I think thousands of startups are accidentally building internal SaaS... in Excel.
Most founders don't wake up thinking, "I'm going to build an ERP."
It just happens.
A spreadsheet for orders becomes another for inventory.
Then purchasing.
Then invoicing.
Then customer management.
Before long, you've built your own operating system.
What's interesting is that AI is making it much easier to turn those internal Excel tools into actual web applications without starting from scratch.
I recently tested this by converting an Excel ERP into a browser based app in a surprisingly short amount of time. It wasn't perfect, but it was a much better starting point than I expected.
Has anyone else here turned an internal spreadsheet into an actual product or web app?
For anyone interested, here's the full walkthrough:
https://www.excelforfreelancers.com/ultimate-erp-indie-hackers-community
Really well put. I have seen the same pattern at half a dozen startups. Every department builds their own spreadsheet system, and then nobody can figure out why data never matches up between finance and ops.
The interesting shift I am watching is that once you turn those spreadsheets into web apps, the real bottleneck moves from building the tool to connecting the tools. Handoffs between systems become the hidden time sink.
Did you run into any connection issues between modules after the conversion, or did everything stay under one roof?