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Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

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Re: Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

#81

Post by sroerick »

danielvanacker wrote: post #80
curun1r wrote: post #36

A number of years ago, the company I worked for got acquired by Intuit and I ended up in a lot of meetings with the people in charge of Quickbooks. And I can tell you that you’re not looking at Quickbooks the way they are. One of the key takeaways that I had was that Intuit viewed accounting as a three-way market where the professional accountants were the most important factor when it came to the product design. Cus…

Appreciate the thoughtful feedback. You're right that accountants play a huge role in software adoption, and we’re spending a lot of time talking to them to understand their workflows. That said, we think the landscape is shifting. AI and automation are changing how accounting gets done, and the next generation of software won’t be about preserving unintuitive workflows. It’ll be about eliminating unnecessary manual…

Great response

Re: Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

#82

Post by jlaporte »

danielvanacker wrote: post #69
danielmarkbruce wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 isn't a "fair point". It's... basically just correct. With respect, you just don't want to hear it.

Fair point, Excel is the standard, and we’re not trying to replace it. But an embedded sheet lets us do things that an add-in just can’t, like asking AI a question and having it generate a full sheet with supporting data instantly. The experience won't be the same if you have to open that sheet in excel instead of seeing it embedded in the app. We think that’s a powerful complement to Excel, not a replacement. And of…

Counterpoint: the product vision that is already on display here is going in a great direction, and colocating a spreadsheet with your accounting app is a great idea. I love the idea of being freed from having to use excel for particular aspects of my accounting flow. You've got the export. People that want to keep their painful workflows can be masochistically happy.

This is clearly not an attempt to replace Excel, it's an attempt to accomplish a set of use cases in a better way than clunky export-import flows.

The in-app sheets look great, keep going!

Re: Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

#83

Post by jimbokun »

curun1r wrote: post #36

A number of years ago, the company I worked for got acquired by Intuit and I ended up in a lot of meetings with the people in charge of Quickbooks. And I can tell you that you’re not looking at Quickbooks the way they are. One of the key takeaways that I had was that Intuit viewed accounting as a three-way market where the professional accountants were the most important factor when it came to the product design. Cus…

To me this sounds like Quickbooks is a target ripe for disruption.

Re: Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

#84

Post by gregorygev »

jlaporte wrote: post #82
danielvanacker wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point, Excel is the standard, and we’re not trying to replace it. But an embedded sheet lets us do things that an add-in just can’t, like asking AI a question and having it generate a full sheet with supporting data instantly. The experience won't be the same if you have to open that sheet in excel instead of seeing it embedded in the app. We think that’s a powerful complement to Excel, not a replacement. And of…

Counterpoint: the product vision that is already on display here is going in a great direction, and colocating a spreadsheet with your accounting app is a great idea. I love the idea of being freed from having to use excel for particular aspects of my accounting flow. You've got the export. People that want to keep their painful workflows can be masochistically happy. This is clearly not an attempt to replace Excel,…

Thanks for your kind words.

> This is clearly not an attempt to replace Excel, it's an attempt to accomplish a set of use cases in a better way than clunky export-import flows

This is exactly how we think about this too.

Re: Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

#86

Post by pierotofy »

Here's what I'd want from accounting software; a credible exit strategy that if you go bankrupt or decide that you need to tweak your pricing too much, I can take my data and run it on my own infrastructure. Have you thought about an open source business model? Even just offer the basic platform as open source (e.g. keep the AI stuff proprietary). Also, your pricing is too high; Xero offers a more generous starter plan for $20 / month.

Re: Launch HN: Modernbanc (YC W20) – Modern and fast accounting software

#87

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

pierotofy wrote: post #86

Here's what I'd want from accounting software; a credible exit strategy that if you go bankrupt or decide that you need to tweak your pricing too much, I can take my data and run it on my own infrastructure. Have you thought about an open source business model? Even just offer the basic platform as open source (e.g. keep the AI stuff proprietary). Also, your pricing is too high; Xero offers a more generous starter pl…

> Here's what I'd want from accounting software; a credible exit strategy that if you go bankrupt or decide that you need to tweak your pricing too much, I can take my data and run it on my own infrastructure.

This is so, so critical, that I hope the founders consider it their number one priority. When you look at tools like Figma or Linear, they are often brought into a company by an individual designer or product manager for use by one small team - sometimes as an official pilot, sometimes not. It then has the option to grow organically within the company before the company switches over to it whole hog.

Accounting software obviously doesn't have that luxury. Companies absolutely need to know it will be around for years, as once the decision is made it's incredibly difficult to back out of. OP talks about this being their third pivot - my guess is that some of their original early adopters of their previous products were left a bit high and dry when they pivoted. Not at all blaming the founders for this - that's the nature of business, but also highlights why many small companies are reticent to go with an untested accounting product

I actually think the number one feature the founders should build is export to QuickBooks. For better or worse, that is the standard for small business accounting, and knowing there is a data export to QuickBooks would go a long way to assuaging a lot of potential customers' fears. It's a tactic Microsoft took in the 80s when they introduced Excel. At the time Lotus 123 was the spreadsheet standard, and they made sure Excel files could be exported to Lotus 123 so customers were less concerned about creating spreadsheets that other employees couldn't read.

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