It's not that you can't. You can use vim for your accounting if you want.
But these tools save you time for a tiny amount of money. You don't need something expensive, any startup should be able to afford $10/mo for Xero ( https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/ ).
Unrelated, but on a different thread you mentioned you'd be interested in hiring for your health tech startup. I've gone ahead and removed that thread as I'd gotten the advice I needed, but I'd still love to chat. Thanks.
You could also use memorandum, journal, and ledger books, just as Pacioli taught in 1494, but why waste your limited time and attention on a problem for which you have a choice of good, off-the-shelf solutions at modest prices? (Think QuickBooks, not SAP.)
As your startup grows, you’ll engage an accountant and hire a bookkeeper or business manager, who will expect to work in the traditional accounting cycle. You’ll also need to produce the usual reports and financial statements for your bankers, investors, or a potential acquirer’s due diligence team.
Using software designed for the purpose makes all this easier and more reliable. It also conveys that your company is serious about its business: investors want to take a risk on your technology, market, and execution, not on whether your homebrew accounting system can generate an accurate cash flow statement.
Because you have a tonne of work to do to make your startup succesfull and dedicating time to re-inventing a wheel will detract you from it.
It also means you waste future-you's time too. For example when you want to integrate apps into your books (sheets is not reliable at scale), when you want to train a junior accountant to look after your books. When you want have to send a copy of financial statements to banks/tax-offices/investors whatever and they are used to a particular format.
11 comments
[ 5.4 ms ] story [ 40.0 ms ] threadBut these tools save you time for a tiny amount of money. You don't need something expensive, any startup should be able to afford $10/mo for Xero ( https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/ ).
I hate to be that guy, but Emacs org-mode has (un)surprisingly lots of spreadsheet features: https://orgmode.org/manual/The-Spreadsheet.html
As your startup grows, you’ll engage an accountant and hire a bookkeeper or business manager, who will expect to work in the traditional accounting cycle. You’ll also need to produce the usual reports and financial statements for your bankers, investors, or a potential acquirer’s due diligence team.
Using software designed for the purpose makes all this easier and more reliable. It also conveys that your company is serious about its business: investors want to take a risk on your technology, market, and execution, not on whether your homebrew accounting system can generate an accurate cash flow statement.
It also means you waste future-you's time too. For example when you want to integrate apps into your books (sheets is not reliable at scale), when you want to train a junior accountant to look after your books. When you want have to send a copy of financial statements to banks/tax-offices/investors whatever and they are used to a particular format.