Who we are

Principled isn’t just a word; it’s our philosophy. When Bill Catchings and Mark Van Name founded PT in January, 2003, they wanted to build a company that put its clients first, did world-class work, behaved ethically at all times, and provided a great place to work for its staff. They wanted a company that people could truly believe in, one in which everyone shared in the profits, a company in which everyone was in it together, in which we all win—or, in bad times, lose—together.

From the very beginning, we have refused to accept the idea that the old ways are always the right ones. Instead, we’ve paved our own roads, building new structures as we go and leaving behind those that don’t work for us. We think carefully about each problem and work hard to come up with the best possible solution. As we grow, we question our own methods and change them when they are no longer useful or optimal. Whether it is a new way of providing benefits or a new testing methodology, we are always willing to attempt something different and to improve ourselves.

Our core goals have always been the same: to do great work for our clients,and to be a great place to work. When you work with PT, you gain a partner who listens to your needs, respects your wishes, and tells the truth—both in conversations with you and in our collateral. As the industry’s leading fact-based marketing firm, we test technology—everything from smartphones to laptops to servers to enterprise and application software, and on and on—to find the facts that make our clients’ products shine. We analyze each product and its market to find and execute the most appropriate tests, whether they’re industry-standard benchmarks or procedures we develop ourselves. Then, we deliver the facts to our clients through a wide variety of business and consumer media, including reports, infographics, videos, and more.

In our fact-based marketing collateral, we always show our work through detailed methodologies, and we report only what we found. By maintaining our status as a transparent and independent third party, we deliver collateral your buyers can trust. No matter the client, subject matter, or business area, we always maintain strict confidentiality and put our clients first. Whether we’re creating a technical white paper or a commercial video, we use the power of facts as the primary tool to help our clients sell products. We use our results to highlight each product’s competitive advantages; while we may not discuss its weaknesses, we never lie. Over our seventeen-plus years of business, we have earned our reputation as a trusted third party because of both our technical expertise and our unfailing dedication to the truth.

We live by these principles for the benefit of us all—our clients, ourselves, and our communities. Our principles are integral to more than our work, however; they also determine the way we treat our staff and run our company. We aim to be a fantastic place to work for our employees, with a flexible working culture, a productive and fulfilling work environment, and a full set of world-class benefits, including a unique sabbatical program. This seven-week sabbatical, available to each employee every seven years, is more than a chance to take time off work. If any employee spends at least one of the weeks volunteering with a charity dedicated to doing good in the world, PT will donate $5,000 to the charity or to cover their transportation and lodging expenses for the week.

Additionally, to make a positive difference in our local communities, every December, we make donations to local charities of each employee’s choice. Between the sabbatical program and end-of-year giving, our charitable donations for 2023 totaled over eighteen thousand dollars.