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

[refrigerator]

Hi HN, I'm the co-founder/CEO of Causal. We just announced our acquisition: https://www.causal.app/blog/causal-joins-the-lucanet-group

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the HN community —

Everything started with this post from over 5 years ago [1] which gave me and Lukas (CTO) enough conviction to quit our jobs to work on Causal full-time.

A few months later we launched an Excel sensitivity tool [2]. In 2022 we shared how we scaled our calculation engine to billions of cells [3] and a few months ago we had a successful Show HN of Causal 2.0 [4]

The product is now used by 100s of startups (many YC companies) and we're excited for this next phase of growth within Lucanet :)

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19704418

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21625974

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32000400

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39755858

[bittermandel]

Huge news, congratulations!

I was building something similar back during COVID, as LTSE's Runway stopped being improve, Summit (usesummit.com) pivoted to being a no-code tool and Obvious (YC S21 perhaps?) shut down.

Instead of building it myself, I found and have been using Causal actively since April 2021 and advocating for it ever since, using it heavily for my latest three ventures and just last month for personal use. It's so far one of my favorite products to use, on level with Linear in terms of quality!

I'm not a commercial user and might never be, but it has been invaluable for me in my commercial and personal uses for budgeting and forecasting.

Hope you can fit in great at Lucanet, and try your best to keep the free model available!

[refrigerator → bittermandel]

That’s awesome! Thanks for using Causal and really glad you like it.

Nothing will change for existing users so you can keep using it for sure :)

[not_your_vase]

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?

[refrigerator → not_your_vase]

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

Not a massive outcome by VC standards, but still a win for us, our team, our customers, our product, and our early investors, and not the end of the journey yet!

[averageRoyalty → refrigerator]

> 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.

[mritchie712 → averageRoyalty]

I think they meant the middle ground of an exit that is:

1. small by vc standard

2. still life changing for founders & employees

[obeavs]

If you did it again, would you use AG-Grid, or would seek to own the table with something like Tanstack Table?

[Lukas1994 → obeavs]

We bet quite early on AG-Grid and it got us very far. We’ve probably built one of the most customised AG-Grid tables out there.

I haven’t checked out Tanstack table much but given that it’s such a core component of the product I would like to build our own eventually. Doing that when you start out is probably not worth it though.

[karimdaghari → obeavs]

Not op but having been in a situation where I was facing the choice between ag-grid and Tanstack Table, I'd say, without hesitation : Tanstack Table. What you may "lose" in advanced features, you gain in flexibility!

[sails]

Congrats!

Do you think the US flip made a meaningful difference (presuming you did it for US customer/investor access)? Lucanet is EU, so maybe it complicated it in the end

[Lukas1994 → sails]

It did make the acquisition process a bit more difficult + US lawyers are more expensive than UK/German lawyers. It's still worth it IMO given how much easier fundraising gets.

[refrigerator → sails]

We started as a US company in 2019 to make fundraising easier, and I think this did have a material impact. It's operationally quite annoying, but chances are that we would have had to do it eventually, to efficiently employ US people without paying Deel extortionate fees

[sirobg]

Congrats! Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42004769

[nubela]

Did you pursue the acquisition? Or better phrased, was the company sold by you, or was it bought by Lucanet?

[refrigerator → nubela]

Lucanet approached us a few months ago, we were open to taking a couple of meetings to learn more, and they sold us on the acquisition pretty well

[ryanisnan]

Hey Taimur! Great job on the acquisition. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.

[refrigerator → ryanisnan]

Thanks man!

[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

[refrigerator → monissiddiqui]

Thanks man!

[swyx]

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

[refrigerator → swyx]

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 to become a truly horizontal tool as traction and awareness compound. (This is the path we were going for)

Lots of spreadsheet type products have tried to stay very horizontal from the beginning and end up trying to boil the ocean, or ended up focusing on a dead-end use-case that isn’t valuable enough to reach that escape velocity.

[swyx → refrigerator]

> 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)

[refrigerator → swyx]

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

[kstrauser]

Way to go! Congratulations and nicely done!

[refrigerator → kstrauser]

Thank you!

[unit149]

Congratulations on the merger. This is not a percentage-based commissary in the marketplace of ideas. Hope to see further uses of the "multidimensional spreadsheet." It sticks out at you in every axis.

[djbusby → unit149]

6DoF Data?

[thallavajhula]

Hope this turns out to be a great exit for y'all! Congratulations!

[refrigerator → thallavajhula]

Thanks!

[nextcaller]

You announce these big news so causally. Grats for collaborating with "Last Universal Common Ancestor".

[dang]

Macroexpanded:

Show HN: Causal 2.0 – Modern Financial Planning for Startups - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39755858 - March 2024 (71 comments)

Scaling our spreadsheet engine from thousands to billions of cells - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32000400 - July 2022 (109 comments)

Show HN: Excel Sensitivity Analysis Tool - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21625974 - Nov 2019 (30 comments)

Show HN: Should you buy a house and rent it out? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19704418 - April 2019 (243 comments)

[Lukas1994 → dang]

Thanks @dang!

[orliesaurus]

How much did you make?

[refrigerator → orliesaurus]

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)

[oldpersonintx → refrigerator]

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

[tptacek → orliesaurus]

Please don't do this stuff here.

[orliesaurus → tptacek]

Can you clarify?

[carbonrider]

Congratulations causal team!!!

[obeavs]

Nice work! What was the hardest technological part about building the product?

[Cshelton]

Oh wow, congrats! I remember when you first launched this and followed you along on X (Twitter).

[refrigerator → Cshelton]

Ah awesome, thanks!!

[ridiculous_leke]

Congratulations! Were you default alive prior to the acquisition?

[Lukas1994 → ridiculous_leke]

With our current growth rate and no additional hiring we would’ve been profitable in less than 12 months :)

[999900000999]

Congrats!

Acquihired or IP sell( with enough money for retirement I hope) ?

[refrigerator → 999900000999]

Product acquisition, we’ll be continuing to grow Causal at Lucanet, lots of potential to cross-sell into their existing customer base :)

[999900000999 → refrigerator]

Do you plan on staying with the company?

I think if I ever hit a real payday I'm done working.

[refrigerator → 999900000999]

Yup we’re sticking around and leading the Causal business unit within Lucanet

[barrrrald]

Congrats Taimur!

[refrigerator → barrrrald]

Thanks!

[financetechbro]

Congratulations and good luck on this next chapter!

[refrigerator → financetechbro]

Thank you!

[tdeck]

Congrats! Happy to join you on your incredible journey!

[refrigerator → tdeck]

Thank you!

[nwhnwh]

What is good about getting acquired?

[dimkorf → nwhnwh]

$$$ It’s an exit strategy.