Who Wants To Help Relaunch VisiCalc — The World’s First Killer App?

Show of hands, how many of you have heard of VisiCalc? Unless you were born before 1970, or you are a study of the history of technology, apps, software or anything geeky, you probably don’t have a clue about VisiCalc. VisiCalc is widely considered the world’s first killer app. Before VisiCalc, businesses didn’t believe they needed personal computers. Crazy right?

So what was it? VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet. Before Google Sheets, before Excel, hell before Lotus 123 there was VisiCalc. In 1978 a guy from HBS saw how inefficient it was for his professor to do complex financial calcs on the chalkboard, so he (Dan Bricklin) got together with a friend (Bob Frankston) and created a solution, VisiCalc.

Unfortunately, lots of competitors quickly appeared and within a few years VisiCalc went the way of MySpace, but the impact it had on the computer revolution was gas on a fire.

I feel that we are now faced with a similar situation, albeit the opposite of Dan & Bob’s in terms of complexity. There are countless times when I’ve needed a SIMPLIFIED way of handling calculations — something fast, visual and shareable. Case in point, wish lists for my daugthers. When I’m out at Target or browsing Amazon or Lego’s website, I need a way to take all the I want thats and store it in a way that I can easily sum up, split up, share it and reference later in a way that I remember what was what. Nothing fancy, nothing complex, just something visual and simple.

Sure there are things like Amazon’s wish list or countless wish list apps, but what about all the other times my wife or I needed a simple way to organize and discuss different budgets, such as remodeling my home office? We need a way we could both clip ideas we love and save them along with their price and source to consider later. Yes there is Pinterest, but when it comes to calculations, Pinterest falls flat.

At this point you’re probably wondering what the heck all these screenshots are and if this is a subtle “launch announcement.” What you are seeing brain food, the beginning of an idea I want to work out. The idea of creating simplified and useful spreadsheets for an Instagram generation.

I ask myself — why does it have to be so complicated to plan a trip, or remodeling our house, or plan a party? Why do we need to use a text-driven spreadsheet to figure out how we should split up the holiday gift list between the grandparents? There has to be an easier way than opening up a spreadsheet, typing in each item and writing out various formulas. There are far more people who role their eyes at Excel then those that cherish it in this world!

I’ve started to give serious thought to tackling this challenge. So much so, that I’ve already purchased the domain Visicalc.com and have been issued the trademark for its use. I do this in honor of what Dan & Bob accomplished and the possibility of what VisiCalc could mean to a new generation.

But the reality is that I need help. This is not the type of endeavor I can embark on alone. A single brain will mess it up, over think it, over architect it. To reintroduce the first ever killer app requires needs to be handled properly, with equal parts creativity and ingenuity.

This is my siren call. If you want to be involved in any way, provide any insight, feedback or contribution, please let me know. I’m truly hopefully we can put together an incredible brain trust to create something revolutionary.