19 ms·

When I started Publisheet, the idea was that it would allow users to create static, web-based reports from their spreadsheets, including textual information tha

When I started Publisheet, the idea was that it would allow users to create static, web-based reports from their spreadsheets, including textual information that would be written as Markdown (with a WYSIWYG editor) directly in one or more cells. I thought that it would be an easy way to create complete financial reports, for instance. The landing page's images still reflect that. But as soon as it launched, I noticed that no one was using it for text-heavy reports. People just wanted to publish their spreadsheets online, as is, with formula support. So, I started focusing on that and ended up in this crowded space, as you correctly state. I think that Publisheet's main selling point is that it's really simple to install and use. There's no .exe to install, there is no need to upload the Excel file in the browser, there is no form builder. Also, it works on Windows, Mac and in Excel Online. You basically click Publish and it's done. But I am aware that all the systems you listed are way more feature-complete than Publisheet and it is something we'll have to improve. By the way, congrats on Calcapp, it looks really polished!

davidpolberger 7y ago
That's an interesting pivot! We originally set out to enable healthcare apps to be created easily by doctors and nurses (we even had very complete unit test support at one point, which is important to get e-health apps through the certification process). It turned out, though, that financial calculators and the like made up a much larger part of the market, leading us to where we are today. It sounds like your journey has been similar, but with a different starting point. Best of luck with Publisheet, you're off to a good start!
localhost 7y ago
Interesting pivot; thanks for sharing that context. Did you get a chance to interview some of your customers to learn more about why the report-based workflow wasn't interesting to them? While spreadsheets can be used for narratives, they aren't exactly the best medium for them because of their multi-dimensional nature.
airstrike 7y ago
> including textual information that would be written as Markdown (with a WYSIWYG editor) directly in one or more cells. I thought that it would be an easy way to create complete financial reports, for instance. The landing page's images still reflect that. > But as soon as it launched, I noticed that no one was using it for text-heavy reports. I think the issue with that approach is that text-heavy reports don't perfectly overlap with the web. Speaking for basically all Wall St investment bankers out there, we spend our days generating reports from Excel into PowerPoint. If something existed for Excel + PowerPoint that worked similarly to RMarkdown + Rstudio > PDF, I think it would be a game changer, even if only used to generate a few of the more "automated" reports. There you go, free killer business idea for you ;-)
- Digitalgrub 7y ago
  > If something existed for Excel + PowerPoint... Isn't that SlideShare you're asking for? If not can you explain more please?
  - airstrike 7y ago
    I'm not familiar with SlideShare, but from Wikipedia that seems to focus on sharing presentations rather than building them. Here's what I mean, specifically: advisory work done by the big consulting companies and Wall Street M&A shops usually consists of lots and lots of Excel files being carefully massaged to create certain outputs that are then dropped in as images into PowerPoint with some text around them, mostly following the exact same formatting guidelines, which are then printed, bound and shown to clients. Currently, you have to train people to not only know how to come up with the data (i.e. corporate finance, accounting, management consulting) but also teach them how to use powerpoint, think about formatting, make sure they memorize the right color palette, etc. Sometimes formatting alone is 50% of the work – your boss will always tell "you used the wrong shade of blue"... A lot of these pages are the exact same across assignments. One example is a standard page with valuation multiples over time, comparing client company against a set of peers and/or the S&P500. Or a stock price performance chart. Annoyingly, you have to set up pages manually virtually every time, and there's no separation between presentation and content. With RMarkdown + RStudio, you can write Markdown code and embed images into your resulting PDF. Banking / Consulting is doing the same thing, except using PowerPoint. But PowerPoint is a slideshow app, not a PDF authoring tool. My hypothesis: creating a PDF authoring tool that embeds data from Excel / other sources with formatting kept separate (think a separate CSS file) would be a game changer and revolutionize the industry (though admittedly Wall Street hates changes and convincing people to use this would be an uphill battle)
klohto 7y ago
Kudos to your product! I would worry about competition. If there are already well established players, you have market share to steal from them (but I’m guessing you’re aware of that).

davidpolberger 7y ago

That's an interesting pivot! We originally set out to enable healthcare apps to be created easily by doctors and nurses (we even had very complete unit test support at one point, which is important to get e-health apps through the certification process). It turned out, though, that financial calculators and the like made up a much larger part of the market, leading us to where we are today. It sounds like your journey has been similar, but with a different starting point. Best of luck with Publisheet, you're off to a good start!

localhost 7y ago

Interesting pivot; thanks for sharing that context. Did you get a chance to interview some of your customers to learn more about why the report-based workflow wasn't interesting to them? While spreadsheets can be used for narratives, they aren't exactly the best medium for them because of their multi-dimensional nature.

airstrike 7y ago

> including textual information that would be written as Markdown (with a WYSIWYG editor) directly in one or more cells. I thought that it would be an easy way to create complete financial reports, for instance. The landing page's images still reflect that. > But as soon as it launched, I noticed that no one was using it for text-heavy reports. I think the issue with that approach is that text-heavy reports don't perfectly overlap with the web. Speaking for basically all Wall St investment bankers out there, we spend our days generating reports from Excel into PowerPoint. If something existed for Excel + PowerPoint that worked similarly to RMarkdown + Rstudio > PDF, I think it would be a game changer, even if only used to generate a few of the more "automated" reports. There you go, free killer business idea for you ;-)

Digitalgrub 7y ago
> If something existed for Excel + PowerPoint... Isn't that SlideShare you're asking for? If not can you explain more please?
- airstrike 7y ago
  I'm not familiar with SlideShare, but from Wikipedia that seems to focus on sharing presentations rather than building them. Here's what I mean, specifically: advisory work done by the big consulting companies and Wall Street M&A shops usually consists of lots and lots of Excel files being carefully massaged to create certain outputs that are then dropped in as images into PowerPoint with some text around them, mostly following the exact same formatting guidelines, which are then printed, bound and shown to clients. Currently, you have to train people to not only know how to come up with the data (i.e. corporate finance, accounting, management consulting) but also teach them how to use powerpoint, think about formatting, make sure they memorize the right color palette, etc. Sometimes formatting alone is 50% of the work – your boss will always tell "you used the wrong shade of blue"... A lot of these pages are the exact same across assignments. One example is a standard page with valuation multiples over time, comparing client company against a set of peers and/or the S&P500. Or a stock price performance chart. Annoyingly, you have to set up pages manually virtually every time, and there's no separation between presentation and content. With RMarkdown + RStudio, you can write Markdown code and embed images into your resulting PDF. Banking / Consulting is doing the same thing, except using PowerPoint. But PowerPoint is a slideshow app, not a PDF authoring tool. My hypothesis: creating a PDF authoring tool that embeds data from Excel / other sources with formatting kept separate (think a separate CSS file) would be a game changer and revolutionize the industry (though admittedly Wall Street hates changes and convincing people to use this would be an uphill battle)

klohto 7y ago

Kudos to your product! I would worry about competition. If there are already well established players, you have market share to steal from them (but I’m guessing you’re aware of that).