Show HN: My roommate expense tracking app

http://www.myroommateapp.com

by jaredonline • 15 years ago

1 6 15 years ago

I built this for my roommates and I, really quickly over a weekend. Some of my friends are telling me I should take the time to promote it and try to charge for it and turn it into a revenue stream. What do you guys think?

jaredonline4• 15 years ago

I built this really quickly over a weekend for my roommate and I to keep track of who owes who money.

I've gotten a few friends to use it, and some encouragement to turn it into a pay-for app.

What does HN think?

jayliew• 15 years ago

I think you should test: * value creation hypothesis * growth hypothesis * value capture hypothesis

Value creation: what is it about this app that the users value? E.g. is it because the users don't have to deal with pen and paper, and that in a messy house sometimes the paper gets lost, or the person forgets, etc. What do they value about it? It's probably not "I like it because it is cool" <-- unlikely someone who isn't your friend will say that.

Growth: How are you going to find other people who will need this? How can you get in front of people who have room mates, who have this problem you're solving. There's no "room mate conference", or "room mate meetup", so you have to be creative. Maybe hit up people on Craigslist posting ads for room mates; odds are they've been living with room mates before and have experienced the pain you're solving.

Value capture: How can you "monetize". Straight up charge for it? Ads? Testing willingness to pay is key. Think about it, some things in life you've come across that you think is, "wow that's cool", but when they asked you if you would pay, did you open up your wallet?

I hope this will help spur some thoughts!

Best

stollercyrus• 15 years ago

I like the idea. I just signed up. As I was trying to "create a new house" the site stalled.

Maybe you could upload some screen shots so that I could know what I'm signing up for.

jaredonline4• 15 years ago

Is it still stalling? It's on Heroku's free plan, so that may be an issue.

jaredonline4• 15 years ago

Uploaded some screenshot of the main dashboard screen.

jaredonline4• 15 years ago

UPDATE: Some screen shots... I think the Heroku account is hanging a little bit:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/169446/Screen%20Shot%202011-12-15%20... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/169446/Screen%20Shot%202011-12-15%20...

Show HN: My roommate expense tracking app

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