

Show HN: Opstarts – Startup planning and forecasting without spreadsheets - devahaz
https://opstarts.com/

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devahaz
We've created this product to help startups easily make financial plans and
projections without complicated spreadsheets. Check it out at
[https://opstarts.com/](https://opstarts.com/) You can use the beta invite
code SHOWHN or click here to create an account:
[https://app.opstarts.com/create-new-
account?invite=SHOWHN](https://app.opstarts.com/create-new-
account?invite=SHOWHN)

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labaraka
Love the idea! Would gladly pay for it if it supported physical product sales.
i.e., ability to add COGS, have a gross margin, etc. Correct me if I am wrong
but your current iteration is more geared towards SaaS startups.

~~~
devahaz
we started with SaaS, so we currently have the most functionality there.
However, we are rapidly building out that kind of support. We already support
linking expenses for each sale you make to support basic COGS and will have
much more soon.

~~~
btown
Can second labaraka - the inventory-holding startup world needs a product like
this desperately! To the developers: I included my contact information and a
writeup about our fashion brand's pain points in the signup page, and I'd be
happy to give feedback about the product at some point - just send me a ping!

~~~
devahaz
thanks! we already have a couple of fashion startups using us that have both
seasonal (fixed amount) and ongoing (based on sales) inventory purchasing and
replenishment expenses to model. We support a number of basic scenarios like
that, but inventory-related modeling is definitely something we're focused on
improving. I'll keep an eye our for your message, and also feel free to write
me any time at deva@opstarts.com.

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nodesocket
Can it pull financials from Stripe (plans, MRR, customers)? This would be
amazing.

My other advise. Start charging (do a 1 month trial) and something like a flat
rate of $12 a month to start. You can iterate later by charging per user or
another model.

We are looking forward to trying Opstarts out, and if we like it and find
value, totally willing to pay.

~~~
devahaz
not yet, but we agree! Integrations are something we're working on. I just
started a discussion thread for suggestions:
[https://opstarts.zendesk.com/hc/communities/public/questions...](https://opstarts.zendesk.com/hc/communities/public/questions/200783805-What-
product-integrations-would-you-like-to-see-in-Opstarts-)

Thanks for the pricing feedback, I like those suggestions. We're currently
evaluating pricing and will have some updates on launch pricing soon.

~~~
nodesocket
Do I have to login to comment on this? This is a bit annoying.

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devahaz
you shouldn't. i'll get that fixed in a bit. in the meantime, anything else
besides Stripe you'd like to see integrated with Opstarts?

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dybskiy
Here's a video of Andy Lash (author) presenting the app at the recent Meteor
Devshop: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smnSkyRF-
JY&list=UU3fBiJrFFM...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smnSkyRF-
JY&list=UU3fBiJrFFMhKlsWM46AsAYw)

Looks like he made a lot of progress since then!

~~~
andylash
gotten a haircut at least :-)

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raindrift
I'm an early beta user, and have been really happy with it. It saves me a
bunch of time, but I think the real value is in what it teaches me about where
to focus our efforts. Way easier to predict which initiatives (features,
hires, etc) are going to make us money, and when we'd see returns.

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wwarneck
Wish there was some info about what the site does without signing up.

Also, I would remove the question asking for business description and
planning/modeling needs from the signup form. I think you're likely to get
very little effort put into that section from a new user who has no attachment
to your app. It could be placed better as the user begins to interact with
your app (however that works) ..

edit: Oh I see, you have to go to the default landing page to get more info.
[https://opstarts.com/](https://opstarts.com/) \-- Should fix that, at least
make the navigation element in the upper left of app go to that landing page.

~~~
devahaz
thanks, good point. we'll add a link back to the website from the application.

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spocktacular
I'm another early beta user, and have been very pleased with the product. We
used spreadsheets for a while, then started running financial models using
Opstarts.

I think the biggest benefit for my company has been the ability to rapidly
communicate amongst the founders regarding financial options. The
visualizations are clear and we spend less time getting on the same page, and
more time discussing the trade-offs of different decisions. Less minutiae and
more meat.

Looking forward to more support for different business models. Nice work so
far.

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webmaven
I am having trouble modeling a Bootstrapped Freemium to Premium conversion.
Even with generous Freemium growth and a decent conversion rate to Premium I
don't see much revenue growth over time.

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devahaz
happy to look into this with you, this is likely something very simple, feel
free to email me deva@opstarts.com. also, there is going to be a "modeling
freemium" knowledge base article posted today.

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webmaven
I see the freemium _template_ now, it sets things up in a pretty reasonable
way. Thanks!

May I suggest a 'bootstrapped' template as well?

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devahaz
yes, def good suggestion. the templates are right now only sorta useful since
they arent really documented. i'm working on that and should have basic stuff
done this weekend, that'll make them a lot better and we can think about
adding more then.

~~~
webmaven
A feature that seems missing (particularly for bootstrapped startups, but
useful for others too) is using a % of profits or revenue to fund user
acquisition, rather than a $x amount that grows by either Y% or $Y.

OTOH, that would assume that channels don't get saturated, so you'd also need
a ceiling on the max spend for that channel.

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dnsco
We have been using this with our startup, it has helped us to both figure out
our runway, and play around brainstorming new business models. Our investors
were really impressed when we showed them as well.

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hoverbird
Looks promising! I love anything that helps you focus on what you're good at,
which for most startup founders isn't non-technical operations and
forecasting.

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andylash
I'm the developer on Opstarts. I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has
them. I built it using Meteor, which has been really sweet to work with.

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alxdw
Looks (and sounds) like it might be very helpful.

However as I'm in the UK, any chance of currency conversion?

~~~
andylash
Do you actually need currency conversions (in the sense that you deal in
multiple currencies and want to normalize them to one) or do you just want to
be able to use pounds vs dollars and have the numbers like reasonable for a UK
person?

For sure we ultimately want to support the former, but worked on systems that
do this, there's a fair amount of complexity depending on what you really need
to do.

~~~
alxdw
Ideally when international ops come about it'd be helpful to have complete
currency conversion. It's easier to work around than the whole site being
dollar only.

For the time being just being able to use pounds to make the numbers clear for
us over here would be fine though.

edit: sounds like that's the plan from the reply above. looks good :)

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andylash
I just added the currency selector into plan settings. So you can display in
dollars, pounds, or euros now. Intended as a first step.

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iqonik
I clicked 'Join Beta Program' but it doesn't take me anywhere :( - this is
something I would use too.

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andylash
Did you get any message at all? (trying to debug, as it seems to be working).

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johnsonmkj
From the home page, it looks like you have a placeholder href:

<a href="#" class="btn btn-large btn-warning " style="color:#fff;"
target="_blank">Join&nbsp;Beta Program</a>

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devahaz
thanks! broken button in WP theme, replaced for now w/ a link.

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nudicow
This is really great stuff. I wish I had a product like this years ago. Keep
up the good work!

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nadyalev
I've been using them for a couple of months. Love it.

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drkadasp
Love the idea. I'd like to learn more about it.

~~~
devahaz
anything specific you want to know? happy to discuss! Or just check out the
product, then feel free to post in our forums or email info@opstarts.com with
any questions you have.

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dm247
Wow. I am going to sign up for the beta!

