Don Mal: Vena differentiated by embracing Excel rather than replacing it
Don Mal · They hit $100M ARR—in a "crowded market". Here's how they got to $1M ARR in just 18 months. | Don... · PMF Show · Sep 3, 2024 · at 3:37
Don Mal, co-founder and former CEO of Vena, explains how Vena designed its budgeting and planning software around Microsoft Excel to stand out against incumbent competitors.
“All of the vendors were replacing Microsoft Excel as the tool that most companies use for budgeting and planning. We actually embraced Microsoft Excel as the grid technology in our software, so we kept people in a very familiar environment, and you know, we used to joke that we were disrupting the disruptors, because everyone was replacing Excel, We went back and embraced Excel and brought a solution to market that everyone was familiar with already working in Excel.”
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