MrExcel - Bio

WHO: Bill Jelen, the world’s foremost spreadsheet wizard, now known internationally as “Mr. Excel.” His web site is the premier source for Excel tips and solutions (MrExcel.com) and had over 10 million page views last year.

WHAT: Jelen “broke the code” in Excel, helping accountants and business professionals to do in a single click what used to take many hours. He’s saved companies millions of dollars with his programming solutions and self-help resources (book, website, CD’s, message boards) and has made the world’s most commonly used office software perform. He’s currently developing Excel solutions products geared to particular industries. For example, the “F&I Menu Wizard” is a proprietary program for car dealerships that simplifies and speeds the finance and insurance process and increases dealerships’ profit per vehicle by an average of $225. It is being used in hundreds of dealerships.

EXAMPLE: in 1996, Jelen developed a pilot system in Excel, launched it the next day, and virtually eliminated a manual process‹and one high-level management position‹at the company where he was then employed. The application, containing 2,400 lines of VBA code, could be managed with a single button click by an administrative assistant.

HOW: Via e-mail, mostly. Visitors to MrExcel.com can get help three ways:

1. ask questions and get help for free,
2. hire Jelen as consultant for custom programming, or
3. purchase books, CD’s, and other solutions products.

Jelen literally wrote the book on Excel: “Learn Excel from Mr Excel,” the definitive “how to” for unlocking the money- and time-saving secrets of Excel. He also wrote “Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel”, “VBA & Macros for Microsoft Excel”, “Pivot Table Data Crunching”, “Excel for Teachers”, “Power OneNote” and two CD ROMS, “2500 Excel VBA Examples” and “Excel Knowledge Base.”This year, revenue from the books and CD’s will exceed Jelen’s 2001 revenues and they have helped to fuel the company’s (three straight years) triple-digit compounded growth. The company has grown by a whopping 135% in the last 12 months.

WHY: Jelen fills in the gaps the software company left behind. He is fast, responsive service and easy solutions. People aren’t finding that in the automated responses of email customer support and vague answers from paid telephone support. Jelen’s self-help tips, long-life archived Q&A’s and message boards are an online community where Excel users help each other sharpen their Excel skills and resolve functions like preventing duplicate data entry, calculating hours worked when the shift spans midnight, deleting unwanted links and hundreds of other Excel functions.SUMMARY: Jelen is filling in where Microsoft left off. They supply the product; he reveals how to use it.