Innotas survived a near-death experience

Just nine months after Kevin Kern joined Innotas as vice president of sales in 2008, the company didn’t have enough money to pay its workers.

“We had some people who were working remotely and flying in every other week,” he said. “For a company our size, that was insane.”Fortunately, a strong sales team and a few bridge loans gave Innotas time to close the gap and survive.

Innotas is a growing leader in the field of project and portfolio management. Its software lets IT employees manage, track, trace and record all the projects they take on. Managers can keep track of how many projects all their employees and teams take on and gain a clear, definite picture of their allocation of resources as a result.“We’re Salesforce for IT,” said Kern, who took over as CEO in 2010.

Innotas’ revenue has grown considerably over the last three years, doubling from $7.1 million in fiscal year 2012 to $14.2 million in fiscal year 2014. Innotas makes money by using a subscription-based model for its services, charging $540 per user per year. There is also a fixed, one-time fee at the start: $20,000 for companies with under 100 users, $40,000 for over 100 users, and if the company has over 1,000 users “then we talk,” Kern said. Innotas also provides ongoing technical support as part of the package.