The company was born as WORKING COMPUTER in 1986 by Mark Robillard and Lisa Waggoner. Friends since junior-high school and married since 1984, Lisa was the marketing manager for an industry film company and Mark was an aspiring graphic designer with an irrational Mac obsession.

From the beginning, Mark made the software and Lisa sold it. Clients & Profits was the first job tracking/accounting system for the then-new Macintosh. By 1990, it was the only cross-platform advertising agency management system, allowing an agency's staff to use Mac or Windows computers to track jobs, costs, and bilings at the same time. Two years later company was renamed CLIENTS & PROFITS, INC. and Clients & Profits was an industry leader. By 2000, the software was the best-selling agency mangement system for Mac & Windows with over 2,500 installations worldwide.


Lisa and Mark in the new office, 1992

As the company's creative director, Mark still makes software for the business of being creative. Now, Clients & Profits is a hybrid system designed for Mac, Windows, and the web. It is the only full-featured, enterprise-ready business software for advertising agencies, graphic design firms, and corporate marcom departments that want a real Mac OS X or Windows Vista-based user experience for their organizations.

Curious about the early days of Clients & Profits? Check out Mark's Clients & Profits 20th Anniversary blog

Clients & Profits By-The-Numbers:

Year founded: 1986

Starting investment:  $12,500 (all credit cards) + a user Mac 512k

Employees: 22

Ownership: 100% owned by Mark Robillard

Company debt: zero

Installations worldwide: over 3,000

Countries with Clients & Profits installations: 18

Major corporate clients: over 250

Number on Xserves in R&D: 3

Pieces of original artwork in the company's collection: 35

Art-o-mats: 2

Number of Helpdesk calls & emails every month:  5,000

User satisfaction, based on returned survey postcards: 95% "excellent" rating

Staffers dedicated to taking client calls:  100%

Average wait time to talk to a Clients & Profits staff member: < 30 seconds

Commission sales staff:  zero

Major upgrades since 1986: 10

Software versions we've sunsetted (i.e., no longer support): zero

Competitors with an enterprise-grade solution for Mac OS X: zero