As a tech startup founder, Pete Bernardo knows getting feedback is an essential part of any project. But unfortunately, he also knows that getting and organizing that feedback can be next to impossible.
“Getting projects over the finish line is often more about getting everyone’s approval and feedback than it is doing work,” Bernardo said.
That frustration led him to create Punchlist, an Atlanta-based annotation and integration software startup.
“We want to make getting a project wrapped up as fun as getting it started,” Bernardo added. Unlike other collaboration tools, users load Punchlist’s annotation layer on top of a live website to provide feedback and design tweaks in real-time.
To streamline the project management side, Punchlist also automatically integrates with Trello, Asana, GitHub, or other task manager software your team uses.
A New Look At Feedback
Punchlist’s early customers have already found some unique use cases come for the annotation software.
Users have voted on logo designs, provided research on old photos going into a book, and given feedback on a 400-page website.
“We’re excited to continue to see people get creative and how they can use [Punchlist] because it’s so lightweight and flexible. We think that there’s going to be a lot of other really interesting use cases,” adds Skaar.
COVID has been good for asynchronous collaboration tools (look no further than Adobe’s recent all-cash acquisition of Frame.io for $1.275 billion). Punchlist is looking to capitalize on the growth opportunities in the space.
The immediate need for better feedback and collaboration tools helped founder and CEO Pete Bernardo make the decision to start aggressively scaling the company after several years of bootstrapping and working as a solo founder.
The idea grew out of Bernardo’s time in the agency world, where he most recently served as EVP of Product & Growth for Atlanta-based Three Five Two.
He brought on Nic Rosental as co-founder and CTO along with Walker Skaar as Director of Product Marketing earlier this summer. Skaar actually joined the team after using Punchlist to improve his project management workflow at a previous company.
Skaar told Hypepotamus that the growing Punchlist team is dedicated to helping other teams get “everyone on the same page” over the course of a creative project.
In terms of future growth plans, the team is currently in the middle of Techstars Atlanta’s 2021 accelerator program and will soon be launching a freemium version of the platform.
As they look to raise funding in the coming months, they hope to join recent Techstars Atlanta success stories like RentCheck, Joonko, and 2ULaundry, all of which have raised money or expanded over the course of the pandemic.
Get news like this delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for the Hypepotamus newsletter!
Featured image provides by Punchlist. Left to right: Walker Skaar (Director of Product Marketing), Pete Bernardo (Founder & CEO), Nic Rosental (Co-founder, CTO)
