Exclusive Interview with Anton Baranenko, Founder of Portfoleon

Software development has become increasingly difficult and this has put software development teams under constant pressure to come up with innovative software tools. Portfoleon is a simple lean software tool that enables teams to align on strategic plans while gaining visibility into priority, as well as a link to organization goals and timeline. The tool is perfect for teams and organizations that manage many projects simultaneously but want to avoid the complexity of traditional project portfolio management tools. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Anton Baranenko, Founder of Portfoleon.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

Portfoleon is a simple lean software tool that enables teams to align on strategic plans while gaining visibility into priority, as well as a link to organization goals and timeline.

The tool is perfect for teams and organizations that manage many projects simultaneously but want to avoid the complexity of traditional project portfolio management tools.

2. With what mission and objectives, the company was set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the inception of the company?

I managed programs and project portfolios for over a decade. Working with different teams, I saw that people often misunderstand project portfolio management and make it unnecessarily complicated. This results in a lack of clarity, low buy-in, and ultimately poor strategy implementation in organizations.

I decided to make Portfoleon democratize project portfolio management, help organizations move in the right direction, and shift focus from unnecessarily complex processes, multi-page reports, and executive presentations to practical decision-making based on facts and human interaction.

3. Mention some of the awards, achievements, recognitions, and clients' feedback that you feel are notable and valuable for the company.

Shortly after launch, Portfoleon was recognized as a High Performer by G2 and awarded for Great User Experience by Finances Online. We highly value both awards since they are based on end-user feedback.

Successor frustration is behind every piece of feedback we get from our customers. Instead of taking feedback for granted, we utilize every piece of it to improve Portfoleon.

4. Kindly mention some of the major challenges the company has faced till now

Balancing between simplicity and functionality has never been easy for Portfoleon. Our users are department managers, product managers, and project portfolio managers who need to consolidate and process information from many sources. Consequently, there's always a push for more automation in Portfoleon.

At the same time, adding more features to support all these different business process scenarios is not always the right approach, as it adds bloat and focuses managers on the wrong thing. The goal of Portfoleon is to help managers to create clarity, communicate, and make decisions. We see a lot of value in keeping it simple, but simplicity does not come easy.

5. What is your biggest USP that differentiates the company from competitors?

The biggest USP is the product's intended simplicity. Portfoleon supports the team in decision-making on prioritization, scheduling, and effort allocation, but it does not over automate these processes.

Instead, our philosophy is to help the managers to access the right data, visualize it in a form that helps the discussion and decision making, and get out of their way.

Portfoleon is not a tool that replaces a great portfolio manager; instead, it makes you a great portfolio manager.

6. How do you see the company and the industry in the future ahead?

As organizations become more agile and teams more self-organized, strategic alignment, at all levels, will become more critical than ever before.

Project portfolio management will need to come back to the basics: defining priorities and managing risk to continue adding value. Portfoleon will continue helping managers create awareness, communicate, and decide to maximize their project portfolio value.

7. What is your Leadership Mantra?

I do not believe in leadership mantras. At every stage of your professional and personal journey as a leader, you can find wisdom in the work and perspective of the people around you. However, you have to go beyond what an inspirational quote can give you to find this new perspective.