| Thanks for sharing your work. I love your approach to showing relationships inside a spreadsheet. This is definitely a feature that Excel ought to have, which is both good news and bad news for your business. The good news is that you'll probably find willing buyers. The bad news is if you find too many buyers, Microsoft will probably implement something similar in their products, which will put your business at risk. There are a few ways to survive in these situations. One is to keep moving with more products and add-ins. That's basically what Xobni had to do, but it will be exhausting, and I think at some point you'll run out of steam. Another way is to take out patents and hope for a licensing deal or buy-out from Microsoft. A third survival strategy is to have a better product than what Microsoft will inevitably come out with. It's become cliche at this point, but high product quality requires, above all, focus. Microsoft might have more money than you, but if you're willing to focus, you'll actually have more time to think about the product than they'll have to think about their feature. To be honest, I were you guys, I'd pick either the Cloud version or the Excel Add-in and go all in (i.e. dump the other one). Then make that version the absolute best it can be. If you're going to focus on one version or the other, there are a lot of factors to consider, and you guys know the market and technology better than I do. One factor in favor of the Add-in is that you'll be able to charge a single purchase price up-front, which will give you more short-term revenues that will enable you to grow your business without taking (as much) outside investment. Subscription models are great for big companies and VC-funded startups, but they're actually a raw deal for cash-starved, self-funded companies. Anyway, thanks again for sharing. I look forward to seeing where you take Slate! |