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Hi everyone, I'm one of the Causal founders — we actually launched a super barebones MVP here on HN in 2019[1], back when we were still tinkering around on nigh

Hi everyone, I'm one of the Causal founders — we actually launched a super barebones MVP here on HN in 2019[1], back when we were still tinkering around on nights and weekends, and the reception + signups from that gave us the confidence to quit our jobs and go full-time on this, so thanks for the early support! The product has come a long way since that first HN launch. The best way to think about it is as a 'multidimensional spreadsheet' — instead of writing formulas that operate on single cells, Causal formulas operate on "variables" that span lots of cells (e.g. multiple 'months', or multiple 'products', or multiple 'countries'), so you can express any kind of model with 100–1000x fewer formulas. Lot of other important functionality like live data integrations, dashboards, etc. but the multi-dimensional modelling system is really the secret sauce :) Sounds super abstract, but the main use-case today is financial planning/reporting for early-stage companies, although some of our users have actually replaced their BI tools with Causal as well. Anyway, thanks for the support and keen to hear feedback :) 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19704418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19704418

sksk 3y ago
I am curious about your comment on 100-1000x fewer formulas. Is there a simpler example you can show how your product will do it relative to Excel? When I read your comment, I was thinking, SUM in Excel operates over many cells. You can have Arrays, etc. in Excel. So I am not sure how formulas work in your product that is fundamentally different. Is this like a function that I can define and call that function so it is easier?
- Lukas1994 3y ago
  Great question! Quite often in financial models, you're dealing with "dimensions" (e.g. your revenue is broken down by product, geography, and time). To model this in Excel you have to write complex SUMIF/INDEX/MATCH formulas. Then you have to drag these formulas over 1000s of cells (if you make a mistake you're screwed, see https://eusprig.org/research-info/horror-stories/ https://eusprig.org/research-info/horror-stories/). Causal's building blocks are "variables" and "dimensions" which makes it much more powerful to work with dimensional data. This video explains this in a more visual way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELP2A5IzF4&ab_channel=CausalHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELP2A5IzF4&ab_channel=Causa...
  - sksk 3y ago
    Thank you. That makes sense. I totally agree, Excel is a nightmare to debug.
localhost 3y ago
For your use case, what if you could use Python in Excel with pandas, numpy and the Anaconda ecosystem readily available? How would that change things? Disclosure: I was a founding member of the Python in Excel team and am looking for new problems that Python in Excel could solve.
- Lukas1994 3y ago
  IMO this still doesn't change the fact that Excel is a 2D grid. Dealing with multi-dimensional data will always be tricky in that paradigm. Also, you'll still have cell references, no version control, no access control, ... Excel is an amazing product and I'm sure people will still use it in 10 years. Our thesis is that for financial planning (and various other number-crunching use-cases) our building blocks make more sense.
  - Terretta 3y ago
    > doesn't change the fact that Excel is a 2D grid Or 3D if third dimension is tabs.
- Terretta 3y ago
  > looking for new problems that Python in Excel could solve You could solve releasing Python in Excel for MacOS.
  - localhost 3y ago
    That is, of course, on the roadmap. I use a Mac as my daily driver so this one's personal :)
I_am_tiberius 3y ago
Seriously, don't you think Runway is copying your product exactly?
- refrigerator 3y ago
  The UI is definitely similar and no doubt that we're competitors, but under the hood I think we've taken somewhat different approaches to how the product works :)
  - I_am_tiberius 3y ago
    I've been following your product for some time, and when I visited their website, the app images appeared to be an exact copy of yours. It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds. Clearly, you seem to have a head start. Good luck.

sksk 3y ago

I am curious about your comment on 100-1000x fewer formulas. Is there a simpler example you can show how your product will do it relative to Excel? When I read your comment, I was thinking, SUM in Excel operates over many cells. You can have Arrays, etc. in Excel. So I am not sure how formulas work in your product that is fundamentally different. Is this like a function that I can define and call that function so it is easier?

Lukas1994 3y ago
Great question! Quite often in financial models, you're dealing with "dimensions" (e.g. your revenue is broken down by product, geography, and time). To model this in Excel you have to write complex SUMIF/INDEX/MATCH formulas. Then you have to drag these formulas over 1000s of cells (if you make a mistake you're screwed, see https://eusprig.org/research-info/horror-stories/ https://eusprig.org/research-info/horror-stories/). Causal's building blocks are "variables" and "dimensions" which makes it much more powerful to work with dimensional data. This video explains this in a more visual way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELP2A5IzF4&ab_channel=CausalHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELP2A5IzF4&ab_channel=Causa...
- sksk 3y ago
  Thank you. That makes sense. I totally agree, Excel is a nightmare to debug.

localhost 3y ago

For your use case, what if you could use Python in Excel with pandas, numpy and the Anaconda ecosystem readily available? How would that change things? Disclosure: I was a founding member of the Python in Excel team and am looking for new problems that Python in Excel could solve.

Lukas1994 3y ago
IMO this still doesn't change the fact that Excel is a 2D grid. Dealing with multi-dimensional data will always be tricky in that paradigm. Also, you'll still have cell references, no version control, no access control, ... Excel is an amazing product and I'm sure people will still use it in 10 years. Our thesis is that for financial planning (and various other number-crunching use-cases) our building blocks make more sense.
- Terretta 3y ago
  > doesn't change the fact that Excel is a 2D grid Or 3D if third dimension is tabs.
Terretta 3y ago
> looking for new problems that Python in Excel could solve You could solve releasing Python in Excel for MacOS.
- localhost 3y ago
  That is, of course, on the roadmap. I use a Mac as my daily driver so this one's personal :)

I_am_tiberius 3y ago

Seriously, don't you think Runway is copying your product exactly?

refrigerator 3y ago
The UI is definitely similar and no doubt that we're competitors, but under the hood I think we've taken somewhat different approaches to how the product works :)
- I_am_tiberius 3y ago
  I've been following your product for some time, and when I visited their website, the app images appeared to be an exact copy of yours. It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds. Clearly, you seem to have a head start. Good luck.