If you step back and look at how most startups handle data, it rarely starts in a complicated way.
In the early days, it is usually a spreadsheet, either Excel or Google Sheets doing a bit of everything. Tracking revenue, keeping an eye on customers, pulling together numbers before making decisions and it makes it easy to manage data and easy to work with, so it does the job.
As things begin to grow, more tools are introduced. A CRM such as HubSpot to manage leads and track activity, Xero or another accounting platform to handle finances, bank accounts and payment platforms feeding in transactions. Marketing tools reporting on campaigns using Google Analytics, Mail Chimp managing email newsletters and something like Zapier quietly connecting parts of the system in the background. Later on, reporting tools like Power BI or Looker come into the picture to bring everything together. None of these decisions are wrong as they makes sense at the time. What tends to happen, though, is that the data grows faster than the thinking behind it.
A Lot of Data, But Not in One Place
Either before launching or in that first year, there is usually a significant amount of data in the business. Customer activity sits in HubSpot, financial performance is in Xero, payments run through platforms like Stripe or PayPal, bank accounts hold another version of transactions and marketing tools track traffic, clicks and engagement. Spreadsheets still sit alongside all of this, filling in the gaps where systems do not quite line up.
Each part of the business has visibility into its own area, and each system is doing what it was designed to do. The difficulty comes when you try to look across all of it and understand what is actually happening at a business level.
Numbers do not quite match and definitions and terminology are slightly different. Reports answer one question but raise another and it becomes harder than it should be to get a straight view of performance. Each new team member of adviser has a different set of skills and knowledge and very quickly, the business is running on multiple inputs from information that lives in a silo.
Why Adding Another Tool Doesn’t Fix It
At this point, the instinct is often to look for a better way to connect everything. That is where tools like Power BI or Looker tend to come in, with the expectation that a reporting layer will bring everything together and sometimes it helps, but often it just shifts the problem.
If the underlying data is not aligned, putting it into a new dashboard does not resolve the differences. It can even make things more confusing, because everything now sits in one place but still tells slightly different stories depending on how it has been pulled together.
Automation tools like Zapier can move data between systems, but they do not decide what that data should mean, they connect processes, not thinking. So the business ends up with more capability, but not necessarily a better understanding of what is going on.
Where Information Starts to Get Lost
The real issue is not that data is missing, it is that it is spread across systems that were never designed to work as a single view of the business.
Take something as simple as revenue. Xero will show invoiced or recognised revenue, payment platforms will show cash coming in and bank accounts will show funds received, whilst HubSpot might track deals closed. Each of these is valid, but they are not always aligned in a way that gives you one clear answer.
The same applies to customer data. Marketing platforms show traffic and engagement, HubSpot shows leads and conversions and product tools may show usage. Without a consistent way of tying these together, it becomes difficult to follow the journey from first touch to last touch and customer retention metrics. Over time, this leads to small gaps in understanding that add up and decisions are made on partial views, and confidence in the numbers starts to slip or even worse, the mismatch goes unnoticed.
Start With What Actually Matters
When you reach this point, it is easy to assume that the answer lies in building something more sophisticated, but in most cases, a simpler step is more useful.
Rather than trying to connect everything at once, it helps to focus on a small number of questions that really matter to the business.
- How are we generating revenue?
- Which customers are most valuable?
- Where are we losing money or time?
- What is changing month to month?
Once those questions are clear, it becomes much easier to identify which pieces of data are needed to answer them. Not every system needs to be pulled in straight away and not every metric needs to be tracked. This tends to reduce the noise quite quickly and gives you a base to work from.
Using Tools in a More Deliberate Way
Tools like Excel, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Xero, Power BI and Looker all have a role to play, but the difference comes from how they are used together.
In the early stages, spreadsheets can still be useful for pulling together key numbers, as long as there is a clear understanding of where those numbers come from. Systems like HubSpot and Xero can remain the source of truth for specific areas, rather than trying to do everything in one place.
As the business grows, reporting tools can be introduced in a more focused way, bringing together the data that answers key business questions rather than everything that is available.
If you want to connect systems more tightly, tools like Zapier or more advanced data connectors can help. The important point is that they are supporting a defined approach, not trying to solve the problem on their own.
Building Something You Can Grow Into
A good data approach does not need to be fully built from day one. It needs to be right for where you are now, with enough thought behind it that it can evolve as the business becomes more complex.
That might mean starting with a small set of agreed metrics, pulled from a handful of systems, and reviewed consistently. As the business grows, you can expand that view, bring in more data, and invest in more advanced tooling and tech apps where it genuinely adds value.
Some teams prefer to build and manage this themselves over time, especially if they have the internal capability. Others want it handled for them so they can stay focused on running the business. Both approaches work, the key is that the underlying thinking is sound, so that whatever you build on top of it has a solid base.
Bringing It Back to Something Manageable
If your setup includes a mix of spreadsheets, systems like HubSpot and Xero, payment platforms, and reporting tools that do not quite line up, you are in a very normal position for a growing startup.
There is already a lot of value in the data you have and the key challenge is getting it into a system that actually supports the way you make decisions. That does not require a complete rebuild or another layer of technology. It usually starts with a more considered look at what is there and what is actually needed.
If you want to get your data into a place where it is genuinely useful, we can work through it with you. We’ll help you make sense of what you already have and get it working properly. You can drop us an email at hello@wisewhale.co.uk or book a call.