Betting on spreadsheets: Interview with Golden Kitty Winner, Bobby Pinero
Feb 8, 2024
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Bobby Pinero, co-founder of Equals and early Intercom hire, shares his experience in finance and scaling startups. Topics discussed include picking a rocketship to work for, the power and problems with spreadsheets, and how Equals approaches UX and product adoption.
Mobile apps that prioritize user experience and innovation have managed to thrive in a crowded category of the Golden Kitty Awards.
Equals aims to redefine the spreadsheet experience by combining familiar features with the ability to connect and integrate with various data sources.
Deep dives
Mobile Apps in the Golden Kitty Awards
Mobile apps have been an essential category in the Golden Kitty Awards since 2016. The first winner was Tiny Cards, a language learning flashcard app. Other winners include Obsidian and Cron, which was acquired by Notion and relaunched as Notion Calendar. Despite the challenges of standing out in a crowded category, mobile apps that prioritize user experience and innovation have managed to thrive.
The Future of Mobile Apps
The podcast episode discusses two potential platform shifts that could impact mobile app development: new human-computer interaction models with AI and the rise of augmented reality (AR). The speaker highlights that the lessons learned from building mobile apps in the past, along with the establishment of established challenges and solutions, will likely apply to these future platform shifts. The speaker also mentions examples like Microsoft launching Microsoft Office on the Vision Pro, indicating the potential growth and opportunities in the mobile app space.
Heavy: The Award-Winning Workout Logging App
The episode features the winner of the Golden Kitty Award for the best mobile app, Heavy. Heavy is a workout logging app that combines tutorials on proper gym form, an exercise library, progress tracking, and a growing community of passionate gym-goers. It has gained a significant user base with three million users and thousands of reviews on the iOS App Store. The app's success is attributed to its focus on providing a comprehensive and engaging mobile experience for fitness enthusiasts.
Equals: The Next-Generation Spreadsheet
The podcast episode includes an interview with Bobby Panerro, founder of Equals, a next-generation spreadsheet tool. Equals aims to redefine the spreadsheet experience by creating a product that combines the familiar features and flexibility of spreadsheets with the ability to connect and integrate with various data sources. The goal is to empower users, particularly financial analysts and founders at early-stage companies, to easily access, analyze, and share data in a more efficient and intuitive manner. The interview highlights the importance of a product-first approach and the challenges of building a tool that competes with the powerful and entrenched Excel spreadsheet.
Bobby was an early Intercom hire, joining the team at only 20 employees and leading the finance org as the startup scaled from less than $1M ARR to $150M+ and 600 employees.
We talked through his learnings and experience (like how to pick a rocketship to work for), the power and problems with spreadsheets, and how Equals approaches UX and product adoption (while building a new product with such a rich history in an established category).
We're also going over the GKA winner and runner-ups for Best Mobile App of 2023, a community favorite category.
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