Startups Stack Exchange Archive

How can I exploit a data analysis hack

I created a pivot chart in excel that allows me to analyze public data relative to a personal opinion.

The chart and data are not complicated -it took me a day to create- but it turns out that the insight gained is formidable.

I am wondering if anyone can see a method by which one could exploit a very useful piovt chart.

Although it was relatively easy to design, most people would not make the effort, but most would find it useful.

Can something as ubiquitous as a excel pivot chart be used a foundation for a business?

If so how might I want to think about this?

Answer 13726

I’m doing something similar - finding out how to make money from something useful in Excel. My steps are as follows:

  1. List a lot of small businesses who would benefit from what you’ve created.
  2. Narrow down those businesses to ones that
    • Would benefit the most.
    • Probably don’t set up fancy Excel solutions themselves.
  3. Meet with friends or relatives who are in that business.
    • Offer to give them the pivot table for free, in exchange for their business advice.
    • Ask them how useful your pivot table would be.
    • Ask them about any suggestions for improvements, or for similar pivot tables that their business would find valuable.
    • Ask them how much they would realistically pay a stranger, if the stranger offered it to them. (I’m personally going to try to get a monthly license fee, rather than a flat fee. The tricky thing is how to prevent people from using it if they haven’t paid their license fee for the month. I’m still working on that….)
    • Ask them for referrals - friends & colleagues of theirs in the same business who could use the pivot table.
    • Ask them about groups they are a part of, or blogs & websites they visit, where you could advertise your pivot table.

Answer 13739

There are a lot of solutions that are available in other platforms, but with a particular difference : the focus of the product.

Excel, PowerPoint and even Word are extremely powerful tools that help you doing different activities, and that’s how they work: they are designed to help you in a lot of activities; that comes with a problem, the system becomes too complicated to help me in my very specific activity and gives me a lot of things that i won’t need… and this intimidates the user.

so, if you have an idea of something that can be built in a current system and it can actually transform into a solution, then you might have found a new system.

The next step is how to create your personalized tool that will provide that specific solution you want to bring in an easier and simpler way than the current ones in the market.

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