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I like this idea very much. Although given the incumbents and their aggressive pricing, it's hard to eventually productize something and build a business, if th

I like this idea very much. Although given the incumbents and their aggressive pricing, it's hard to eventually productize something and build a business, if that's your goal. The space is also complicated with regulations that are not easy to translate from one country / state to another. So an open source approach may not work perfectly. However, I'd love to see some Open Source options that can piggyback on existing services, e.g. QBO api, so we can avoid paying the advanced features that are expensive, a lock-in and leaves something to be desired for customizability.

bengtan 6y ago
Hi, Thanks for your feedback. > it's hard to eventually productize something and build a business, if that's your goal. True, but hopefully once it gets enough eyeballs, a monetisation route will reveal itself. I have two prospective ideas: * Charging a one-off fee (in the range of $40-$80?) for a premium desktop edition of the software. Sorta-like COTS. This dovetails nicely with the 'non-cloud' idea. * Just slap advertising on the web edition and hope it works :) > The space is also complicated with regulations that are not easy to translate from one country / state to another. So an open source approach may not work perfectly. Agree, but I'm adopting a 'wait and see' approach. > However, I'd love to see some Open Source options that can piggyback on existing services, e.g. QBO api, so we can avoid paying the advanced features that are expensive, a lock-in and leaves something to be desired for customizability. Oh, interesting! I didn't know QuickBooks had an online API. Thanks, I'll look into it.
- tech_taxpayer 6y ago
  Be careful with the opportunistic view. Nothing wrong with being optimistic, but if from a fundamental business analysis something doesn't seem to make sense at the moment, then take caution before diving in. Of course this is by no mean to discourage from pursuing it. Mainly just commenting on your wait-and-see-hope-it-will-work framework. Overall I'd plause for the attempt, and would love to get in touch specifically for the QBO api. That's something I'm contemplating myself.

bengtan 6y ago

Hi, Thanks for your feedback. > it's hard to eventually productize something and build a business, if that's your goal. True, but hopefully once it gets enough eyeballs, a monetisation route will reveal itself. I have two prospective ideas: * Charging a one-off fee (in the range of $40-$80?) for a premium desktop edition of the software. Sorta-like COTS. This dovetails nicely with the 'non-cloud' idea. * Just slap advertising on the web edition and hope it works :) > The space is also complicated with regulations that are not easy to translate from one country / state to another. So an open source approach may not work perfectly. Agree, but I'm adopting a 'wait and see' approach. > However, I'd love to see some Open Source options that can piggyback on existing services, e.g. QBO api, so we can avoid paying the advanced features that are expensive, a lock-in and leaves something to be desired for customizability. Oh, interesting! I didn't know QuickBooks had an online API. Thanks, I'll look into it.

tech_taxpayer 6y ago
Be careful with the opportunistic view. Nothing wrong with being optimistic, but if from a fundamental business analysis something doesn't seem to make sense at the moment, then take caution before diving in. Of course this is by no mean to discourage from pursuing it. Mainly just commenting on your wait-and-see-hope-it-will-work framework. Overall I'd plause for the attempt, and would love to get in touch specifically for the QBO api. That's something I'm contemplating myself.