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Tell HN: We (Causal) got acquired – thank you HN

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Re: Tell HN: We (Causal) got acquired – thank you HN

#41

Post by swyx »

refrigerator wrote: post #29
swyx wrote: post #3

congrats taimur! please do a podcast with ali again, love you both. am also keen on your assessment of the other spreadsheet/forecasting startups

Thanks! We hope to get back on the pod :) I think the spreadsheet space is honestly super challenging. There’s lots of possible use-cases for these tools, but also, Excel/Sheets are great products that everyone already knows how to use. I think if these products nail some core use-case(s) that are valuable enough to build the core business around, then this can probably get you to “escape velocity” and you can start…

> This is the path we were going for

are you implying your path will be changing in any way post acquisition? the announcement didnt make it seem like that (but ofc we all know things often change post acquisition)

Re: Tell HN: We (Causal) got acquired – thank you HN

#44

Post by refrigerator »

swyx wrote: post #41
refrigerator wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! We hope to get back on the pod :) I think the spreadsheet space is honestly super challenging. There’s lots of possible use-cases for these tools, but also, Excel/Sheets are great products that everyone already knows how to use. I think if these products nail some core use-case(s) that are valuable enough to build the core business around, then this can probably get you to “escape velocity” and you can start…

> This is the path we were going for are you implying your path will be changing in any way post acquisition? the announcement didnt make it seem like that (but ofc we all know things often change post acquisition)

We will likely stay focused on financial planning rather than go broad on all the rest of the spreadsheet use cases

Re: Tell HN: We (Causal) got acquired – thank you HN

#45

Post by oldpersonintx »

refrigerator wrote: post #26
orliesaurus wrote: post #14

How much did you make?

Without getting into numbers, it’s more than we would have been able to make at, say, a big tech job over the same time period (5 years)

Even if it was less it is still worth it because you did it your way and didn't rely on someone else to decide your fate

Re: Tell HN: We (Causal) got acquired – thank you HN

#46

Post by monissiddiqui »

Congratulations Taimur! I started following you from your pod with your brother and was super interested in your foray into tech with a math background. It's great to see Causal take off over the years.

These damn math folks are out here trying to make everything multi- dimensional

Re: Tell HN: We (Causal) got acquired – thank you HN

#49

Post by averageRoyalty »

refrigerator wrote: post #25
not_your_vase wrote: post #2

Congrats! A related question, if you don't mind me asking: was acquisition your initial goal when you founded Causal, or did you just receive an offer you couldn't refuse?

Thanks! We didn’t have an end goal in mind from the beginning — we had the idea for the product and wanted to see if it had legs as a business, and then grow it and see where we could take it. From what I recall, I don’t think this kind of acquisition was on our radar in the early days — we expected the startup game to be much more binary (massive outcome or bust), and this was the standard narrative at the time. We’…

> We’re fortunate to have landed in a middle ground that more founders should be aware of earlier on (and I think awareness is increasing).

You mean the area 97% of businesses who don't go bust operate? I think most business owners are well aware of it. For some reason though, startup founders live in a different reality.

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