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Ok. I like this idea but here's my issue: How is this different from Google Docs spreadsheets? It doesn't look like you mention it on the landing page and Goog
by fjabre 16y ago
Ok. I like this idea but here's my issue: How is this different from Google Docs spreadsheets?
It doesn't look like you mention it on the landing page and Google Docs is pretty well known at this point. As a consumer I'd like to know how it's different and why I should use your spreadsheet instead of theirs.
- revorad 16y agoI guess I see where you are coming from. But at least on HN, I expect people to be a bit more imaginative. How is this different from Google Docs? I can't speak for the creator but here's what I can think of: It's created by a clearly passionate founder who's directly reachable for feedback and support. The guy's put up his cell phone number! Hypernumbers has this strange-seeming idea of converting a spreadsheet into a wiki/webpage/table. That's pretty interesting and could be very useful. Even a quick look through the app suggests there are a lot of features. Now I know it's fashionable to say features don't sell software, but hey this is an Excel competitor. Features rule. It costs money, which suggests it's a serious effort, not another big-Co project which can be shelved if it doesn't get enough eyeballs.
- fjabre 16y agoRight, because the best way to sell your product is to get defensive when potential customers ask how your offering is different from a competitor. ;)
- revorad 16y agoHaha, and that's exactly what I meant. Jokes apart, I do see your point. Maybe I just got too excited about this app from the technical point of view. But I thought most people here would be more like that than potential customers.
- slantyyz 16y agoI doubt anyone here would be a potential customer.
- gordonguthrie 16y agoSorry I haven't got defensive about my product anywhere (I don't think so).
- slantyyz 16y agoSpeaking from the perspective of a Finance department (small or large), this product's competitor is Excel. Google spreadsheets is not really a direct competitor. Most finance departments use less than 20% of Excel's functionality. Where they waste the most person hour cycles is syncing data in spreadsheets and recreating formulas that got blown away by someone who emailed back the spreadsheet. From a Finance department perspective, the hard part is getting their attention. The pricing seems reasonable, compared to the stuff in my world, i.e. Cognos, Hyperion, etc. but Finance departments can be weird about money. They're ok wasting person hours that are worth more than the cost of software that will pay itself off quickly. I think this is an interesting product, but the challenge for it as a business is more of a marketing problem than a technical problem.
- revorad 16y agoIsn't data security also going to be a problem with Finance departments? Surely they don't want to put their sensitive data on a third party server?
- slantyyz 16y agoIt can be. I doubt any public companies would consider Hypernumbers for SOX reasons. I know of a few companies who had no problems, however, having their finance data on a third party external server, but in a different context. I believe that GoodData (hosted business intelligence) is doing quite well, and I would think that a large portion of their clients are sending finance data to them.
- gordonguthrie 16y agoOne of the reasons Salesforce penetrated the enterprise space is that they priced under the pre-approval limit for corporate credit cards. People signed up, loaded up their data, claimed the money back and then told IT/compliance by which time the hens had flown the coop... There is no way any seriously large company would put us on their approved list (at the moment) which is fine.