Not sure if this was the feedback you were looking for but I spent about a year in a similar field trying to build out a product before we successfully pivoted. The product was very similar to grid.is
Ours was really tough sell as a product because it wasn't really a product. It was kind of a no code platform that worked with excel models. It was technically very capable and cool, converting excel logic to run in browser but no one really cares about the tech, but what are you supposed to do with it. And you can use it for a lot of things, like someone can embed it into an existing website to serve as a calculator (eg. Mortgage calculator), you can run Monte Carlo on workbooks easier or a solver, share simplified workbooks hiding the model guts, etc
But it wasn't a product. Every one of those problems (are they problems?) Could have been solved in a better way. No code space is also very competitive and we knew we couldn't keep up with the high bar of generalized no code platforms and the sell wasn't big enough. It was classic solution looking for a problem
Luckily we stumbled on one workbook people actually used and realized that we were held back by our old tech and built a solution to address that one problem the wb was trying to solve.
So all that's to say I think you should focus on a single very specific problem you're trying to solve (something a lot more specific than "data stories"). And think about the pricing and how many $15/mo subs you need to support your team.
I may be way off and you may already have a few thousand active users and are well on your way in case disregard what I said (we got maybe a dozen or so users at a higher price point but very little actual usage)
I have a lot of other stories to share if you're curious. But best of luck.
Appreciate the input. We actually have two former founders of similar products working in our team. Would love to know what you think of Decipad after using it.
Grid is a terrific company. None of the "competitors" in the space made it, but surely one will. Hopefully many of them, us included. I agree -- it's really hard to build a product that defines a new category. But that's what motivates us.
Let me know if you do try it, would be super curious to see the feedback.
Very good points. One thing that still makes us broad but narrows down is the fact that we are focusing on financial modelling and analysis.
But yeah, as Nuno pointed out, it's a new product category and super broad in application, which is part of what makes us excited about this!
Ours was really tough sell as a product because it wasn't really a product. It was kind of a no code platform that worked with excel models. It was technically very capable and cool, converting excel logic to run in browser but no one really cares about the tech, but what are you supposed to do with it. And you can use it for a lot of things, like someone can embed it into an existing website to serve as a calculator (eg. Mortgage calculator), you can run Monte Carlo on workbooks easier or a solver, share simplified workbooks hiding the model guts, etc
But it wasn't a product. Every one of those problems (are they problems?) Could have been solved in a better way. No code space is also very competitive and we knew we couldn't keep up with the high bar of generalized no code platforms and the sell wasn't big enough. It was classic solution looking for a problem
Luckily we stumbled on one workbook people actually used and realized that we were held back by our old tech and built a solution to address that one problem the wb was trying to solve.
So all that's to say I think you should focus on a single very specific problem you're trying to solve (something a lot more specific than "data stories"). And think about the pricing and how many $15/mo subs you need to support your team.
I may be way off and you may already have a few thousand active users and are well on your way in case disregard what I said (we got maybe a dozen or so users at a higher price point but very little actual usage)
I have a lot of other stories to share if you're curious. But best of luck.