PROBLEM<p>Most businesses have important information registered in spreadsheets, those spreadsheets generate a lot of problems like loss of files, versioning, loss of information, lack of accountability in changes, etc. Some of those spreadsheets start as something small but end up being pretty important for its users.
To substitute those files with custom software is difficult because in medium or big enterprises IT departments work on the most important things and can’t develop software for “small things”. On the other hand outsourcing that development can be difficult and/or costly. For smaller business without IT departments the problem is the cost of developing custom applications.<p>SOLUTION<p>Let users upload a spreadsheet to our platform and transform that into a custom web app, adding useful functionality like search, filtering, reports, security, users, permissions, etc.<p>BUSINESS MODEL<p>Basically we will have two products the hosted app (recurrent revenue) and the downloadable app to host on your own server (as a premium product). As a business strategy we need to have affordable prices so that medium management can approve the purchase.
Also our apps need to be functional, with good usability and good design (in that order).<p>VISION<p>In the long run we want to make great software for any kind of companiess. To do that we need to enter the market with smaller and less risky applications because “no one ever got fired for buying <big enterprise software company>”<p>MARKET<p>Every business that uses spreadsheets for long term work (need to work more on this)<p>TEAM<p>Right now it is only me, but I am looking for co-founders. I have a technical degree on software development and experience in various non-IT areas of a bank (first hand experience of what I call the “spreadsheet hell”).<p>PROGRESS<p>I have a sketch of the application and am developing the first working prototype<p>Any kind of questions, opinions, etc. are welcome.<p>Thanks in advance!
This seems like it would be a great idea if it can be done because the market for it would probably be very large.<p>However it seems to me that doing this would be very difficult for at least 2 main reasons.<p>First spreadsheets can be organized in essentially arbitrary ways and there is no standard way of defining the semantics of data in them. There can also be all sorts of references between data items and unlike SQL there is nothing to explicitly define the nature of these references. How could a program take an arbitrary collection of spreadsheets and transform them into a webapp that has significantly more functionality than just loading them into Google docs ?<p>Second spreadsheets often use macros and other programming constructs so I think you also have the problem of building a general translator from macros/VB/Excel functions to javascript/whatever backend language you're using. This again seems like a fairly difficult problem to tackle in general.
We already have Google spreadsheets and many more such apps/web apps. Why would someone jump to this?<p>I think you need to clarify more about your USP. Becoming more specific about your functionalities such as what kind of security or what kind of user permissions, etc. might help you gain more attention.<p>People already have such apps/web apps available. So, you need that one wow factor to make the users jump from one service and come and use yours. Try to think more from an user's perspective and try to redesign the way your web app is going to work or help companies/individuals in handling spreadsheets with ease. Good luck! :)
This is a problem I have that I thought was near to impossible. I have a nightmare test case for you. I am a property manager of 1000 units. We have 40 properties each of which we track vacancies with a spreadsheet. They've got all relative property data on them as well. Let me know if you are interested.<p>My solution was to build a web app for this completely out of spreadsheet land. But I've got some other things to tackle first. Either way good luck!
This is already happening on a lot of fronts, I've built entire apps on zapier.<p>What are your thoughts on the following:<p>Flex.io
zapier.com
Blockspring
Zoho Creator
Domo<p>If you build this platform I think you have to start application first and not try to theorize it.
If it can be solved beautifully, it would be cash cow. like the others mentioned, translating UDF (user defined function) would be a challenge. also in bank, it usually load quant library xll. It would be impossible to host quant library as service. nowaday i see bank just use spreadsheet as front end. a lot of logic are wrapped in code and fully tested somewhere else
The sketch of the user flow for the first prototype can be seen here <a href="https://app.moqups.com/santiago.ingold@gmail.com/KCTLq4WnAL/view/page/ad2107be8" rel="nofollow">https://app.moqups.com/santiago.ingold@gmail.com/KCTLq4WnAL/...</a><p>Again, comments are welcomed :)
Hey there, I created an app called spreadsheet.io that did something similar (Google Refine + Fusion Tables). I have no bandwidth for dev, but am open to partnership.
Hey lvp3, this sounds like a good case for Fieldbook (my startup): <a href="https://fieldbook.com" rel="nofollow">https://fieldbook.com</a>. It's as flexible as a spreadsheet, but with the power of a relational database.<p>We've had a few real estate offices and property managers use us; you wouldn't be the first! If you send me your spreadsheet I can even get it migrated for you as a demo. jason@fieldbook.com