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October 11, 2025•15 min read

The Spreadsheet Problem That Refuses to Die (And Why I Keep Solving It)

There are 1.2 billion Excel users worldwide. Every single company has spreadsheet hell—broken formulas, version nightmares, manual data entry. This isn't sexy. But it's infinite TAM and the most sustainable SaaS business you can build. Here's why I keep building spreadsheet tools and why you should too.

"Another spreadsheet tool? Really?"

That's what my co-working buddy said when I told him I was building my fourth product that touches Excel/Google Sheets.

"Yeah," I said. "Another one."

He laughed. "Dude, spreadsheets are boring. Nobody cares about Excel. Build something cool—AI, crypto, whatever."

Six months later:

Here's what he didn't understand: spreadsheet problems are the most sustainable business opportunity in software.

Not because they're exciting. Because they never go away.

The Numbers Nobody Talks About

Let me show you why spreadsheet tools are an infinite goldmine:

1.2 billion people use Microsoft Excel worldwide.

Let that sink in. 1.2 BILLION. That's:

And here's the kicker: every single one of them has a spreadsheet problem.

Not "might have." Not "sometimes has." Has.

If just 0.001% of Excel users have the same problem you solve, that's 12,000 potential customers.

At $10/month each, that's $120,000 MRR.

And you only need to capture 0.001% of the market.

Why Spreadsheet Problems Never Die

I've been building spreadsheet-adjacent tools for 2 years. Every time I think "surely THIS problem has been solved," I find 10,000 people on Reddit complaining about it.

Why do these problems persist?

Reason #1: Excel Is Too Flexible

Excel's greatest strength is also its curse: you can do anything with it.

Which means everyone builds their own custom nightmare:

Every company has unique Excel hell. Which means there's no universal solution.

This is GOOD for indie hackers.

You don't need to solve "Excel problems." You need to solve ONE specific Excel problem for ONE specific type of user.

Reason #2: New Data Formats Keep Emerging

Every few years, a new file format or data source appears:

Every time a new data format appears, someone needs to get it INTO a spreadsheet.

And Excel's native import tools suck. They've always sucked. They'll always suck.

Which means there's ALWAYS an opportunity to build "Get [X] into Excel better."

Reason #3: Companies Outgrow Excel But Can't Leave It

Every startup starts with Excel. Then they grow. And grow. And grow.

And Excel breaks.

But they can't just "switch to a database" because:

So they're stuck in "Excel purgatory"—too big for Excel, too dependent to leave.

This creates massive demand for tools that make Excel less painful without requiring migration to something else.

Reason #4: AI Can't Fix It (Yet)

"But what about AI? Won't ChatGPT replace all this?"

Nope.

AI is great at generating formulas. But it can't:

Spreadsheet problems require deterministic solutions, not probabilistic AI outputs.

You need the same result every time. AI gives you 95% accuracy. That's not good enough for financial reports.

The 7 Evergreen Spreadsheet Problems

After building 4 spreadsheet tools and talking to hundreds of users, I've identified 7 categories of problems that will NEVER be fully solved:

Problem #1: Getting Data INTO Excel

The pain: Data exists somewhere (PDF, website, API, database) and needs to be in a spreadsheet.

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: New data sources appear constantly. You can build "X to Excel" for any X.

Problem #2: Cleaning Messy Data

The pain: Data arrives messy—extra spaces, duplicates, inconsistent formatting, merged cells.

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: Data will ALWAYS be messy. Humans will ALWAYS make mistakes. This is physics.

Problem #3: Collaboration Nightmares

The pain: Multiple people need to work on the same spreadsheet. Version chaos ensues.

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: Real-time collaboration is technically hard. Most solutions over-complicate it.

Problem #4: Automation & Repetitive Tasks

The pain: Same task every day/week/month—copy data, run report, email to team, repeat.

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: Every company has unique workflows. Generic automation can't handle edge cases.

Problem #5: Getting Data OUT OF Excel

The pain: Data is in Excel but needs to go somewhere else (database, API, another tool).

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: Every SaaS app needs to accept data. Excel is how users have their data.

Problem #6: Complex Formula & Debugging

The pain: Formulas break. Nobody knows why. The person who built it quit 2 years ago.

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: Formulas get more complex over time. Old formulas are technical debt.

Problem #7: Security & Compliance

The pain: Sensitive data in spreadsheets, no way to control access, audit trail, or prevent leaks.

Current solutions suck because:

Winning products:

Why it's sustainable: Regulations get stricter. Spreadsheets get more sensitive data.

Why Spreadsheet Tools Have Better Economics Than Other SaaS

Beyond the massive TAM, spreadsheet tools have incredible business fundamentals:

1. High Willingness to Pay

When someone's stuck spending 4 hours/week on a repetitive Excel task, they'll HAPPILY pay $20/month to make it go away.

Why? Because time is money:

The ROI is so obvious, they don't even need to ask their boss.

2. Low Churn

Once someone integrates your tool into their workflow, they're sticky.

My PDF extractor has 4.2% monthly churn.

Why so low?

Compare this to B2C apps with 15-25% monthly churn.

3. Easy Customer Acquisition

People Google their exact problem:

This is HIGH-INTENT search traffic. They have the problem RIGHT NOW.

80% of my traffic is organic search. I spend $0 on ads.

4. Compounding Distribution

One person in a company adopts your tool. They tell their colleague. Then another team starts using it.

Before you know it, 15 people from the same company are paying separately (or they ask for a team plan).

This is how you grow 15%/month without marketing.

5. Recession-Proof

During economic downturns, companies CUT spending on:

But they DON'T cut tools that save time on manual work.

Why? Because layoffs make the remaining employees busier. They NEED productivity tools more than ever.

My 4 Spreadsheet Tools: A Case Study

Let me show you exactly how I've monetized spreadsheet problems:

Tool #1: PDF Table Extractor

Problem solved: Extracting tables from PDF reports to Excel

Target user: Accountants, financial analysts, anyone dealing with PDF reports

How it works:

  1. Upload PDF
  2. AI identifies tables
  3. Download as Excel/CSV

Pricing: $10/month (100 PDFs), $30/month (unlimited)

Metrics:

Why it works: PDFs with tables are EVERYWHERE. Government reports, bank statements, vendor invoices, research papers. People try to copy-paste, it breaks, they Google, they find me.

Tool #2: CSV Data Cleaner

Problem solved: Cleaning messy CSV files (remove duplicates, fix formatting, trim spaces)

Target user: Data analysts, operations teams, anyone importing data

How it works:

  1. Upload messy CSV
  2. Select cleaning operations
  3. Download clean file

Pricing: $10/month

Metrics:

Why it works: Everyone who works with data has this problem weekly. Quick ROI calculation convinces them.

Tool #3: Spreadsheet Merger

Problem solved: Combining multiple Excel/CSV files into one

Target user: Finance teams, sales ops, anyone managing reports from multiple sources

How it works:

  1. Upload multiple files
  2. Map columns
  3. Download merged file

Pricing: $15/month

Metrics:

Why it works: Businesses run reports from multiple systems. Combining them manually is hell. This saves hours every month.

Tool #4: Excel Formula Explainer

Problem solved: Explaining complex Excel formulas in plain English

Target user: Anyone who inherited a complex spreadsheet

How it works:

  1. Paste formula
  2. Get step-by-step explanation
  3. See what each part does

Pricing: $7/month

Metrics:

Why it works: CFO quits. New CFO inherits nightmare budget model with nested formulas. They need help NOW. This solves that.

Combined totals:

The Playbook: How to Build Your Spreadsheet Tool

Want to tap into this market? Here's my exact process:

Step 1: Find a Specific Pain Point

Don't build "Excel helper tool."

Build:

The more specific, the better.

Step 2: Validate With Google Search Volume

Use tools like:

Look for:

Step 3: Check Reddit & Forums

Search subreddits:

Look for repeated complaints. If 10+ people have the same problem in the past month, it's real.

Step 4: Build Simple MVP (2-3 Weeks)

Your MVP needs:

That's it. No:

Step 5: SEO-First Launch

Write 3-5 blog posts targeting your keywords:

Include clear CTA: "Or use [YourTool] to do this in 30 seconds."

Step 6: Focus on Organic Growth

Spreadsheet tool users search Google. So:

This compounds over time. My PDF tool took 4 months to get first 1K visitors/month from search. Now it's self-sustaining.

Common Objections (And Why They're Wrong)

"But Microsoft already solves this."

Microsoft builds for the 80%. You build for the 20%.

Example: Excel can convert PDFs. But it's clunky, buried in menus, and breaks formatting. My tool does it better for a specific use case.

"Won't AI replace all this?"

AI will make some spreadsheet tasks easier. But it creates NEW problems:

Every new technology creates new data problems.

"The market is too saturated."

Show me a spreadsheet problem that's FULLY solved. I'll wait.

Even "solved" problems have room for:

"This sounds boring."

Good. Boring = low competition.

Everyone wants to build the next Notion. Nobody wants to build "PDF table extractor."

Which means PDF table extractor has way less competition and way more willingness to pay.

The Future: More Spreadsheet Problems, Not Less

Here's what people don't realize: spreadsheet problems are INCREASING, not decreasing.

Why?

1. More Data Sources

Every new SaaS tool exports to CSV/Excel. More tools = more spreadsheet integration needed.

2. Remote Work

Distributed teams = more spreadsheet collaboration issues.

3. No-Code Movement

Non-technical people building their own solutions = more spreadsheet hacks = more tools needed.

4. AI Outputs

AI generates data. That data needs to go somewhere. Often: spreadsheets.

5. Regulatory Complexity

More compliance requirements = more reporting = more spreadsheets.

The spreadsheet problem isn't going away. It's EXPANDING.

Your Opportunity: The Spreadsheet Gold Rush

Here are 10 spreadsheet tool ideas that DON'T exist yet (or suck):

  1. Spreadsheet Diff Tool - Compare two versions, highlight changes visually
  2. Formula Dependency Visualizer - Show which cells depend on which (graph visualization)
  3. Spreadsheet Password Recovery - Unlock protected sheets (legally)
  4. Excel to Database Migration - Automatically create database schema from Excel structure
  5. Conditional Formatting Builder - Visual interface to build complex rules
  6. Spreadsheet Performance Optimizer - Identify slow formulas, suggest fixes
  7. Team Spreadsheet Audit Log - Track who changed what, when (for compliance)
  8. Excel Macro Converter - Convert VBA macros to Python/JavaScript
  9. Spreadsheet Data Validator - Check for errors, inconsistencies, outliers
  10. Multi-Currency Converter - Real-time exchange rates in your spreadsheet

Any of these could be a $1-10K MRR business.

The Takeaway: Boring Problems Pay Better

Everyone wants to build the next viral AI app or crypto platform.

Meanwhile, 1.2 billion people are fighting with Excel every single day.

They have real problems. They have budgets. They're searching Google RIGHT NOW for solutions.

This isn't glamorous. You won't get TechCrunch coverage. VCs won't chase you.

But you will:

So go build your spreadsheet tool.

The world needs it more than another AI chatbot.

P.S. - If you're thinking "this is too simple to work"—that's exactly why it works. Simple problems + simple solutions = simple revenue. And there's nothing simple about making $3K+/month while you sleep.

Go solve a spreadsheet problem. You'll thank me in 6 months.