Last year marked the end of my Excel era,
the last budget I’ll ever build that way.
Excel got us started. But it can’t take us where we need to go next.
For years, I lived in spreadsheets.
- As a CRO, I tracked KPIs, forecasts, and budgets across endless tabs.
- As a CEO, it only got more complex, P&L, cash flow, scenario modeling.
One broken formula could throw off a board deck or investor update.
That’s when I realized: spreadsheets aren’t strategy, they’re survival. Start-ups don’t need more spreadsheets, they need clarity
Most start-ups begin in Excel. It works when you’re solo and managing everything yourself. But it quickly becomes a maze, disconnected budgets, version chaos, and KPIs that no one fully trusts as you grow. The problem isn’t effort (read hours in Excel), It’s clarity. Without a clear framework, teams end up reacting instead of steering.
That’s why we built The Norriva Budget & KPI application (part of the Norriva GTM platform) to help start-ups get it right from the start.
Structure, clarity, and insight from day one
With Norriva, teams can:
- Build budgets and forecasts in one shared workspace.
- Use pre-defined KPI dashboards to know what to track, across leadership, board meetings, sales, marketing, and customer success.
- Simulate scenarios, new funding, hiring plans, shifts cost, before making a move.
- Spot abnormalities and align decisions early, not after the fact.
No broken links. No scattered sheets. Just a clear foundation for growth.
From chaos to clarity
The biggest benefit isn’t just automation, it’s alignment and adaptability. When your team, investors, and data live in one place, you can see changes early, respond faster, and make better decisions. You’re not cleaning up after growth, you’re adapting in real time and scaling with confidence.
If you’re still building your budgets in Excel, I get it, I’ve been there. But if you want to build your company on structure, not spreadsheets, it’s time for a better way. The Norriva way….This is how modern start-ups grow.
Image source: Photo by NIMA SHAYESTEH on Unsplash