As the former president of Sandbox VR, a brick-and-mortar VR experience franchise, Siqi Chen had always been more interested in product and engineering than finance. However, after numerous frustrating experiences with Excel spreadsheets, he felt compelled to create an alternative that would make financial modeling, planning, and reporting easier for high-growth tech companies.
The Birth of Runway
In his own words, Chen told TechCrunch in an email interview: "I’ve always thought it was something for ‘real business people’ and I could just go and do what I enjoyed, which is product and engineering. This is the state of the world for most founders today." But after struggling with spreadsheets for too long, Chen decided to take matters into his own hands and create a platform that would revolutionize financial management.
Introducing Runway
Runway is a strategic management platform designed specifically for modern high-growth technology companies. According to Chen, it gives teams a "clear and joyful god’s-eye view of their entire business, from finance to HR, sales, marketing, product, and growth – enabling them to make better business decisions faster."
How Runway Works
The platform connects to existing accounting tools, data warehouses, and human resources information systems. This allows customers to write formulas and create models that can be incorporated into business plans and scenarios (e.g., a pay bump, hiring new people or increasing marketing spend). With the reporting component, users can build dashboards with live charts, tables, text, and even video and content from the web.
Meanwhile, Runway’s AI "copilot" allows customers to create scenarios by typing a prompt and letting the system generate business plans based on a model and live data from connected business apps. Chen believes that this feature enables teams to feel more confident about their business because it helps them save time, understand the business and the impact of decisions more clearly, and gives everyone better context so they can execute faster.
Making Business More Accessible
Chen asserts that making the business more accessible to folks outside of finance helps companies create context over control, giving them a huge competitive advantage. This is especially true in today’s fast-paced tech industry where speed and agility are essential for success.
Runway vs. Other Platforms
While Runway may accomplish all that it promises, there are other platforms that offer similar services. For instance, Dougs handles a company’s financial statements and generates certified tax filings, connecting bank accounts so that the platform can automatically generate reports and invoices. Similarly, Firmbase offers a financial planning and analysis platform for startups.
Additionally, Pigment and Mosaic are other rivals in the market. However, Runway seems to be doing well despite the competition, with customers including Superhuman, Stability AI, and Chen’s old stomping ground, Sandbox VR.
Partnership with Rippling
Runway has formed a close partnership with Rippling, which enables qualified customers to have priority access. This allows employee data, payroll, headcount expenses, and hiring plans to be integrated seamlessly into the platform. Chen believes that this integration is a game-changer for high-growth tech companies.
Funding and Future Plans
While details about funding are scarce, it’s clear that Runway has attracted significant investment from various sources. As for future plans, Chen remains tight-lipped but hints at further expansion into new markets and industries.
Conclusion
Siqi Chen’s creation of Runway is a testament to his determination to simplify financial modeling for high-growth tech companies. By making business more accessible and providing teams with a clear and joyful view of their entire business, Runway has the potential to revolutionize the way companies manage their finances.
With its cutting-edge AI "copilot" feature and seamless integration with existing accounting tools and HR systems, Runway is poised to take on the competition in the market. As Chen continues to expand his platform into new markets and industries, one thing is certain: the future of financial management has arrived.
