BizSpark Startup of the Day - Calcbench

The BizSpark startup of the day is Calcbench, a DogPatch Labs startup based in the US. Below you will find an interview with Alex Rapp and Pranav Ghai, co-founders of Calcbench. All the best to them and congratulations for being the startup of the day!

Website: www.calcbench.com/

Tell us who you are and your role in the company:

Co-founders.

What did you do before creating your company?

We worked at a variety of roles at a few hedge funds and investment companies.

How do you feel being the most promising ‘Startup of the Day’ per Microsoft BizSpark?

Honored and excited.  Also a little hungry. 

What is your company’s mission?

To provide a platform for analyzing and sharing insights into corporate financial information that was previously available only to large financial institutions.

In 140 characters or less, tell us what your company does:   

A free online platform to retrieve, analyze and share public financial data. The quickest and easiest way to work with SEC filing data.

How did you get the idea for your company?  

We merged our previous experiences and asked ourselves if we were building something from scratch, how would we envision a better platform?   We also found a more than willing partner in XBRL-US.

Tell us about your funding history. Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much?

We are not actively seeking investors at the moment.

How many employees do you have? How many developers?

Just two cofounders who are also the developers. 

Are you hiring? If yes, what are you hiring for and where?

Not at the moment, but that can change.

Which platform are you building on? Why?

MVC3 in Azure. MVC3 is great simple, quick but powerful way to launch a site. And with Azure we stand ready for the onslaught of users we hope to attract!

Where do you see opportunities today in the Software/Internet area?    

Big opportunities around data/analytics and crowd sourcing of information. 

What do you think about the BizSpark Program?

We are indebted to the program and to Microsoft in general. 

Do you have any advice for young Software entrepreneurs?

Keep at it.  People are going to tell you that you are nuts.  Maybe you are, but that’s probably what you need for success.

Who’s your role model?   

A combination of George Costanza and Newman.

What’s the ONE THING you would like readers to take away from this interview?   

Pay attention to the market environment.  Opportunities can arise when you least expect them.