6 ms·

Show HN: Review My Startup - PaperPhobic

63 points by freerobby 16y ago

freerobby 16y ago
PaperPhobic is a cloud-based receipt organization system. No signup is required, you can email photos of your receipts (or e-receipts) to receipts@paperphobic.com. We also have a free iPhone app you can use. Notable paid features include transcription of price/date/description/categories, and super-quick expense/reimbursement report generation. We are not the first to enter this space, but we feel we can compete on ease of use for the receipt uploader. Would greatly appreciate feedback on the service and product. Thanks!
- chrisfarms 16y ago
  Pretty sure this paragraph should be on the website. I had to come here to really understand what I was looking at.
  - freerobby 16y ago
    Thanks.
- DevX101 16y ago
  "you can email photos of your receipts (or e-receipts) to receipts@paperphobic.com. " Here's a big tip that will unconfuse many of your visitors: PUT THAT SENTENCE ON YOUR HOMEPAGE. I sat there for a 30-40 seconds trying to figure exactly how you'd get the expenses. I saw that you weren't scanning them, but didn't see exactly how you would get them from me. I formulated a couple theories about how you worked, including snail mail. Maybe it's because its too early and my brain isn't yet charged I didn't get to photo emailing.
  - freerobby 16y ago
    Great feedback, thanks. We're struggling with trying to cram too much info onto one page. Will try to focus on a simple, single statement like that above all else.
wmeredith 16y ago
I like it. Just installed the app and will try it for a couple of weeks. I've been looking for something like this. The iPhone capture is killer - no lame scanning of receipts.
psb 16y ago
Nice idea, I'm not crazy about the "paperphobic" but its smart to not try to use the word receipt in the name.
sushilchoudhari 16y ago
I liked the idea. One thing to think about is that these days, any receipt that is important enough for me, I am getting that in email anyways and some stores have started sending email receipts for instore purchases (eg Apple). However, the app will prove useful for people who have to file reimbursements and have to track each receipt.
- freerobby 16y ago
  I think that's true for some folks, but not others. Lots of normals still buy expensive TVs at Best Buy, WalMart, etc. and get a paper receipt. Thanks for checking it out.
perlgeek 16y ago
Ok, what happens when I send an email with a photo of a receipt to that email address? As a side node I find these green bubbles irritating that popped up while I moved my mouse over the page; then I moved them over some of these list items, expecting to get an explanation... no green bubbles. If you must include such a gimmic, please make sure it's easy to grasp how they are triggered, so that one can actually use (or avoid) them.
- freerobby 16y ago
  When you send us a receipt, we store it, create an account for you, and send you a welcome email with all the info you need to upload more receipts and view them online. Sorry you feel our tooltips are a gimmick - we used them because we felt it was the best way to convey the most information without crowding the screen with excessive copy.
  - dmix 16y ago
    > we felt it was the best way to convey the most information without crowding the screen with excessive copy The problem is that there are too many bullet points and not enough spacing between them. Also there being two columns of bullets its easy to lose track of which bullet its about (left or right side).
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - ydant 16y ago
    The tooltips would be ok, but they overlap the bullet icon, which makes it feel cluttered. I'm ok with the idea of changing some part of the page based on my movements, but I think it'd work better if you changed the screenshot (perhaps with an illustration of the feature) instead of overlapping the bullet icon. The animated screenshot with the balloons feels very busy. As I was typing this up, "Robby" popped in and asked me to talk with him. This feels a little too eager - and I'm never sure if these popups are real people actually contacting me (which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable) or just automated (which is annoying and makes you wonder if there's really someone there or not). All in all, the site feels busy. Your 37Signals style "Premium Plans" page is a lot easier to follow, but it suffers the same balloon tip problem. I'm not sure "complete protection" is a good two-word summary of the premium feature. It kind of implies that my data's going to be released to the public unless I pony up some cash... It looks like it has potential. Sort of a simplified / low overhead Evernote.
Roritharr 16y ago
How long is your OCR code, or do you use foreign products?
- christopherslee 16y ago
  if it's like other expense report apps, it's probably mechanical turk-like, and not OCR. ingenious though.
ironchef 16y ago
I'm curious...how are you differentiating from expensecloud or expensify? I've used both (and like both..in slightly different ways). The other piece they have (which I like) is they integrate with credit card companies / banks...so I can do my expenses with a combination of iphone-snapped receipts (small stuff) along with cc receipts.
- freerobby 16y ago
  The goal is to provide a lower-friction product and compete on ease of use. E.g. no special formats to follow, no pesky emails reminding you to update certain things - just upload and go (we're not quite there yet). In some cases that means we won't be a replacement for a service like expensify, and that's fine with us.
awolf 16y ago
>Place your mouse over any feature for more information You have an iOS app so may I suggest that you make your website fully iOS compatible?
- freerobby 16y ago
  We have a special iOS-friendly template for most of the pages on the site. Or do you mean you want the option to skip that template?
  - awolf 16y ago
    I followed your link from HN on my iPad. I say instructions telling me to mouse over and couldn't. Didn't dig much further into it than that though.
netmau5 16y ago
Posted about a very similar idea on our blog, http://blog.sparkmuse.com/nexpense-success-through-perseverance http://blog.sparkmuse.com/nexpense-success-through-persevera... . You've got some competition, but I think there is some great opportunity in the market too.
appswell 16y ago
Great idea. I hate hate hate paper receipts, and have definitely lost the ability to return things because I couldn't find the receipt 8 months later.
smiler 16y ago
If only the UK tax / business law allowed people to submit digital copies of receipts. I still have to provide every original receipt :(
- gcheong 16y ago
  What if the original is digital?
wazoox 16y ago
I love the name, for a start :) Home page before logging in: Nice, the tooltips appear a bit randomly, sometimes I have to shake the mouse around to get it. payment : amazon.com only. Paypal would be nice.... money : $ only. Others would be nice (euro, pound...) and not too hard. From some Item screen : my Items is a bit hard to spot. A bigger,more centered button would be nice. The presentation lacks clarity. Maybe a clear square div containing the text would be better; and the description text could be a bit bigger, too. About new Item : Hmmm, I'd really like an additional input for price. Yeah, I know, you're trying to get it as simple and unencumbered as possible :)
ffumarola 16y ago
I'm going to echo the sentiment of a few other people and say that the tooltips are a) distracting and b) not very useful because it makes me work to see what you're trying to convey. Examples from the free side: * Both no scanner and e-receipt compatible have the same tooltip, why not just add a bullet point "Email e-receipts or photos to xx@yy.com" You'll replace 2 bullet points with one * Warranty and return notifications are self explanatory - no tooltip * Tagging "by purchase category" gets rid of the tooltip * Searching & Sorting are self explanatory - no tooltip I would definitely keep concentrating on being concise like you are, but having the tooltips seems like cleaning your room by putting everything in the closet. At least to me. You can have another page to go into more depth if you have that much information, but it doesn't seem necessary for most of the tooltips.
lsc 16y ago
just my $0.02... but those live-chat windows? personally, I find them irritating. I have no idea if I am in the majority here, though, so you may be best off ignoring my opinion.
- willgodfrey 16y ago
  Not only do live-chat windows pop up at you, but they make an annoying, little noise as well. It is obnoxious to say the least.
  - freerobby 16y ago
    I turned off the sound on the homepage. Most of the feedback we get from normals concerning the popups is very positive - I'd definitely recommend it at as a customer development tool.
albemuth 16y ago
About the logo, to me it seems like it's backwards, digital->paper, if you v-flip it then it looks like paper being digitized.
marksoper 16y ago
When I travel on business, I carry bunches of receipts around in my wallet - it sucks. I downloaded paperphobic and look forward to using it on my next trip.

63 points by freerobby 16y ago

PaperPhobic is a cloud-based receipt organization system. No signup is required, you can email photos of your receipts (or e-receipts) to receipts@paperphobic.com. We also have a free iPhone app you can use. Notable paid features include transcription of price/date/description/categories, and super-quick expense/reimbursement report generation. We are not the first to enter this space, but we feel we can compete on ease of use for the receipt uploader. Would greatly appreciate feedback on the service and product. Thanks!

chrisfarms 16y ago
Pretty sure this paragraph should be on the website. I had to come here to really understand what I was looking at.
- freerobby 16y ago
  Thanks.
DevX101 16y ago
"you can email photos of your receipts (or e-receipts) to receipts@paperphobic.com. " Here's a big tip that will unconfuse many of your visitors: PUT THAT SENTENCE ON YOUR HOMEPAGE. I sat there for a 30-40 seconds trying to figure exactly how you'd get the expenses. I saw that you weren't scanning them, but didn't see exactly how you would get them from me. I formulated a couple theories about how you worked, including snail mail. Maybe it's because its too early and my brain isn't yet charged I didn't get to photo emailing.
- freerobby 16y ago
  Great feedback, thanks. We're struggling with trying to cram too much info onto one page. Will try to focus on a simple, single statement like that above all else.

wmeredith 16y ago

I like it. Just installed the app and will try it for a couple of weeks. I've been looking for something like this. The iPhone capture is killer - no lame scanning of receipts.

psb 16y ago

Nice idea, I'm not crazy about the "paperphobic" but its smart to not try to use the word receipt in the name.

sushilchoudhari 16y ago

I liked the idea. One thing to think about is that these days, any receipt that is important enough for me, I am getting that in email anyways and some stores have started sending email receipts for instore purchases (eg Apple). However, the app will prove useful for people who have to file reimbursements and have to track each receipt.

freerobby 16y ago
I think that's true for some folks, but not others. Lots of normals still buy expensive TVs at Best Buy, WalMart, etc. and get a paper receipt. Thanks for checking it out.

perlgeek 16y ago

Ok, what happens when I send an email with a photo of a receipt to that email address? As a side node I find these green bubbles irritating that popped up while I moved my mouse over the page; then I moved them over some of these list items, expecting to get an explanation... no green bubbles. If you must include such a gimmic, please make sure it's easy to grasp how they are triggered, so that one can actually use (or avoid) them.

freerobby 16y ago
When you send us a receipt, we store it, create an account for you, and send you a welcome email with all the info you need to upload more receipts and view them online. Sorry you feel our tooltips are a gimmick - we used them because we felt it was the best way to convey the most information without crowding the screen with excessive copy.
- dmix 16y ago
  > we felt it was the best way to convey the most information without crowding the screen with excessive copy The problem is that there are too many bullet points and not enough spacing between them. Also there being two columns of bullets its easy to lose track of which bullet its about (left or right side).
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- ydant 16y ago
  The tooltips would be ok, but they overlap the bullet icon, which makes it feel cluttered. I'm ok with the idea of changing some part of the page based on my movements, but I think it'd work better if you changed the screenshot (perhaps with an illustration of the feature) instead of overlapping the bullet icon. The animated screenshot with the balloons feels very busy. As I was typing this up, "Robby" popped in and asked me to talk with him. This feels a little too eager - and I'm never sure if these popups are real people actually contacting me (which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable) or just automated (which is annoying and makes you wonder if there's really someone there or not). All in all, the site feels busy. Your 37Signals style "Premium Plans" page is a lot easier to follow, but it suffers the same balloon tip problem. I'm not sure "complete protection" is a good two-word summary of the premium feature. It kind of implies that my data's going to be released to the public unless I pony up some cash... It looks like it has potential. Sort of a simplified / low overhead Evernote.

Roritharr 16y ago

How long is your OCR code, or do you use foreign products?

christopherslee 16y ago
if it's like other expense report apps, it's probably mechanical turk-like, and not OCR. ingenious though.

ironchef 16y ago

I'm curious...how are you differentiating from expensecloud or expensify? I've used both (and like both..in slightly different ways). The other piece they have (which I like) is they integrate with credit card companies / banks...so I can do my expenses with a combination of iphone-snapped receipts (small stuff) along with cc receipts.

freerobby 16y ago
The goal is to provide a lower-friction product and compete on ease of use. E.g. no special formats to follow, no pesky emails reminding you to update certain things - just upload and go (we're not quite there yet). In some cases that means we won't be a replacement for a service like expensify, and that's fine with us.

awolf 16y ago

>Place your mouse over any feature for more information You have an iOS app so may I suggest that you make your website fully iOS compatible?

freerobby 16y ago
We have a special iOS-friendly template for most of the pages on the site. Or do you mean you want the option to skip that template?
- awolf 16y ago
  I followed your link from HN on my iPad. I say instructions telling me to mouse over and couldn't. Didn't dig much further into it than that though.

netmau5 16y ago

Posted about a very similar idea on our blog, http://blog.sparkmuse.com/nexpense-success-through-perseverance http://blog.sparkmuse.com/nexpense-success-through-persevera... . You've got some competition, but I think there is some great opportunity in the market too.

appswell 16y ago

Great idea. I hate hate hate paper receipts, and have definitely lost the ability to return things because I couldn't find the receipt 8 months later.

smiler 16y ago

If only the UK tax / business law allowed people to submit digital copies of receipts. I still have to provide every original receipt :(

gcheong 16y ago
What if the original is digital?

wazoox 16y ago

I love the name, for a start :) Home page before logging in: Nice, the tooltips appear a bit randomly, sometimes I have to shake the mouse around to get it. payment : amazon.com only. Paypal would be nice.... money : $ only. Others would be nice (euro, pound...) and not too hard. From some Item screen : my Items is a bit hard to spot. A bigger,more centered button would be nice. The presentation lacks clarity. Maybe a clear square div containing the text would be better; and the description text could be a bit bigger, too. About new Item : Hmmm, I'd really like an additional input for price. Yeah, I know, you're trying to get it as simple and unencumbered as possible :)

ffumarola 16y ago

I'm going to echo the sentiment of a few other people and say that the tooltips are a) distracting and b) not very useful because it makes me work to see what you're trying to convey. Examples from the free side: * Both no scanner and e-receipt compatible have the same tooltip, why not just add a bullet point "Email e-receipts or photos to xx@yy.com" You'll replace 2 bullet points with one * Warranty and return notifications are self explanatory - no tooltip * Tagging "by purchase category" gets rid of the tooltip * Searching & Sorting are self explanatory - no tooltip I would definitely keep concentrating on being concise like you are, but having the tooltips seems like cleaning your room by putting everything in the closet. At least to me. You can have another page to go into more depth if you have that much information, but it doesn't seem necessary for most of the tooltips.

lsc 16y ago

just my $0.02... but those live-chat windows? personally, I find them irritating. I have no idea if I am in the majority here, though, so you may be best off ignoring my opinion.

willgodfrey 16y ago
Not only do live-chat windows pop up at you, but they make an annoying, little noise as well. It is obnoxious to say the least.
- freerobby 16y ago
  I turned off the sound on the homepage. Most of the feedback we get from normals concerning the popups is very positive - I'd definitely recommend it at as a customer development tool.

albemuth 16y ago

About the logo, to me it seems like it's backwards, digital->paper, if you v-flip it then it looks like paper being digitized.

marksoper 16y ago

When I travel on business, I carry bunches of receipts around in my wallet - it sucks. I downloaded paperphobic and look forward to using it on my next trip.