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Launch HN: Abacum (YC W21) – Easy collaboration and reporting for finance teams
Hi HN!
We're Jorge and Julio, cofounders of Abacum (https://www.abacum.io/ https://www.abacum.io/). We're not sure how many fintech geeks like us are on HN but we're very excited to launch to you guys anyway!
Abacum makes it easier for Finance teams to access real-time data, collaborate and generate reports. Think of having all the operational and financial data modeled in one place, and of the Finance team easily sharing and collecting information for other teams to make faster, better decisions.
Scale ups have unique finance needs. First, they have spent the last years growing unnaturally fast, held together by a mixture of google sheets, csv files, a disconnected tech stack and a lot of copy paste. Second, growing 4x a year means that historical data is out of date within 3 months. Finally, with so many channels to stay connected, it's impossible to find where the Tech Lead shared that key assumption for the board forecast. Both Jorge and I have lived these experiences - we've spent too many long nights and days in number-crunching, without the proper time to analyze the data and to provide insights, becoming the key business partner we wanted. So yes, in the middle of the lockdown with 3 children each decided to leave everything to build the product we wish we had!
Abacum can now connect to any data source, update a business plan automatically and give you finance specific tools to help you do what you need to. Think performance and pivot tables, cohort and waterfall graphs, and ways to easily collaborate. Our engine provides the flexibility of excel while minimizing human errors, reducing fears of breaking "the model" and scaling up to and past IPO size.
We're big believers that collaboration, and not the business model, needs to be placed at the center of the product. Everything we built in Abacum is easily shareable and built to be easily understood by non-finance professionals. Ask (or remind) others in your company to collaborate, be it for updating forecasts or commenting on reporting decks, right where the needed context is. We've also set up different workflows for customers to easily gather the data bottom-up from different teams.
We are constantly looking to improve Abacum, so we'd love to hear any feedback, questions or wisdom you have to share with us! We'd love to show you (or anybody that you think may be interested) a 10' demo of our product - please let us know and we'll reach out. Thanks so much, HN!
- telaandrews2 6y agoCongrats on the launch, Jorge and Julio! The fintech space is crying out for better, easier experiences that lead to better decisions, faster. Your UI demonstrates that you've thought through the domain to its primitives and is well-organized, so well done! One of the big challenges is onboarding customers and their data. The integration toggles and menu item for data mappings are thoughtfully organized, but how much of it is self service?
- Juliomartinez 6y agoThanks! We really appreciate the positive words. We've both faced this problem before and set out to build what we always wanted. Yes self-service is a challenge. It really depends on how complicated the model and different data sources a customer uses are. We have a 7 star FP&A Ops team to help customers get started and show them what they can manage on their own. That area is growing day by day!
- gegtik 6y agoI think you may be hamstringing yourself launching a serious business product with cum in the name
- Juliomartinez 6y agoThe name comes from a play on Abacus, the calculating tool from ancient times. In latin languages Abacum is pronounced differently, but I can also see how that doesn't matter in some markets. Who knows, maybe this will make us more memorable...
- captainredbeard 6y agoIn the Anglosphere, it’s a kiss of death.
- ahstilde 6y agoPerhaps it's la petite mort
- imazio 6y agoIt looks amazing, congratulations guys!
- Juliomartinez 6y agoThank you!
- wmab 6y agoCongrats on the launch, this looks nice! How does your pricing model work?
- Juliomartinez 6y agoThanks! Copying the response from a similar question below We serve a broad range of customers, Series-A to public, so the price paid can vary quite a lot. We calculate it based on a function of complexity, modules, seats, support needed, etc. Happy to have a deeper conversation and/or demo if you're interested! Drop us a note and mention HN-> Sales@Abacum.io
- felipellrocha 6y agoThis looks great! very polished look, and certainly useful. What does your pricing look like?
- Juliomartinez 6y agoThanks! We serve a broad range of customers, Series-A to public, so the price paid can vary quite a lot. We calculate it based on a function of complexity, modules, seats, support needed, etc. Happy to have a deeper conversation and/or demo if you're interested! Drop us a note and mention HN-> Sales@Abacum.io
- villasv 6y ago> Trusted by companies backed by these [...] This feels a bit... underhanded. Good looking solution, though.
- Juliomartinez 6y agoGood point. We don't mean to come across as underhanded. Our customers use Abacum to report their financials to their investors, which include the logos in this list. We should be more precise with the copy in this section!
- villasv 6y agoI figured something like that would be the reasoning. I don’t doubt there’s a real web of trust, but IMHO that should be a bit more explicit.
- insidiuos 6y agoThis is awesome! Would love to see our finance department use this ;)
- Juliomartinez 6y agoWe'd love to talk with them :) Drop us a note and mention HN-> Sales@Abacum.io
- KFC_Manager 6y agoCongrats on the launch! This looks super helpful. I've found in previous roles that formalizing processes in something more rigid vs. excel actually makes things much more efficient. How do you see yourself differ from something like https://www.workiva.com/ https://www.workiva.com/ or https://golayer.io/ https://golayer.io/?
- Juliomartinez 6y agoThanks! We agree with you. It's about finding the right level of flexibility for the stage of your business. From what I understand, workiva is an awesome product focused on the data preparation phase of analysis and reporting. We focus on the next part in the process - modeling, analysing and forecasting, using tools made specifically for FP&A teams From what I understand, Golayer is a great product built on top of your existing google sheet or excel with collaboration happening around a spreadsheet. We approach things differently at Abacum, offering a native experience that scales with your business, where collaboration happens within a platform full of Abacum tables, embedded excels, supporting screenshots, new forecasts, etc.
- forgotmysn 6y agohow do you guys compare with Jirav?
- Juliomartinez 6y agoFrom what we understand, Jirav is a great player with an emphasis on driver-based models owned and operated by a single person. Abacum was built with collaboration at the core and we make it easy to include more voices in the planning process, leading to a better view of your business in our view.
- PatrickRyan77 6y agoI use Jirav. They have full collaboration capabilities so many people in my org can input into the budget, forecast, etc across multiple plans.
- fox_hedgehog 6y agoCongrats on the launch Jorge and Julio! I would love a demo: jevan@ae.studio Thanks!
- Juliomartinez 6y agoHi Jevan, thanks so much for your interest! We'll reach out :-)