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Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

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21–30 of 40 posts

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#21
post #2

We already have Google spreadsheets and many more such apps/web apps. Why would someone jump to this? 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. People already have such apps/web apps available. So, you need that one wow factor to make the users jump from one…

Have you used google spreadsheets on mobile?

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#22
post #4

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. My solution was to build a web app for this completely out of spreadsheet land. But I've got some other things to…

Not affiliated with them at all, but airtable (www.airtable.com) might get you there faster (basically simple database modeling using a spreadsheet metaphor).

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#23
post #4

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. My solution was to build a web app for this completely out of spreadsheet land. But I've got some other things to…

airtable was made for you

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#24
Hey lvp3, this sounds like a good case for Fieldbook (my startup): https://fieldbook.com. It's as flexible as a spreadsheet, but with the power of a relational database.

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

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#25

Hey lvp3, this sounds like a good case for Fieldbook (my startup): https://fieldbook.com . It's as flexible as a spreadsheet, but with the power of a relational database. 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

It feels disrespectful to hijack someone else's Apply HN application like this.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11458280 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#26
post #18

This is already happening on a lot of fronts, I've built entire apps on zapier. What are your thoughts on the following: Flex.io zapier.com Blockspring Zoho Creator Domo If you build this platform I think you have to start application first and not try to theorize it.

From the apps you mention, except for zoho creator, I feel like are all developer oriented (I can be wrong). In a way, what I want to do is to make apps using spreadsheets as the requirements for the app. What do you mean by 'start application first and not try to theorize it'? Isn't that I don't agree but I didn't understand it well and it looks like somenthing interesting to take into account.

Have you looked at spreadsheetweb.com and calcfusion.com? The former seems mature, with plenty of real paying customers. The latter is new, and I guess they're still working on getting traction.

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the apps you mention, except for zoho creator, I feel like are all developer oriented (I can be wrong). In a way, what I want to do is to make apps using spreadsheets as the requirements for the app. What do you mean by 'start application first and not try to theorize it'? Isn't that I don't agree but I didn't understand it well and it looks like somenthing interesting to take into account.

Have you looked at spreadsheetweb.com and calcfusion.com? The former seems mature, with plenty of real paying customers. The latter is new, and I guess they're still working on getting traction.

Here's two more: karmaplatform.com and kdcalc.com. This whole area of converting end user produced Excel solutions to scalable systems does seem very promising. But no one has nailed it yet, and I suspect there are at least two reasons. 1) Over technical solutions that require a .xls to be converted into some other technical deployable eg kdcalc.com producing a .jar 2) The diversity of Excel based solutions eg spreadsheet as DB vs. spreadsheet as calc engine vs spreadsheet as reporting dashboard.

So when you say "convert a spreadsheet into a web app", it means many things to many people. Which is a real expectation management challenge!

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#28
post #14

The sketch of the user flow for the first prototype can be seen here https://app.moqups.com/santiago.ingold@gmail.com/KCTLq4WnAL/... Again, comments are welcomed :)

I took a look at the mock up, and I think you're aiming for the same space as Karma Platform; converting spreadsheet-as-db to web app.

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#29
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

Re: Apply HN: Turn your spreadsheets into a complete webapp in minutes

#30

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

Thanks for your reply, I didn't know about quant libraries for excel, I`d investigate that.
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