Spreadsheet.com, the SaaS startup that entered the scene seven years ago with the ambitious goal of revolutionizing traditional spreadsheet tools like Excel and Google Sheets, is shutting down by the end of May. The decision comes as the startup grapples with its inability to achieve the rapid growth trajectory necessary for sustained success in today’s competitive tech landscape.

In a heartfelt blog post, co-founder and CEO Matt Robinson announced the forthcoming closure, expressing regret over the necessity of the decision. “We are sorry to share that we have made the difficult decision to shut down the Spreadsheet.com service, effective May 31, 2024,” Robinson lamented.

“In 2017 we set out to reinvent the spreadsheet as a modern collaborative work management system. By some measures we achieved our goal: we built a broad and deep product that hewed closely to the traditional spreadsheet paradigm while bringing native project management and no-code app building capabilities to it. In the process we solved some difficult technical challenges and built a scalable, high performance platform capable of serving a large number of users. However, despite winning the business of over 1,000 organizations, we were unfortunately unable to achieve venture-scale growth,” Robinson added.

As the shutdown date of Spreadsheet.com approaches, users are urged to back up all their files by the end of May. Robinson said that any data remaining on the platform after June 1, 2024, will be permanently deleted.

Founded in 2017 by Robinson and co-founder Murali Mohan, Spreadsheet.com aimed to redefine online spreadsheets by imbuing them with the functionality of a database and project management system. Their vision was to provide teams with a single, versatile tool capable of handling various types of work seamlessly. According to a 2022 blog post, Spreadsheet.com “grew to over 170,000 users” and was regularly by thousands of teams from over 1000 companies.

The startup gained attention in July 2021 when it unveiled its private beta product alongside a significant $5.5 million seed funding round. The funding was co-led by prominent venture capital firms First Round Capital and Spark Capital, with notable participation from investors such as Mitch Kapor and Steven Sinofsky.

Despite early promise and substantial backing, Spreadsheet.com struggled to achieve the scale needed to sustain its operations. The decision to shut down marks the end of a journey marked by ambition and innovation, underscoring the challenges inherent in disrupting entrenched markets within the tech industry.

Spreadsheet.com Alternatives?

Following the announcement of Spreadsheet.com’s impending shutdown, users of the platform have begun exploring alternative SaaS tools. One Reddit user commented on the news, expressing surprise at the company’s closure despite its substantial $5.5 million fundraising effort and the vast market it aimed to capture. With a quick search, the user highlighted the staggering user base of Google Sheets and Excel, indicating the immense potential for a tool like Spreadsheet.com.

However, the user also voiced dissatisfaction with traditional spreadsheet software, including Microsoft Excel, labeling them as “old and clunky.” Seeking recommendations for alternatives to Google Suite, they mentioned considering platforms like The Bricks and Zoho Sheet but were open to suggestions from the community for other options.

“Just saw that spreadsheet.com is shutting down. Wild that a company that raised $5.5M wasn’t able to “achieve venture scale growth.” Especially wild since that was a massive market. Googling really quick, and it looks like according to askwonder.com, there are 750 million to 2 billion people in the world who use either Google Sheets or Excel. Google Suite, which includes Google Sheets, is used by approximately 2 billion users every month, while Microsoft Excel has an estimated 750 million to 1.2 billion monthly users globally.

I’m not enamored by big tech (yes, including Microsoft Excel). I think most are old and clunky. Does anyone have advice on alternatives besides Google Suite? I’m thinking about going with https://www.thebricks.com/ or https://www.zoho.com/sheet/. Any others I should consider?”

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• Source: https://techstartups.com/2024/02/24/spreadsheet-com-is-shutting-down-after-burning-through-5-5-millions-of-investors-money/