Harbour: Why We Built a Free FP&A Platform for Startups

Most startup financial tools fall into two categories: enterprise software that costs thousands per year, or spreadsheet templates that break the moment your business gets complex. Harbour exists in the gap between them.

The Problem We Saw

When we talked to emerging market founders, we heard the same story repeatedly:

• "I track finances in a spreadsheet, but it takes me hours every month to update."
• "My investors keep asking for updates in different formats."
• "I know my burn rate is wrong but I don't know how to fix the formula."
• "I can't afford a CFO or FP&A tool at our stage."

At the same time, we heard from fund managers:

• "I spend 3 days every quarter chasing portfolio companies for data."
• "Every company sends metrics in a different format."
• "I know my portfolio is performing well but I can't prove it with clean data."

The solution was obvious — build a tool that solves both problems at once.

What Harbour Does

Harbour is a free FP&A platform designed specifically for startups. It covers:

Financial Dashboard — Connect your accounts or enter data manually. See real-time revenue, expenses, burn rate, and runway in one view. No more hunting through bank statements.

Budget Planning — Set departmental budgets, track actuals vs plan, and see where you're over or under. Scenario modeling lets you ask "what if we hire 3 engineers?" or "what if revenue grows 20% slower?"

Investor Updates — Generate professional investor updates with one click. Pre-built templates pull from your actual financial data, so updates are accurate and take minutes instead of hours.

KPI Tracking — Define and track the metrics that matter for your business. Monthly recurring revenue, customer acquisition cost, churn rate — the metrics your investors actually care about.

Secure Sharing — Granular controls over what each investor or board member can see. Share a comprehensive view with your lead investor and a summary view with angels.

Why It's Free

Harbour is free forever. No trial period, no feature gates, no surprise pricing after 30 days. Here's why:

The data flywheel. Harbour is part of the Vistaley ecosystem. When founders use Harbour, their data can flow (with permission) to their fund managers on VentureLens. Better data from portfolio companies means VentureLens is more valuable for GPs. More GPs on VentureLens means more founders invited to Harbour.

Aligned incentives. We make money from VentureLens subscriptions, not from charging startups. This means our incentive is to make Harbour genuinely useful — the more founders love it, the more VentureLens grows.

Market expansion. Many emerging market startups can't afford $200/month FP&A tools. By making Harbour free, we serve a market that would otherwise default to spreadsheets.

Who It's For

Harbour works for any startup that wants better financial visibility, but it's especially useful for:

• VC-backed startups that need to report to investors regularly
• Pre-revenue startups tracking burn rate and runway
• Companies in emerging markets where enterprise FP&A tools are too expensive
• First-time founders who want professional financial infrastructure without hiring a CFO

Getting Started

Sign up at harbour.vistaley.com. Connect your financial data or start entering it manually. You'll have a complete financial dashboard in under 10 minutes.

If your fund manager uses VentureLens, they can send you an invitation directly — your Harbour account will be pre-connected for seamless data sharing.

Get started with Harbour — it's free →