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Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

causal.app

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Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#31

Post by refrigerator »

jtwaleson wrote: post #27

First thing I noticed is that the UI looks exactly like Linear. Have seen more companies copy the same UI but not sure if it was actually Linear that started it.

Haha, I think the evolution was something like this:

1. Slack introduces "sidebar" concept

2. Notion takes it a step further

3. Everyone starts doing sidebars, including Linear

We took inspiration from Linear's 'search button in sidebar' and 'profile pic in sidebar', which I think were maybe their unique contributions to the tradition :)

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#32

Post by killion »

refrigerator wrote: post #22
bryanmgreen wrote: post #20

One thing I have to really congratulate you on is your product video. I honestly think it's one of the best I've seen for any software. It showcases the functionality, displays the actual UI, doesn't rely on narration, is visually interesting, and succinct. Was it made internally or with an agency?

Ahh thanks, glad you liked it! We made it internally with the help of a video editor.

This does look really good. Do you mind if I ask which one you used? Thanks!

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#35

Post by ttul »

refrigerator wrote: post #26
habitue wrote: post #25

Do you offer monte carlo simulations for forecasting?

Yes! Causal natively supports Monte Carlo simulation. E.g. instead of writing "7.5%" in a cell, you can write "5% to 10%" and it will turn that into a distribution, and automatically run a few thousand samples with different values every time it re-calculates. Docs: https://docs.causal.app/formulas/values-with-uncertainty

This alone makes me want to try Causal. I run my business with a gargantuan Google Sheet. It works - we nail our numbers. But scenario testing is very hard.

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#36

Post by refrigerator »

ttul wrote: post #35
refrigerator wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! Causal natively supports Monte Carlo simulation. E.g. instead of writing "7.5%" in a cell, you can write "5% to 10%" and it will turn that into a distribution, and automatically run a few thousand samples with different values every time it re-calculates. Docs: https://docs.causal.app/formulas/values-with-uncertainty

This alone makes me want to try Causal. I run my business with a gargantuan Google Sheet. It works - we nail our numbers. But scenario testing is very hard.

Nice — definitely try Causal out! We have a 'scenarios' feature that lets you easily spin up "discrete" scenarios, and then you can use the Monte Carlo stuff to see continuous ranges of outcomes.

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#37

Post by refrigerator »

killion wrote: post #32
refrigerator wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh thanks, glad you liked it! We made it internally with the help of a video editor.

This does look really good. Do you mind if I ask which one you used? Thanks!

Feel free to drop me an email (taimur [at] causal [dot] app) and I'd be happy to introduce you to him :)

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#38

Post by swyx »

dark_ph0enix wrote: post #5

We've had a number of very interesting technical challenges along the way to this 2.0 release: - traffic tiering and balancing based on request's perceived amount of work - low latency data loading during our calc loop - implementing a selector framework to unify all the stores used by the application - redesigning the formula editor to make human friendly yet expressive enough for the most hardcore user (fun UX chal…

please do! spin up an engineering blog on hashnode. https://danluu.com/corp-eng-blogs/

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#39

Post by deathanatos »

refrigerator wrote: post #31
jtwaleson wrote: post #27

First thing I noticed is that the UI looks exactly like Linear. Have seen more companies copy the same UI but not sure if it was actually Linear that started it.

Haha, I think the evolution was something like this: 1. Slack introduces "sidebar" concept 2. Notion takes it a step further 3. Everyone starts doing sidebars, including Linear We took inspiration from Linear's 'search button in sidebar' and 'profile pic in sidebar', which I think were maybe their unique contributions to the tradition :)

Really, it's just a tab strip, no? (But with fixed heterogeneous tabs, as opposed to a set of homogeneous ones the user adds/removes from as they open/close docs.)

Reminds me of the vertical tab strips in FF w/ TreeStyleTabs.

Which reminds me of OS/2, where tab strips were on the side, with some nice skeuomorphism: https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/os2/history/os221/vxr...

Re: Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups

#40

Post by durmanhoth »

There seem to be some synergies that you can leverage with spend management and expense management platforms (such as Brex, Ramp, etc.). Is this a fair assumption, and if so, have you considered exploring any opportunities in this area?

Interesting stuff!

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