Introducing Layer…

…or why we do what we do.

The Prevalence of Spreadsheets 🪐

The world’s businesses are running on spreadsheets — still. Like no other application spreadsheets have been used as a general-purpose tool around the globe to implement software solutions. Software solutions? Yes, software solutions. Spreadsheets are not only used for simple data storing but manifold calculations, data operations, fully-fledged data processing applications and complex workflows.

While there have been some areas in which spreadsheets made room for dedicated tools that created entirely new categories (think Salesforce creating the CRM space) they are still the backbone of almost all organisations in the world and we believe that they will be here to stay — alive and kicking. Why? Because they tie together a number of benefits that are simply very tough to replicate.

If I send you a spreadsheet, I expect you are able to open it, view it, work with it. Everybody knows how to use them. That and the unrivalled level of penetration won’t die overnight. Spreadsheets are cheap and flexible like no other tool. In the end, people are constantly reverting back to them because they just get the work done. Spreadsheets are the single standard interface which everyone knows how to communicate their quantitative thoughts through.

Making it Work is Hard Work 👩‍🏭

What is true, however, is that spreadsheets have been struggling in the past to keep up with technological advancements and the ever-changing way of how we work. Microsoft Excel is best used either for single users or in a-synchronous tasks because it doesn’t sit on a modern web stack which makes collaboration hard. At the same time, Google Sheets lack processing power and the flipside to great web editing capabilities is a loss of control. Access management for both is far from perfect (you can only share entire files), versioning needs to be built out (think track changes across Excel and Google Sheets, on a cell level, on a user level, formula auditing, etc…) and communication is often chaotic (email threads without context, commenting chaos, deleted comments, etc…) As a result, neither Excel nor Google Sheet properly supports workflows, permission hierarchies and modern communication which leads to bad collaboration, poor productivity and costly errors. Even though almost anything can be done, making work is hard work.

Our Vision 👀

We believe that instead of trying to replace spreadsheets, the more obvious opportunity lies in bridging the gap between spreadsheets and sophisticated software to have the best of both worlds. A common platform with more computational powers.

Our vision: The best way for any business to work with spreadsheets

How do we deliver this?

Non-Invasive by Design. 🩹
Keep working in your Excel and Google Sheets. The Layer platform can be used by simply uploading a file. No need to learn a new proprietary syntax or tool. We merely provide a layer on top that adds features you won’t find in Excel or Google Sheets. Layer can be set up and used within seconds. No need to install anything, no plugins, nothing. As a matter of fact, your colleagues don’t even need to create an account if you want to involve them in a workflow. Even if you need to collect data from 50 people only you need one account. Lastly, Layer is the only tool that seamlessly connects between Excel and Google Sheets.

Full Flexibility 🕹
With Layer you can easily build any data sharing, collection, consolidation and review workflow and that’s quite a few use cases — most actually. Be it simple sales data-gathering or complex budgeting cycles with multiple spreadsheets and dozens of stakeholders. Layer allows you to leverage all of the flexibility inherent in spreadsheets.

Everything in One Place 🗃
To make our users more productive, we aim to reduce the amount of distraction and time spent switching between tools. Today you need to manage multiple systems to handle spreadsheet processes (Email, Calendar, File hosting app, local disk, etc..) which is something Layer renders obsolete because all you need is stored centrally in one tool.

Now go to https://golayer.io/ sign up, see for yourself and let’s go 🚀🚀🚀