
Expensify: The Corporate Card For The Rest Of Us  - jasonlbaptiste
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/expensify-the-corporate-card-for-the-rest-of-us/
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mattmaroon
I don't understand what need this fills. Give your employee a corporate CC,
use Quickbooks to import and automatically categorize everything they do with
it. Works for our starup of 3 people, and without the 3% fee.

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run4yourlives
They seem to be getting ripped over on the TC comments, but I liked the idea
as presented. It also seems to be a little shady overall.

Still, this idea, slightly tweaked, could be a real winner.

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hugh
Good idea, but 3% really does seem excessive. I'd price it at about 0.7% if I
were them.

But I'm sure they know this, and they're probably planning to drop the price
in the future.

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tptacek
It's excessive if you'd otherwise be submitting all your expenses. If you're
like me, that's not the case: I've never worked at a company and been less
than $10k in the hole on unfiled expenses. I know I'm not the only person with
this problem: once a year, you have the nightmare afternoon of trying to track
down airline receipts and photocopying cab receipts.

It's easy to see how this pays for itself.

However, it makes no sense if you own a startup. Instead of paying 3% or 1% or
0.5% to another startup, get an Amex account, and use it exclusively for
expenses. Expense off the statements.

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wmf
Yikes.

At my company we use the IBM/Amex expense reporting system; when I start an
expense report in the tool, it shows all the recent transaction on my card and
I just add them to the report and submit it. Then the company pays Amex.
Usually no receipts are needed. Is nothing like this available for small
businesses?

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tptacek
Sure they are. For instance, your small business could just issue everyone an
Amex card, and collect the statements. All you need is trust.

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shafqat
This seems like a good business. "Build something useful and charge for it"
model always works for me. If they can follow up with Wufoo-like execution, it
could be a winner.

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bluishgreen
Pricey!

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tptacek
You'd have to expense at least $500 at 3% to not break even on Expensify
catching one diner meal you'd have otherwise forgotten about. So, don't use
the card for your airfare and hotels. There you go: guaranteed win.

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bluishgreen
True, I always had airfare in mind, but once you take that off and the hotel
too, it is reasonable.

