Join me as I chat with Nico Christie where he demos Shortcut, an AI-powered spreadsheet tool that functions like "Excel built for the future." Through several live demos, he shows how the platform can create financial models, update existing spreadsheets with new data, and build custom analysis tools using simple natural language prompts. The product aims to make Excel-based work significantly faster while maintaining transparency about data sources and calculations.
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
00:53 – Overview of Shortcut
02:08 – First Demo: How Shortcut works with Existing Excel files
04:44 – Different User Types Who Benefit From Shortcut
08:50 – How to Prompt Shortcut Effectively
11:20 – The benefits of Using Shortcut
13:42 – How Shortcut handles data verification and transparency
17:03 – Best Use Cases for Shortcut
19:03 – Obvious ideas and market opportunity
22:23 -Building a Utilization Model for Agencies
34:59 – Greg’s Custom Utilization Rate Dashboard Demo
39:29 – Who should try Shortcut
https://www.tryshortcut.ai
Key Points:
• Shortcut is an AI-powered alternative to Excel that allows users to create and modify spreadsheets using natural language prompts
• The tool can perform complex financial modeling tasks in minutes that would take hours in traditional Excel
• Shortcut provides transparency by showing data sources and allowing users to trace where information comes from
• The platform serves both Excel experts (making them faster) and non-experts (making complex spreadsheet tasks accessible.
1) What is Shortcut?
Think "Excel if it was built in 2024" with a superhuman AI agent that:
• Looks exactly like Excel (but way smarter)
• Understands plain English commands
• Does 90% of your spreadsheet work for you
• Works with existing Excel files
No more struggling with formulas or macros!
2) The Demo That Blew My Mind
I watched Nico:
• Update an entire Microsoft DCF model with Google’s latest financials
• Pull data directly from 10-K filings
• Fix formula errors automatically
• Create a complete agency utilization dashboard from scratch
All with simple English prompts. No Excel skills needed!
3) The Trust Factor
The biggest concern with AI + financial data: "Can I trust it?"
Shortcut solves this brilliantly:
• Shows exactly which values are hard-coded vs. formula-driven
• Cites sources for every piece of data
• Displays the exact page from financial documents
• Explains its reasoning
You’re still in control, just 10x faster.
4) Two Types of Users Who NEED This
Excel Experts: Turn hours of work into minutes
Excel Novices: Instantly become an Excel wizard
"I’m not a big Excel guy… I want to manipulate it but I’m scared I’ll break something" – me
Shortcut makes EVERYONE an Excel power user overnight.
5) How It Works
The magic is in the prompting:
• Start with a vague request ("Build me a P&L")
• Shortcut asks clarifying questions
• It builds exactly what you need
• You can refine with follow-up prompts
It’s like having a finance team in your pocket that works at AI speed.
6) Real-World Applications
In the demo, we built:
• A complete financial projection model
• A detailed agency utilization dashboard with benchmarks
• A DCF model with data pulled from SEC filings
All in MINUTES instead of HOURS or DAYS.
7) Why This Matters
Excel has been around for 40 YEARS and has 2 billion users.
But it was designed for a different era.
Shortcut isn’t just making Excel easier – it’s fundamentally changing WHO can do financial analysis and HOW QUICKLY they can do it.
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FIND ME ON SOCIAL
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
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FIND NICO ON SOCIAL
X/Twitter: https://x.com/nicochristie
Shortcut: https://www.tryshortcut.ai (https://www.tryshortcut.ai/)
