
New YC Startup: Buxfer - pg
http://www.buxfer.com/index.php
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Alex3917
I'm imagining two intersecting lines. The positively sloped line represents
the amount of time saved increasing as transactions of this kind increase. The
other negatively sloped line is the cognitive overhead of using the system,
i.e. higher when the number of transactions is small. I'm trying to figure out
where exactly they cross, because while I like the system in theory I can't
really see myself using it, at least at the moment.

P.S. Congrats on launching to the founder(s).

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ashu
Well, that's a challenge for us, then. Let's see if we can make the y-coord of
the overhead line start below the time-saved line :P

Also, we'd love to know what is causing your inertia at this moment.

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Alex3917
OK, I sent you guys my thoughts using the feedback link.

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abstractbill
Congrats to the founders for building and launching a very nice-looking site.

At this point though, I'm more likely to use something like wesabe for keeping
track of my spending since it understands my existing online bank accounts
rather than requiring me to enter transactions by hand - that seems like a
killer feature to me since my spending these days is overwhelmingly
electronic.

[disclaimer: I haven't used either tool. My opinion is based only on having
seen the online demos.]

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ashu
This is Ashwin - one of Buxfer's founders. Glad you liked the look of the
site.

We do allow you to import transactions from your bank and credit card accounts
- provided they are in Quicken or Microsoft Money format. Integrating directly
with banks is on the cards as well.

One of our goals (besides tracking shared expenses) is to be able to better
reason about cash transactions. Our experience as students indicated we spent
close to 30% of our income(!) on coke and coffee combined. To capture all
these little transactions, we allow reporting expenses via text-messages.
(More ways coming soon!) Ultimately the goal is to understand *all* your
expenses completely at a central location.

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herdrick
Integrating directly with banks is on the cards

Did you mean 'in the cards' or are you an Agile/XP shop?

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ashu
This could just be my English crapping out at the wrong time. All I meant was
"coming soon"!

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jwecker
I think it looks great. Well done taking the concept and getting it to the
"just right" stage without overdoing it. The start page/index is perfect- in 5
seconds I know pretty much what it does and whether or not it's something that
I've been waiting for.

Does anyone over there mind if I ask what the plans are for monetization? Paid
subscriptions at some point? Tie-ins with other financial institutions like
credit card companies? Ads? (it looks like too clean of a site for that, but
I'm sure you could make it work if that's the plan).

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ashu
Your guesses are pretty accurate. And ordered from most - least preferable. :)
We'd really hate to place ads particularly if they reduce usability and
cleanliness of the site.

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wastedbrains
I really like the ability to just use my existing accounts, it was enough to
have me take a little look around.

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sly
Me too

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mynameishere
Looks a little too cartoony for a financial app. Actually, umm, if Windows
media player looked like this, I'd say the same thing: Too cartoony. Just to
give you a baseline.

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ecuzzillo
Probably the problem is just the color scheme; it's fruit salad.

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dmnd
Wow, I have a half implemented (and nowhere near as nice-looking) version of
this app on my computer. I guess I should have searched a little deeper before
starting to convert my finance spreadsheet to a web app... back to to
brainstorming for me.

I suppose I better sign up, then!

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python_kiss
I read Buxfer's review on TechCrunch earlier today; congratulations to YC and
the founders on getting featured there! :) The site looks great but they have
some tough challenges ahead since Buxfer is coming late in this market.

The key is to resist the temptation of copying features off their larger
competitor (Wesabe) and build something different. I think a great lesson we
have all learned from Reddit is that a startup can survive in the face of
tough competition merely by filling the gaps left by their larger competitor.
So far Buxfer seems to have done a great job at it :)

\- Jawad Shuaib

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plinkplonk
Hi, What web framework are you guys using? Rails? Django? something else?

(Awesome product btw)

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ashu
Just object-oriented PHP. No framework, yet.

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supahfly
Isn't this just billmonk?

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juwo
If my bank allows it, can you access my bank account? I think this is a great
idea that can even upstage Quicken. I stopped using Quicken - it is a pain to
have duplication. However I cannot annotate my transactions with my bank.
(this cheque was a donation for charity http://lydiapress.com). As a result,
actually, I dont keep track of my account (shouldnt confess this here!) Yes,
it is a great idea because IF I GIVE YOU READ-ONLY ACCESS TO MY ACCOUNT, WHY
SHOULD THE BANK CARE? WOW!

