While every new startup seems to be rushing to replace Excel, maybe we should consider a simpler truth: Excel isn't the enemy.
My entire career has been built on Excel. We’re the nerds who get unreasonably excited about pivot tables. Our idea of a good time is nesting IF statements so deep they'd make a Russian doll jealous. So when I tell you we need to think differently about Excel's role in modern business, it comes from a place of deep appreciation.
Big picture, here’s our journey: Excel hit limitations, so we moved to Google Sheets for better collaboration. Google Sheets hit limitations, so we tried Smartsheets for project management. Smartsheets hit limitations, so we started building custom software. It's like upgrading from a flip phone to a smartphone to a tablet to a laptop - each solving one problem but creating new ones.
Look at Google's journey with Google Workspace. When they launched Google Sheets, they positioned it as an "Excel killer." The tech world ate it up - finally, someone was going to dethrone Excel.
But Google learned what we all eventually learn - trying to replace Excel is a fool's errand. Excel is awesome for a lot of stuff. Fully customizable. Flexible. Sure, it has limitations, but we completely trust it to run very intense analysis and make very big decisions. I’m not giving up my interest rate models and you aren’t giving up your underwriting spreadsheet.
But I initially fell into the same trap of all or nothing. We were going to build software so good, we’d never need Excel again. But here's what we've learned about Excel after five years of trying to "replace" it:
The future isn't about replacing Excel - it's about making it an even better teammate. We shouldn't try to make Excel do everything, nor should we live with its limitations. Instead, let's build technology that enhances what Excel does best.
For me, that meant automating things like cashflows and interest rates. Copying and pasting forward curves every time we wanted to update projections. Using our own online calculator to run a defeasance calculation, but starting from scratch each time. This is insanity.
My focus became automating things that should have been automated a long time ago - without abandoning Excel entirely. What are the most time consuming aspects of your Excel spreadsheets? Can you automate just those elements so you can plug them into your trusted models?
My lightbulb moment came when one of our engineers said, "Excel isn't the problem - trying to make it do everything is." Hopefully yours comes sooner than mine did.