Athenic – Why you can't do data analysis with Claude

Hey HN, I'm Jared. I’ve been building data tools since 2020. Polyture, then AskEdith, now Athenic: ask a question in natural language, get a chart/dashboard, then automate it. Connects to Postgres, Salesforce, Google Ads, whatever.

To everyone that says "just link Claude to your db”: imagine the chaos of conflicting definitions and analysis that would show up in a business setting.

Ask “what’s our revenue?” twice, two days apart or to a different model. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same results. Now imagine giving that to all of the non-technical users at your company.

It's not a model problem. We learned this the hard way. When we launched AskEdith here in 2022, and you told us (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33435361): “you'll still have to check the SQL,” “trust is everything,” “answers won’t be consistent”. You were right.

Now, Athenic defines KPIs and formulas deterministically in a Semantic Model. The Semantic Model is made up of modular, composable units that can make up complex analysis, while guaranteeing determinism and accuracy. The LLM’s only responsibility is interpreting your question (which even non-technical users can double check).

`revenue = sum(order_total − refunds) where status = 'completed'`

Ask for revenue and everyone gets the same number, every time.

Three years of learnings from working with top startups and Fortune 500 companies later, we just shipped 2.0. Chat-to-insight, plus dashboards and automations that run on a schedule and land in your email. Tell us we're wrong.