How Did this Founder Turned a Spreadsheet Template into a Profitable Business?

Part of being an entrepreneur is you have to get your numbers right. Often times this leads to frustration unless you have a background in accounting. This entrepreneur managed to turn his spreadsheet templates side hustle into a growing profitable business! Adam Hoeksema and his brother in their home state of Indiana, build up a web application designed for founders and entrepreneurs to help create financial projections. This can be used for better business plans, lenders, and investors. We chatted with Adam to learn more about his experience while

WORK

Describe what you do in 140 characters or less.
We help entrepreneurs create financial projections for investors, lenders or internal business planning.

What was the inspiration behind ProjectionHub?
In 2012, I was managing a small business loan program and we often asked our clients to provide financial projections. That spring when I was working on my personal taxes with TurboTax I had the lightbulb moment, “why isn’t there a TurboTax like solution for creating financial projections?” Our clients were often intimidated by complex spreadsheets, so I figured that there had to be an easier way.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?
Our biggest challenge was finding product market fit. We tried to force our software solution for years because we wanted to build a recurring revenue SaaS business – everyone wants that monthly recurring revenue! But it turns out that financial projections are something that you need at a particular point in time when raising capital from lenders, investors, or perhaps annual business planning, projection software is not something you need every single month. Once we finally understood this, we were able to focus the business on providing one-time services and templates that customers wanted and were willing to pay for.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

My advice is always, just get started! I have learned so much more by doing and failing than by thinking, planning, researching, etc. If you are thinking about starting a business, I encourage you to just go for it!

PLAY

Who’s one person you think everyone should follow on social media?

Pomp – @APompliano (Twitter) is a content machine. He produces tons of great business and investing content, business news, plus I enjoy following him to see how he has grown his business empire.

Favourite Sport?

Favorite Sport to Watch – NFL Football
Favorite Sport to Play – Soccer

Go to karaoke song?

I have 3 young boys, so the only songs I know are from the Polar Express and Encanto sound tracks!

How do you relax?

I live out in the country and have a large vegetable garden that I love to work in to relax. There is something really rewarding about planting a seed and watching it grow to produce something of value. I think it is why I love building startups!

Favourite quote?

Peter Thiel – “Monopoly is the condition of every successful business.” I like this quote because it has helped me to realize that I shouldn’t be looking for competition in my business. The ideal state is to monopolize a market which has informed how I focus the direction of our company. I am looking to avoid heavily competitive markets.