Small Improvements


Small Improvements is a performance management software company based in Berlin, Germany. The company provides tools for performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, one-on-one meetings, pulse surveys, and goal tracking. 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.

History

The idea for Small Improvements originated in 2009, when Fragemann was working at Atlassian in Sydney. While the company had adopted a variety of modern internal tools, performance reviews remained cumbersome and outdated.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. Initially working alone, he later hired student developers and a friend to support early development efforts.
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. Early features included performance reviews and peer recognition. Despite limited revenue and nearing insolvency in late 2011, the company gained momentum in 2012.
By early 2014, Small Improvements had 230 customers, including Atlassian, Pinterest, Quiksilver, and Opera Software. The company reported approximately $1 million in annual revenue at the time. It operated profitably and remained fully bootstrapped, with Fragemann retaining 100% ownership. Fragemann stated that the company had declined multiple offers from investors in order to retain full control over its direction.
As of 2015, Small Improvements employed 12 people, including remote team members in Sydney, New York, and San Francisco. Development remained centered in Berlin, while efforts to serve U.S. customers led to the opening of a satellite office on the West Coast.
Between 2016 and 2025, the product expanded to include recurring one-on-one meeting support, pulse surveys and reporting features, workflow automation, an AI writing assistant, and cascading objectives. The front-end stack transitioned from Apache Wicket to AngularJS, and later to React and TypeScript, while the backend remained Java-based.
As of 2025, Small Improvements is used by over 1,000 teams globally. Clients include Duolingo, SoundCloud, and Zapier.