Sutro Software started life in 2005 as a consulting company specializing in Vignette Portal related software development. At Vignette Village 2008 Sutro launched the first production version of its flagship software product, Portal Spy. Portal Spy 2.0 debuted a year later at Open Text Content World 2009.

Sutro founder John Petersen helped create one of the industry's first enterprise portal products at Epicentric. After Epicentric's acquisition by Vignette, he managed Vignette's portal engineering division before leaving to start Sutro. With a decade of enterprise portal experience across multiple companies, roles, and projects, he is one of the sector's leading experts.

Sutro Software is an official Open Text partner.