Countif + Left VBA code

[MJW]

Hi All,

I'm trying to figure out code that will scan all cells in a column, W, and return a count of how many of the cell values start with a particular text string, for our purposes , "XYZ". I know how to do this with a helper column but can't figure out how to do it without one and i'd prefer not to have a helper column if at all possible.

Thanks for your help!