

Show HN: My roommate expense tracking app - jaredonline
http://www.myroommateapp.com
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?
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jaredonline
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%20at%202.23.02%20PM.png)
[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/169446/Screen%20Shot%202011-12-15%20...](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/169446/Screen%20Shot%202011-12-15%20at%202.22.57%20PM.png)

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jaredonline
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?

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jayliew
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

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stollercyrus
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.

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

