Intuit Matt Rissell (left), CEO and co-founder of TSheets, will work under Alex Chriss at Intuit.
- QuickBooks and TurboTax owner Intuit announced its plans to acquire a time tracking software company TSheets for $340 million.
- Intuit will keep TSheets' Idaho headquarters as well as its 260-person team.
- Co-founder and CEO Matt Rissell created TSheets after trying to solve time-tracking issues at his previous business.
It's a rough day for Excel worksheets and calculators.
QuickBooks owner Intuit announced on Tuesday that it's acquiring the time-tracking startup TSheets to streamline the payroll invoicing process, starting from the moment an employee shows up to work.
TSheets automates much of the time sheet process, making life simpler for contract employees, or staffers who have to track how much time they spend on any given project.
Matt Rissell, co-founder and CEO of the company, says it saves businesses money in part because it's more accurate than paper-and-pen timetracking, but also because it takes less time for bookkeepers to manage payroll.
In fact, book keepers play a big role in the success of TSheets. Chances are the company might not have existed if it weren't for a savvy bookkeeper at one of Rissell's old businesses.
Idaho roots
In 2006, Rissell was a small business owner in Idaho looking for a better way to track his employees' hours. With the help of an engineer friend, he concocted an early version of TSheets - an employee timetracking software that streamlines payroll and creates more accurate invoices.
"My bookkeeper used it to process our first payroll, and she said 'this is unbelievable,'" Rissell said. "We saved like $2,000 on our payroll."
Following the advice of his bookkeeper, Rissell reached out to his cofounder Brandon Zehm to see if TSheets would have a spot in the marketplace.
Zehm said yes - a decision that has paid off massively for both of them.
On Tuesday, Intuit - the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks - acquired TSheets for $340 million. Before that, TSheets had raised $15 million in a single funding round led by Summit Partners.
Rissell and his cohort of around 260 employees will join the Inuit team, but keep their headquarters in Idaho.