5 ms·

Zen99 (YC S14) Makes Life Easier for Freelancers with Finance, Insurance Tools

36 points by artfuldodger 12y ago

sachinag 12y ago
What is with the Zen prefix? Zenefits, ZenPayroll, and now Zen99 - all went through YC and all do benefits/payroll/legal administrivia.
- crazy1van 12y ago
  In this case I think it's meant to rhyme with "1099" like the IRS form.
  - tzier 12y ago
    Spot on.
ndcrandall 12y ago
I can honestly say this was the biggest pain for me as a contractor. I decided to go without health insurance and paid the fine for not paying quarterly taxes just because I didn't want to deal with the hassle. Even though this is a free tool, I would have gladly paid for it to help alleviate those issues.
- tzier 12y ago
  Noted! We're definitely excited to help solve this pain point. Nice to know that users would be willing to pay for it - I think that makes the "free" even more compelling.
chime 12y ago
Just signed up. I am probably your ideal user. I work 100% on 1099, I buy my own health insurance, and I wouldn't mind paying you if the service was a net gain for me. My thoughts: 1) The sign up form has a First________Last name field. I thought I would tab from First and land on a hidden Last field because of the gap between the two. Tabbing just moved me down to the next set of fields. If the words First and Last had been closer, I would not have been confused. 2) I cannot type in the date in the New Earning report. It sucks to click 5 times to get to Jan 31, Feb 28 etc. 3) I expected some Q&A about my consulting/tax profile. I file jointly with my wife who is on W2. I expense out things like home-office, cellphone bills etc. I would love to specify these in advance/batch so the tax estimate is more accurate. I don't want to put in every identical phone bill manually. 4) You don't cover Florida for health insurance yet. Understandable for a beta but please don't make this service just for CA/NY.
- tzier 12y ago
  All good points. (1) and (2) are easy fixes. (3) is on the way. And (4) is definitely coming soon - we won't just be for CA/NY.
tzier 12y ago
Tristan (CEO) here. Article went out right before we had a few hours of meetings, but I'll be around for the afternoon replying to any feedback!
ylhert 12y ago
Yan here, Zen99 CTO. Just wanted to thank everyone for their support over the past few months! I hope this can really help all of my fellow 1099er's out there(Not doing 1099 work anymore, but I did freelance development for a long time).

36 points by artfuldodger 12y ago

What is with the Zen prefix? Zenefits, ZenPayroll, and now Zen99 - all went through YC and all do benefits/payroll/legal administrivia.

crazy1van 12y ago
In this case I think it's meant to rhyme with "1099" like the IRS form.
- tzier 12y ago
  Spot on.

ndcrandall 12y ago

I can honestly say this was the biggest pain for me as a contractor. I decided to go without health insurance and paid the fine for not paying quarterly taxes just because I didn't want to deal with the hassle. Even though this is a free tool, I would have gladly paid for it to help alleviate those issues.

tzier 12y ago
Noted! We're definitely excited to help solve this pain point. Nice to know that users would be willing to pay for it - I think that makes the "free" even more compelling.

chime 12y ago

Just signed up. I am probably your ideal user. I work 100% on 1099, I buy my own health insurance, and I wouldn't mind paying you if the service was a net gain for me. My thoughts: 1) The sign up form has a First________Last name field. I thought I would tab from First and land on a hidden Last field because of the gap between the two. Tabbing just moved me down to the next set of fields. If the words First and Last had been closer, I would not have been confused. 2) I cannot type in the date in the New Earning report. It sucks to click 5 times to get to Jan 31, Feb 28 etc. 3) I expected some Q&A about my consulting/tax profile. I file jointly with my wife who is on W2. I expense out things like home-office, cellphone bills etc. I would love to specify these in advance/batch so the tax estimate is more accurate. I don't want to put in every identical phone bill manually. 4) You don't cover Florida for health insurance yet. Understandable for a beta but please don't make this service just for CA/NY.

tzier 12y ago
All good points. (1) and (2) are easy fixes. (3) is on the way. And (4) is definitely coming soon - we won't just be for CA/NY.

tzier 12y ago

Tristan (CEO) here. Article went out right before we had a few hours of meetings, but I'll be around for the afternoon replying to any feedback!

ylhert 12y ago

Yan here, Zen99 CTO. Just wanted to thank everyone for their support over the past few months! I hope this can really help all of my fellow 1099er's out there(Not doing 1099 work anymore, but I did freelance development for a long time).