Trello

Trello is a visual project management and collaboration platform that revolutionized task organization through its intuitive kanban-based interface. Founded in 2011 by Joel Spolsky and Michael Pryor as part of Fog Creek Software, Trello launched at TechCrunch Disrupt and quickly gained traction, reaching 100,000 users within six weeks. The platform's simple yet powerful approach of organizing work using boards, lists, and cards has made it one of the most popular project management tools globally, with over 50 million users.

Trello's concept drew inspiration from physical sticky notes and whiteboards used in software development, implementing the Kanban methodology that originated in Japan over 50 years ago. The platform was developed by Fog Creek developers Bobby Grace and Justin Gallagher, with the vision of providing a high-level overview of what teams were working on. In 2014, Trello spun off from Fog Creek as an independent company, Trello Inc., with Michael Pryor as CEO, and raised $10.3 million in Series A funding from Spark Capital and Index Ventures.

Atlassian acquired Trello in January 2017 for $425 million, recognizing its value as a complementary tool to their existing product portfolio. At the time of acquisition, Trello had amassed over 19 million registered users in just five years. Under Atlassian's ownership, Trello has continued to grow exponentially, reaching 35 million users by March 2019 and 50 million by October 2019. The platform has remained a standalone service while benefiting from integration with Atlassian's suite of products including Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket.

In May 2025, Trello launched a major update introducing AI-powered features, a new Inbox for collecting tasks from various sources including Slack and Microsoft Teams, and Trello Planner for calendar integration. These enhancements position Trello as a central hub for individual and team task management in the modern workplace. The platform serves users across all sizes, from freelancers to Fortune 500 companies, with pricing tiers ranging from free to enterprise plans starting at $17.50 per user per month.