I just hit Publish
This is a continuation of the journey of building a money-saving product.
It’s been an interesting few months. I’ve learned quite a bit and am one legal entity richer today than when I started this series of posts.
In my early twenties, I ran a web development company. Back then I was always surprised by how much *actual* work one had to do to get anything done. It was like every task was a Hydra’s head, chop it off and you’d get three more.
Some things never change.
Getting a software product to market is a fairly simple exercise fundamentally. Identify a problem people are willing to pay to have solved, create software to solve that problem and then provide that software to the people who have the problem.
In reality, however, so many things need to happen and so many surprises loom around every corner.
We (I’m not alone with this anymore) have built a fairly simple service. It allows you to connect your bank account to Google Spreadsheets and show you your balances and result over time. Set and forget, kind of.
With this, you can build (or make use of a ready-made template) a personal finance dashboard which is completely unique to you and with which you would not have to spend any effort keeping your financials up-to-date. A true blessing if you have a few bank accounts to keep track of.
I’ve had such a dashboard for the last few years and it has made a large impact on my personal finance.
Even though the service is quite simple in nature there have been enough obstacles this time around.
I’ve had to research regulations, talk to regulatory authorities, set up a legal entity, lead product development, devise and implement a marketing strategy, create ad banners (!) and so much more and I’ve kind of been learning as I’ve been going.
That last part is one of the biggest reasons I love doing this. Thinking on your feet and learning as one is going is definitely the kind of context I feel the most comfortable with. Getting a product company off the ground is a great fit for that kind of affinity.
The other big reason I love doing this is that at every step when I expose the right person to what we’re building, I’m met with positivity and excitement. It definitely seems like we are building something which will be of value not only to myself but also to others! It’s a deeply satisfying thought, to have created something out of nothing and then to have that something be used and valued by others.
We’re at the point where we are ready to accept Beta users in the Netherlands. Other countries in Europe will hopefully soon follow.
I just hit Publish and the Add-On is now under review by Google. This will take a few days or weeks, depending on their pipeline. Once that’s done, I’ll start inviting people from my signups to get Beta access.
