Runway vs Square
Side-by-side trajectory, velocity, and editorial themes.
Steady polish for collaborative financial planning — chart clarity, scenario branching, layout control.
Runway is in steady incremental mode for its collaborative financial planning canvas. Recent work focuses on the everyday ergonomics: 100% stacked charts now consistently display percentages, scenarios can be duplicated or locked as point-in-time versions from Activity History, table and database blocks are resizable per page, and formula editing has gotten cleaner (context menus, an 'f' indicator, sturdier draft history). Earlier entries added customizable fiscal year labels and Last close in formulas.
The cadence is small, focused improvements across the modeling and presentation surfaces — no directional pivot visible. The duplicate-and-lock-scenario primitive is the most strategically interesting recent addition; it suggests Runway is investing in version-control-style collaboration patterns familiar to engineers, not just spreadsheet users. Formula editing depth keeps getting attention, signalling power-user retention is a priority.
Expect continued refinement of scenario management (likely scenario comparison views or merge-style workflows), more chart-type polish, and probably an AI-assisted formula or modeling helper in the next quarter or two given how much editor surface area is being polished.
Square is rebuilding itself around restaurants — and using AI and Cash App as the wedge.
Square's recent shipping pattern centers on food-and-beverage operators: voice-AI taking phone orders, side-by-side vendor cost comparison, multi-channel menu sync, and tighter integrations with Grubhub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats. The pricing model has been collapsed into a single monthly rate per tier (Free / Plus / Pro), replacing a patchwork of feature-by-feature add-ons. Underneath, Cash App's 57M-account network is being repositioned as a marketing surface for Square sellers via Neighborhoods. The old horizontal-POS positioning is visibly giving way to vertical depth in restaurants.
Square is converging on a thesis that vertical software plus AI doing operational work beats horizontal POS plus general-purpose payments. Voice ordering and Square AI Beta both push the product toward replacing labor and decisions, not just transacting. The Cash App side is moving from payment rail to demand-generation channel. Tier-flat pricing makes upgrade motions cleaner as more vertical features ship into Plus and Pro.
Expect voice ordering and Square AI to graduate from beta into paid tiers within the next two release cycles, with retail and appointments getting their own vertical AI surfaces after F&B. The Cash App Neighborhoods integration will likely expand from passive discoverability into outbound, seller-controlled campaigns.
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