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Started as a personal
project.
Built for everyone.

I knew what the numbers meant — I just got tired of digging through hundreds of pages to find them. So I built the tool I wanted.

Overall progress 0%
Research
Prototype
Dev
Beta
Launch
Growth

About Plainsheet

How it started

A 10-K is hundreds of pages. The numbers I actually wanted were buried across all of them.

I understand financial metrics — gross margin, free cash flow, debt-to-equity, all of it. That was never the hard part. The hard part was the grind: opening a filing, scrolling through page after page of footnotes and legal language, hunting down the figures, and piecing them together by hand just to get a read on a company. I built Plainsheet so I didn't have to do that anymore. It pulls the filing, finds the numbers, does the math, and lays it out in seconds — so the time goes into thinking about the company, not excavating it.

The real problem

The data is public. Getting to it is the chore.

Every figure is sitting right there in the filings on SEC EDGAR — for free. But finding it means wading through a dense document that was written for lawyers and regulators, not for someone who just wants to understand a business. Plainsheet does the wading for you and hands back the part that matters, with plain-English context next to every number.

Who it's for

For people who get the numbers — and people who want to learn them.

If you already know your way around a balance sheet, Plainsheet saves you the legwork. If you're still learning, every metric comes with a plain-English explanation and a built-in dictionary, so you pick it up as you go. Same tool, both ends of the spectrum. No VC, no ads — just something genuinely useful, free where it can be.

1 person
Solo-built
$0 raised
Bootstrapped
Free core
The data is public, so the basics stay free

RoadMap — and where it's going

01 — THE QUESTION
Can this actually work?
✓ Complete
Dug into the SEC EDGAR API to see whether financial filings could be parsed into something structured and reliable. They could — and that was enough to keep going.
SEC EDGAR API Filing structure Feasibility
02 — THE LOCAL BUILD
Built for one user
✓ Complete
Built a working local version and used it to research companies for myself. It solved my problem cleanly — which raised the real question: would it solve it just as well for someone without an accounting background?
Local app Filing parser Metric explainers Personal use
03 — BUILDING FOR EVERYONE
Development
✓ Complete
Rebuilt the personal tool into a full platform: accounts and sync, plain-English explainers on every metric, an AI assistant grounded in the filing text, multi-year trend charts, a portfolio and watchlist tracker, filing alerts, a guided Learn section, and a free/Pro structure. The research engine and everything around it are built — and live for beta users.
Metrics engine AI assistant Accounts & sync Trend charts Portfolio & watchlist Learn section
04 — FIRST REAL USERS
Beta
✓ Complete
Plainsheet went out to a small group of everyday investors by invite. That's exactly what it was for: watching where it tripped up someone without a finance background, and fixing what real usage surfaced — onboarding, the mobile experience, the Learn path — before opening the doors to everyone.
Invite-only access Real feedback Onboarding Mobile polish
05 — OPEN TO EVERYONE
Public launch
✓ Complete
Plainsheet is public. The free tier is open to anyone, no invite needed — the SEC data is public, so the core tool should be reachable by anyone. Pro is priced at what it costs to run sustainably, not to squeeze.
Free tier live Sustainable Pro pricing Public release
06 — BEYOND THE TOOL
Financial literacy platform
In progress
We're here now. With Plainsheet public, the focus shifts to growing from a filing reader into a place where people steadily build financial literacy — deeper analysis like segment breakdowns and year-over-year risk comparison, an expanding Learn library, and a community that learns together. Same principle throughout: make public filings understandable for everyone.
Deeper analysis Expanded Learn Shareable summaries Community

Plainsheet is a research tool — not financial advice.

Public data only

Everything on Plainsheet is built from historical data companies have already filed publicly. We help you read and understand it — we never tell you what to buy, sell, or hold.

Verify the AI

The AI assistant can make mistakes and should always be checked against the original filing — which is always linked, one click away.

When it matters

For financial decisions that matter, consult a licensed professional. See our Terms of Service for the full detail.

Plainsheet is an educational and research platform; information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.