstone and Vista to accelerate our mission to enable customers to realize the value of AI-enhanced collaborative work management at scale. This will show up in how we invest in AI and in new people programs to accelerate development, how we embrace new go-to-market motions with our sales teams and channel partners, and how we continue to build our category-best software platform.
We’re building a platform for the future that’s not just resilient, but relevant and actionable for anyone looking to drive meaningful change for their organization.
A Vision for the Future
This moment isn’t just a milestone; it’s also a promise. With the support of Blackstone and Vista, we are more committed than ever to creating bold, transformative solutions that our customers rely on to do their most important work.
Smartsheet was the original pioneer in collaborative work management and we continue to lead this category. Once again, we are primed to transform the category and lead in the decade ahead.