"Starts with" operator

[JohnDoe]

I know we have a "Contains" operators which works, but it would be nice to have a "Starts with" operator, for example when dealing names that contains the some or more of the same letters but doesn't start with the same letters.

[TheTimeSavingCo]

True.  As a workaround, you could make a formula field that only shows the first X number of characters, and you could filter off of that?