The finance software stack for startup operators

Despite renewed focus on the Finance OS for Strategic Finance folks, I haven't seen an honest guide to how to build the startup finance software for operators.

Here's my over-engineered take on the finance software stack. Strong opinions, weakly held & open to feedback.

Finance OS

Use: Excel at first since it's simples & finance top-down to start. As process expands, use @gopigment or @heyequals

Avoid: Any app that abstracts away from spreadsheets. We've used tables / spreadsheets for finance long before Excel - don't fight it. NGMI

Banking / Treasury

Use: Use @Mercury as core operating account with @getvesto or @meow for high-yield cash management

Avoid: Non-tech optimized bank accounts (e.g. your local credit union or relationship bank). Lowered efficiency not worth minor benefits to pricing

Accounting ERP

Use: Just go with @Quickbooks Online (QBO) - it'll work until you're pre-IPO and move to @NetSuite.

Avoid: Don't cheap out on @sagegroupplc. Don't let your bookkeeper work off their own instance of QBO or specialized software. Don't rely on Excel.

Corporate Credit Cards

Use: Go with @tryramp, @brexHQ or @navan for seamless corporate cards w/ virtual cards, cashback, virtual cards, Slack integration etc.

Avoid: Any solution w/o tech features. High cash back from tradfi bank not worth it if you can't maximize spend

Expenses / Accounts Payable

Use: I've heard good things about @tryramp, @Spendesk and @Navan. Ideally combine w/ corp card so all spend tracked in one place.

Avoid: I've never had a good experience w/ @billcom. Do not use @quickbooks (QBO) for AP

SaaS Billing

Use: Set this up ASAP if you plan to charge for your service. I've heard @stripe and @WeAreMaxio are established but @useOrb seems interesting

Avoid: Don't build this in-house or you'll have a bad time. Homegrown solutions suck and are a pain to migrate.

Payroll

Use: @Rippling is great w/ good IT integration or @deel for global payroll. I think @gustohq is fine for smaller startups. Integrations are key.

Avoid: @HiBob_HR, @justworks, @namelyHR or @Paylocity. Maybe easy integration but not great reporting and bad UX

Equity

Use: @pulley has great references & @AngelList Stack is really coming up. Look for good payroll integrations and reporting

Avoid: Hate to pile on but @cartainc hasn't changed up cap tables materially since 2015 (lost focus). Support is terribad & it's expensive.

Analytics

Use: Analytics is in finance scope b/c data is integral. Use @lookerhq if you're data-savvy or @tableau or @MSPowerBI for dead-simple dashboarding

Avoid: direct SQL queries or open-source Superset / DBeaver. Make data accessible to all w/ one source of truth.

Contracts / Legal

Use: I'd set this up first thing if I could do it again - so necessary. Heard @pandadoc & @Contractbook are good but AI needs to disrupt this

Avoid: @ironclad_inc, @linksquares @evisort all overhyped and their contract databases are a joke

Bonus: Supercharged Excel / Sheets

Use: Get @macabacus for Excel to get essential formulas / formatting to increase productivity and @SheetWhiz to get all your shortcuts back in Google Sheets

Avoid: Anything that tries to over-engineer / abstract away this stuff