Vertical FP&A as Operating System
Taimur Abdaal, CEO of Causal, on the primitives of financial modelling
This category wins when finance becomes a company wide operating system, not just a budgeting tool. Mosaic and Pigment package the repeatable jobs of FP&A, pulling data from systems like NetSuite, Salesforce, HRIS tools, and warehouses, then giving finance teams ready made workflows for headcount planning, revenue planning, reporting, and budget reviews. That makes them easier to adopt than raw spreadsheets, but less open ended than a general modeling tool.
-
Mosaic is built for SMB and mid market finance teams, with modules for expense planning, revenue planning, headcount planning, reporting, and cash flow forecasting. In practice, this means a finance team can map actuals from ERP and other systems into one planning model, then run monthly budget versus actual workflows without rebuilding spreadsheets.
-
Pigment pushes the same vertical logic further into broader business planning. Its materials position the product across finance, HR, sales, and supply chain, and customer stories highlight revenue planning, headcount planning, OPEX planning, and target setting. The core pitch is a flexible planning model, but still inside a planning first workflow, not a blank canvas for any numeric problem.
-
The market has been converging around these structured finance workflows. Mosaic agreed to be acquired by HiBob in February 2025 to connect FP&A with HR and workforce planning more tightly. That is a useful signal that vertical FP&A tools create the most value when they sit close to payroll, org design, and hiring plans, where finance decisions turn into operating decisions.
Going forward, vertical FP&A tools are likely to keep moving upstream from finance into workforce and operating planning. The winners will be the products that can keep finance's monthly planning loop simple, while also giving department leaders enough structure to submit plans, review tradeoffs, and update forecasts without going back to spreadsheets.