Small Improvements

Small Improvements Software GmbH
TypePrivate
FoundedMarch 2011
FounderPer Fragemann
Headquarters
Berlin
,
Germany
ProductsPerformance management software
Number of employees
25
Websitesmall-improvements.com

Small Improvements is a performance management software company based in Berlin, Germany.[1] The company provides tools for performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, one-on-one meetings, pulse surveys, and goal tracking.[2] Its platform is primarily used by small and mid-sized organizations. Small Improvements was founded in 2011 by Per Fragemann, a former product manager at Atlassian.[3]

History

The idea for Small Improvements originated in 2009, when Fragemann was working at Atlassian in Sydney.[3] While the company had adopted a variety of modern internal tools, performance reviews remained cumbersome and outdated. Fragemann identified this as a gap in the market and decided to pursue a new solution focused on flexibility and ease of use. In 2010, he returned to Germany and began developing the product with €50,000 in personal savings.[4] Initially working alone, he later hired student developers and a friend to support early development efforts.[3]

Small Improvements was officially incorporated in March 2011. In the same year, Atlassian selected the platform as its internal performance management tool after running a public challenge to find a better alternative to traditional reviews.[5] Early features included performance reviews and peer recognition.[6] Despite limited revenue and nearing insolvency in late 2011, the company gained momentum in 2012.[3]

By early 2014, Small Improvements had 230 customers, including Atlassian, Pinterest, Quiksilver, and Opera Software.[6] The company reported approximately $1 million in annual revenue at the time.[3] It operated profitably and remained fully bootstrapped, with Fragemann retaining 100% ownership.[4] Fragemann stated that the company had declined multiple offers from investors in order to retain full control over its direction.[3]

As of 2015, Small Improvements employed 12 people, including remote team members in Sydney, New York, and San Francisco.[3] Development remained centered in Berlin, while efforts to serve U.S. customers led to the opening of a satellite office on the West Coast.[3]

Between 2016 and 2025, the product expanded to include recurring one-on-one meeting support (2016),[7] pulse surveys and reporting features (2020), workflow automation (2021), an AI writing assistant (2024),[8] and cascading objectives (2025).[9] The front-end stack transitioned from Apache Wicket to AngularJS, and later to React[10] and TypeScript, while the backend remained Java-based.[11]

As of 2025, Small Improvements is used by over 1,000 teams globally.[12] Clients include Duolingo, SoundCloud, and Zapier.[8][13]

References

  1. ^ "Contact – Small Improvements". Small Improvements. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  2. ^ "Top 10 Performance Management Software In 2025". Engagedly. 2025-06-11. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Das kleine Berliner Startup, das zum Hit im Silicon Valley wird". Gründerszene (in German). 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  4. ^ a b "How Small Improvements Bootstrapped Its Way to Success". Bonusly. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  5. ^ "Crowdsourcing brings improvements". Financial Times. 2012-12-06. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  6. ^ a b "Deck December 2013". Slideshare. December 2013. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  7. ^ "Small Improvements 5 Year Anniversary!". Vimeo. 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  8. ^ a b "Best Performance Management Software for 2025". SelectSoftware Reviews. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  9. ^ "SI Origins". Vimeo. 2025-01-20. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  10. ^ "Our journey migrating 100k lines of code from AngularJS to React (Chapter 1)". Small Improvements Tech Blog. 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  11. ^ "Running our App Engine Application in the Flexible Environment (Java 8)". Small Improvements Tech Blog. 2016-09-12. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  12. ^ "12 Best Performance Management Software of 2025". ThriveSparrow. 2025-07-07. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  13. ^ "Enabling performance feedback in a 100% remote team". Small Improvements. Retrieved 2025-07-08.

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