Workflow Not Modeling Wins FP&A
Siqi Chen, CEO of Runway, on building browser-based collaborative FP&A
The real wedge in FP&A has been workflow, not thinking. Incumbents win budgets by pulling data from systems like CRM, ERP, and HR tools, then routing budget collection and approvals so finance closes the quarter faster. That is valuable enough to support large contracts, even when product, sales, and engineering still keep their real planning models in separate spreadsheets because the actual work of modeling remains easier there.
-
In practice, many finance teams use platforms like Anaplan for data integrations, workflow, permissions, and consolidation, but still build the forecast itself in spreadsheets and paste results back in. That means the software is system of record for process, but not system of thought for how each function believes the business works.
-
This pattern shows up across the category. Pry focused on replacing ugly budgeting handoffs and spreadsheet reconciliation for startup finance teams. Equals started with connected spreadsheets and later added dashboards because saving analyst time alone was not enough to make executives care. The common thread is that workflow pain is easier to monetize than deep modeling behavior change.
-
The split also explains why the market fragments. Runway is pushing browser native collaborative modeling. Equals is building a connected spreadsheet for analysis and reporting. Vena leans into Excel for teams that already want to stay there. Each strategy reflects the same fact, finance software can sell well without becoming the place where every department actually thinks.
The next battleground is whether any FP&A product can replace the department spreadsheet as the default place where future plans are created, not just collected. If one product becomes fast and intuitive enough for sales, product, and engineering leaders to model directly in it, that product can expand from quarterly workflow software into the operating system for company wide planning.