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The real power of this product is as a replacement of BI/Visualization tools. Imagine being able to connect Rows to a database and create "governed" sheets that

The real power of this product is as a replacement of BI/Visualization tools. Imagine being able to connect Rows to a database and create "governed" sheets that look/work like dashboards with charts, tables, filters, etc. It would be a killer product because most users are familiar with spreadsheets already. Many users end-up copying data from dashboards into spreadsheets (gsheet, excel, etc) so why not skipping the intermediaries and go straight to delivering a hybrid of dashboards and spreadsheets. Lots of potential.

dagurp 5y ago
You mean like https://grid.is/ https://grid.is/ ?
- vatican_banker 5y ago
  Haven't heard from them before
vidar 5y ago
Check out https://grid.is https://grid.is
- Cilvic 5y ago
  I wish people would just show their product in their webpage instead of selling/telling what is can supposedly do
  - JoBrad 5y ago
    Scroll down to the “See what GRID can do” section.
    - Cilvic 5y ago
      Thanks, I gave those another try. They links didn't look inviting, expected just more of the same (text + images). But's actually an interactive demo from end-user perspective. that was easy to get: https://grid.is/@grid_templates/template-interactive-user-funnel-eeX9sfwERjiztDIVVT6BKw https://grid.is/@grid_templates/template-interactive-user-fu...
- vatican_banker 5y ago
  grid.is looks more like a shiny app on steroids while Rows feel more like a hardcore spreadsheet. That being said, I haven't tried any of these.
kishansh 5y ago
Its done already http://nocodb.com/ http://nocodb.com/ This is fully open source
- rnavi 5y ago
  Thank you for shoutout. (Disclaimer : Founder here) Yes, NocoDB[1] allows to transform your own databases into Airtable like smart-spreadsheets. It is easy to get started - please try it out. [1] : https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
- vatican_banker 5y ago
  Interesting... it doesn't seem to allow putting charts next to the spreadsheet though
  - henriquecruz 5y ago
    That's coming literally today/monday :)
    - henriquecruz 5y ago
      charts are live now
- IYasha 5y ago
  An error occurred on client - that's all I see. Either it's adblock or my outdated browser, but, in any case, it's a no go.
  - rnavi 5y ago
    Founder here - what browser & OS is it ?
    - IYasha 5y ago
      Hi, it's Ubuntu & FF50.1. Front page works now, but sign-up is empty for me. Anyway, I understand that supporting older browsers is not an easy task... probably. So, don't mind me.
henriquecruz 5y ago
thank you! Yes, our goals is really to make a better spreadsheet - but simpler to use, integrated with the tools people use everyday, and 10x better to share.
TheCowboy 5y ago
FileMaker is one product that does these things. It kind of languished while it was owned by Apple, and made some poor decisions. It does seem to have made a change for a better direction and I could see it making a comeback, but entry-level pricing is needed.
- larkost 5y ago
  Note that FileMaker has (as far as I can tell) always been owned by Apple. Claris inc, and now FileMaker are whole owned subsidiaries of Apple. I am not disagreeing with the languishing bit, only the hint that it had something to do with ownership.
d--b 5y ago
What prevents anyone from doing this in Excel/Google sheets? I've been doing Excel-based BI dashboards for 15 years, connecting to all kinds of backends. Excels have tables/charts/filters/buttons/pivots
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- waxdotrun 5y ago
  Yes, Sheets is amazing already. It is missing integrations out of the box though which is where Rows is trying to win. I notice this problem a while back and built Wax (https://www.wax.run/ https://www.wax.run/). Wax adds the features you'd want from Rows to Sheets. We handle integrations and scheduling. Also, considering a lot of internal tools leverage SQL and Python, we make using those them from Sheets simple.
  - d--b 5y ago
    This is just my opinion, but it looks to me like you're competing with airtable/notion/retool rather than Excel.
selimthegrim 5y ago
Blockpad (https://blockpad.net https://blockpad.net) does this but with an engineering orientation.
hjalmarg 5y ago
As I see a couple of mentions on GRID (https://grid.is/ https://grid.is/) on this thread, I thought it might be interesting to share a little bit about how we see this space. First of all, Rows is a fantastic tool. They are really onto something, especially in how to work get structured data out of other systems into a spreadsheet and then work with that kind of data in the "spreadsheet way" that we've all been trained in. This is a pain point of current spreadsheets and one that Rows is addressing in a really nice way. If you think about all the things that spreadsheets are used for - which is a lot - it still generally falls into one of three categories (https://medium.grid.is/the-3-types-of-spreadsheets-3d021356c002 https://medium.grid.is/the-3-types-of-spreadsheets-3d021356c...): 1. Numbers and calculations 2. Small databases 3. Business processes What Rows does falls mostly into the realm of small databases and business processes. And while each has their own approach, I'd say that most other "next-gen spreadsheets" are also focusing on these (big and important) use-cases. Airtable (https://airtable.com/ https://airtable.com/), Spreadsheet.com (https://spreadsheet.com/ https://spreadsheet.com/) and Smartsheet (https://smartsheet.com/ https://smartsheet.com/) all play mainly in this area. GRID is focusing on the numbers and calculations use-case, allowing people that have already built a model or pulled together numerical data in a spreadsheet to better explore, explain and converse about them.
geoduck14 5y ago
>The real power of this product is as a replacement of BI/Visualization tools. Imagine being able to connect Rows to a database and create "governed" sheets that look/work like dashboards with charts, tables, filters, etc. With respect, if your BI tools look like excel, you need a better BI tool

dagurp 5y ago

You mean like https://grid.is/ https://grid.is/ ?

vatican_banker 5y ago
Haven't heard from them before

vidar 5y ago

Check out https://grid.is https://grid.is

Cilvic 5y ago
I wish people would just show their product in their webpage instead of selling/telling what is can supposedly do
- JoBrad 5y ago
  Scroll down to the “See what GRID can do” section.
  - Cilvic 5y ago
    Thanks, I gave those another try. They links didn't look inviting, expected just more of the same (text + images). But's actually an interactive demo from end-user perspective. that was easy to get: https://grid.is/@grid_templates/template-interactive-user-funnel-eeX9sfwERjiztDIVVT6BKw https://grid.is/@grid_templates/template-interactive-user-fu...
vatican_banker 5y ago
grid.is looks more like a shiny app on steroids while Rows feel more like a hardcore spreadsheet. That being said, I haven't tried any of these.

kishansh 5y ago

Its done already http://nocodb.com/ http://nocodb.com/ This is fully open source

rnavi 5y ago
Thank you for shoutout. (Disclaimer : Founder here) Yes, NocoDB[1] allows to transform your own databases into Airtable like smart-spreadsheets. It is easy to get started - please try it out. [1] : https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
vatican_banker 5y ago
Interesting... it doesn't seem to allow putting charts next to the spreadsheet though
- henriquecruz 5y ago
  That's coming literally today/monday :)
  - henriquecruz 5y ago
    charts are live now
IYasha 5y ago
An error occurred on client - that's all I see. Either it's adblock or my outdated browser, but, in any case, it's a no go.
- rnavi 5y ago
  Founder here - what browser & OS is it ?
  - IYasha 5y ago
    Hi, it's Ubuntu & FF50.1. Front page works now, but sign-up is empty for me. Anyway, I understand that supporting older browsers is not an easy task... probably. So, don't mind me.

henriquecruz 5y ago

thank you! Yes, our goals is really to make a better spreadsheet - but simpler to use, integrated with the tools people use everyday, and 10x better to share.

TheCowboy 5y ago

FileMaker is one product that does these things. It kind of languished while it was owned by Apple, and made some poor decisions. It does seem to have made a change for a better direction and I could see it making a comeback, but entry-level pricing is needed.

larkost 5y ago
Note that FileMaker has (as far as I can tell) always been owned by Apple. Claris inc, and now FileMaker are whole owned subsidiaries of Apple. I am not disagreeing with the languishing bit, only the hint that it had something to do with ownership.

d--b 5y ago

What prevents anyone from doing this in Excel/Google sheets? I've been doing Excel-based BI dashboards for 15 years, connecting to all kinds of backends. Excels have tables/charts/filters/buttons/pivots

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
waxdotrun 5y ago
Yes, Sheets is amazing already. It is missing integrations out of the box though which is where Rows is trying to win. I notice this problem a while back and built Wax (https://www.wax.run/ https://www.wax.run/). Wax adds the features you'd want from Rows to Sheets. We handle integrations and scheduling. Also, considering a lot of internal tools leverage SQL and Python, we make using those them from Sheets simple.
- d--b 5y ago
  This is just my opinion, but it looks to me like you're competing with airtable/notion/retool rather than Excel.

selimthegrim 5y ago

Blockpad (https://blockpad.net https://blockpad.net) does this but with an engineering orientation.

hjalmarg 5y ago

As I see a couple of mentions on GRID (https://grid.is/ https://grid.is/) on this thread, I thought it might be interesting to share a little bit about how we see this space. First of all, Rows is a fantastic tool. They are really onto something, especially in how to work get structured data out of other systems into a spreadsheet and then work with that kind of data in the "spreadsheet way" that we've all been trained in. This is a pain point of current spreadsheets and one that Rows is addressing in a really nice way. If you think about all the things that spreadsheets are used for - which is a lot - it still generally falls into one of three categories (https://medium.grid.is/the-3-types-of-spreadsheets-3d021356c002 https://medium.grid.is/the-3-types-of-spreadsheets-3d021356c...): 1. Numbers and calculations 2. Small databases 3. Business processes What Rows does falls mostly into the realm of small databases and business processes. And while each has their own approach, I'd say that most other "next-gen spreadsheets" are also focusing on these (big and important) use-cases. Airtable (https://airtable.com/ https://airtable.com/), Spreadsheet.com (https://spreadsheet.com/ https://spreadsheet.com/) and Smartsheet (https://smartsheet.com/ https://smartsheet.com/) all play mainly in this area. GRID is focusing on the numbers and calculations use-case, allowing people that have already built a model or pulled together numerical data in a spreadsheet to better explore, explain and converse about them.

geoduck14 5y ago

>The real power of this product is as a replacement of BI/Visualization tools. Imagine being able to connect Rows to a database and create "governed" sheets that look/work like dashboards with charts, tables, filters, etc. With respect, if your BI tools look like excel, you need a better BI tool