

Splitterbug (YC S11) private beta: track expenses with friends from your phone - matt_holden
http://splitterbug.com

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charliepark
I wish you all the best, but I'm skeptical that this could become a viable
business. Is this a problem that people struggle with enough that they'd pay
for a service to help them with it?

What would differentiate Splitterbug from, say, BillMonk? Or just an e-mail?
What are you planning on for revenue? One-off App Store purchases, or
something more?

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sean_lynch
We're both very big Billmonk fans, but unfortunately the application hasn't
seen very much improvement since it was acquired a few years ago. Splitterbug
helps you solve the same problem using some very cool tech that Billmonk
didn't have access to (native iPhone apps/Android/Facebook graph/etc).

Our primary focus right now is building an app solves the problem of splitting
bills and tracking debts. We've got a few ideas about monetization, but if we
can't build a useful app first, that discussion is moot.

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retube
What's the very cool tech? Why does an app like this require particularly new
or innovative technology?

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d0m
I guess any entrepreneur already thought about building that application once
in their life. I myself thought of it a lot of time.. but always dismissed it
thinking that it wasn't a monetizable business and only a fun hack project
over a weedkend.

However, these guys seemed to have proved me wrong as they're in YC while my
"serious business ideas" were rejected. Or, maybe YC decided to invest mainly
for the team (Both founder were "Product manager at Google") ? Still, I'll
follow their path and I hope they'll be successful :)

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eneveu
Same here. They seem to solve a problem I personally have.

Currently, I use emails (sent from my phone) to "remember" what I owe people
and what they owe me, but it's kind of annoying. I also thought about building
an Android app, but I think I'll just use this instead.

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shuttlebrad
Interesting - it looks really similar to my app Splitsies which launched late
last year: <http://splitsies.net/> \- it'll be interesting to see how their
dependence on Facebook connect works out for you.

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walexander
One note about your website: I recommend enabling the controls on that jQuery
scroll widget for the iPhone. Having the screen scroll away while i'm checking
out the UI is a little annoying (and then having to wait a full cycle to see
the screen again).

Other than that, I certainly remember keeping tabs on my roommate debts and
loans during college, but it was never much of a chore and didn't bother
writing it down. I guess some people may need this more than others, for
example people with lots of outstanding buddy debt, but I can't see it being a
huge number.

What are your plans for expanding this? Simply keeping it as is and doing one
thing well? It may serve to function better if it helped those key users
manage their debt, using burn down charts for a game effect, or something.
Maybe tying it into a mint account (is there an API?) so it can show up on top
of their personal finances? Maybe just adding a tip calculator/bill splitter
typical app functionality, so people can get rid of their old one and
encourage them to download this?

I'm not sure what the answer is, but at a glance it seems far too niche and
not much room to grow.

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delackner
This could enable a group of friends to build up fairly long-running tabs with
no effort, then pay whenever the tab hits a convenient amount. Less friction,
more fun. I hope you guys succeed.

Currently, even in a group of friends where we basically always split
everything down the middle to keep it simple, not even having to do a split at
all until a later, convenient time would be fantastic.

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nodata
Idea! Take a photo of the receipt, each friend sees it, can mark each item as
his own.

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delackner
Maybe this would be good in some circles, but for my friends overkill. Just
need X/N, with a simple option to pre-assign a portion of the bill to the one
guy at the table who drinks 2x everyone else.

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danthorpe
I've just released an iPhone app, called You Owe Me, which syncs purchases and
repayments between people, using FB connect and/or normal email/password
login. I think it's a pretty exciting space really, with a lot of potential.
Signed up for their private beta - will see how it develops.

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aorshan
I already talked to you guys about this on twitter, but I'll put some of it
here anyway.

Love the concept for the app, as a college student I can see how it would be
really helpful.

Criticisms: Wish you could use phone contacts along with the facebook connect.
That way you aren't dependent on internet and the app doesn't look like it is
made for facebook. Also when you go to the people tab it just shows a white
screen, which is discouraging and makes me think that there is nothing there.
It would be much better if you could populate the list and make it searchable
in the same way the facebook app does.

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masnick
You can start using the web version of their app right away by going to
<http://splitterbug.com> on your mobile (at least it worked on my iPhone) and
signing in with Facebook.

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sean_lynch
Good eye :) The web version lacks a lot of optimizations we were able to add
on the client though. If you're excited to start using the thing now, shoot me
an email at support [at] splitterbug.com and let me know what device flavor
you prefer (iPhone/Android). I'll get you set up.

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masnick
Thanks -- I got in on the iPhone beta and it looks good so far. I'm excited to
see this service become public -- I think it could be super useful.

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avree
Are you guys iPhone only, or do you have an Android client?

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sean_lynch
We have both iPhone and Android clients and we're looking for beta testers for
both.

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edanm
I'm also happy to beta test the iPhone app.

I currently use something called Share-a-Bill quite heavily, but it has some
shortcomings. I've also just moved into an apartment with 2 friends, so we're
looking for a better application for sharing bills.

Email: edanm@btlms.com

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koopajah
You seem to have exceeded your Google App Engine service quota. Even it if
still loads after a few F5!

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Rariel
Really great idea. This is perfect for roomates, especially college aged. Also
very good for ADHD types like myself! Can't wait to start using it.

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Brewer
That's a great idea for an app! The only problem is that I don't have a cell
phone. :P Is there an Android version too, or is it just for iPhone?

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sean_lynch
Both an Android and an iPhone versions are looking for beta testers :)

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Brewer
Well I won't have a phone for another few months, but if you're still looking
for testers then, I would be happy to help out.

And if you're already done testing, then I'll download the app anyways!

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bankim
Looks similar to Buxfer and Billmonk...

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incorrigible
YC S11?? This is a feature.

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EFIII
Should call this app ArgumentCauser!

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Rariel
You mean ArgumentSolver

