wdaher

43 ms·

91.
by wdaher 9y ago
Great question, and definitely one of the operational complexities of the business. Our thesis is: by relying heavily on software from day one, we can actually do it with a small, super-highly-skilled team (rather than a giant army of folks
92.
by wdaher 9y ago
Pilot is not replacing Xero or QuickBooks (in fact, we do all our work in QuickBooks -- and we're definitely aware of Xero.) Pilot is a better bookkeeper , and the reason we can be a better bookkeeper is that, even with a tool like QB
93.
by wdaher 9y ago
Pilot isn't "more bookkeeping software", it's "hire this company so that you don't need to worry about getting into the weeds in QuickBooks Online every month, because you have a person who will do all your wor
94.
by wdaher 9y ago
Biggest differences vs. inDinero are: 1. Our books are stored in QuickBooks Online, and you have access, so you're never locked in. (The "Leave inDinero" migration is a pretty rough one.) (Strategically this is also important
95.
by wdaher 9y ago
My brief advice is: it's easier to work backwards. Said another way, rather than falling in love with one domain and working hard to get it, try to come up with a shortlist of ~10 domains that are acceptable where they aren't obv
96.
by wdaher 9y ago
Yes to reconciling, generally no to preparing/sending invoices, but it depends. (The Pilot Plus tier basically is "Let's talk to you and really understand your needs and put together a custom quote that makes sense given the
97.
by wdaher 9y ago
No relation to any of those companies, though naturally we do buy Pilot pens. I mean, they're just great pens.
98.
by wdaher 9y ago
This is exactly why the human is in the loop and why the solution isn't purely software — to help come up with processes and mechanisms for resolving this sort of ambiguity. (Every outsourced bookkeeper today has this challenge, and th
99.
by wdaher 9y ago
We'll do the bookkeeping to track payroll — to actually process the payroll itself, we recommend something like Gusto. (For project/job costing, we can do it, but it's definitely a premium feature which we don't support
100.
by wdaher 9y ago
Yes.
101.
by wdaher 9y ago
Yes! "Pilot recommended financial stack" is definitely at the top of the list of blog posts we want to write because it's just super-nice to get set up on the right stack from day one, rather than having to worry about it whe
102.
by wdaher 9y ago
We do all of our bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online (and only QBO) today. In the US, QBO is still definitely the market leader, and we think there are a bunch of benefits for our customers in using QBO. (Bank integrations and other third-part
103.
by wdaher 9y ago
The first time we see something totally unknown to us, just like a normal human bookkeeper, we'll have to ask you about it (assuming there isn't metadata somewhere else that helps us categorize it). But then once you've told
104.
by wdaher 9y ago
Three key differences: * Our books are stored in QuickBooks Online, and you have access, so you're never locked in. If you need to work with another provider or just don't like us anymore, you can hand your data to any bookkeeper
105.
by wdaher 9y ago
(Pilot CEO here). Here's the thing that's a bit different about Pilot: it's not a software product — it's "You have a bookkeeper who does your books (in QuickBooks Online), that you can call and email when you have
106.
by wdaher 9y ago
Pilot CEO here. Short answer is "A domain broker, some good timing, and a fair bit of money". Definitely not "a large fraction," but an amount that made us think hard about it first.
107.
by wdaher 9y ago
I definitely like the idea of providing some good, clear writeups about "You have a company--now what?". There's some care needed—we're a bookkeeping firm, so we can't give accounting/tax/legal advice, but
108.
by wdaher 9y ago
Hi HN! Pilot is a bookkeeping company that specializes in startup companies. We started it because we really struggled to find a good bookkeeping solution in our previous startups (Ksplice and Zulip). Amazingly, the state of the world of bo
109.
Show HN: Pilot: Bookkeeping for startups, using humans and software(pilot.com)
53 points by wdaher 9y ago|6 comments
110.
by wdaher 9y ago
Just signed up to "solve this problem", since we've been building ~the exact thing that post describes: an accounting service built on top of QuickBooks Online, with really robust integrations for services startups use (e.g.
111.
PlateJoy (YC S15) partners with Instacart to make healthier eating easier(venturebeat.com)
1 points by wdaher 10y ago|0 comments
112.
Rules for adjective order in English(english.stackexchange.com)
4 points by wdaher 10y ago|0 comments
113.
Taking an entrepreneur vacation (at a big company)(medium.com)
4 points by wdaher 12y ago|0 comments
114.
by wdaher 12y ago
MIT had the same problem in late 2003, and in the case of the college applications, solved the problem by simply destroying parts of the records when they were done with them. ( http://tech.mit.edu/V123/N53/53studre
115.
by wdaher 12y ago
They have a built-in recipe feature as well, sorta like GPS for cooking. "Hey, it's time to flip that salmon."
116.
by wdaher 12y ago
Very reminiscent of Passage ( http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/ )
117.
by wdaher 13y ago
This investor sounds like they're going to be a hassle to deal with throughout the life of your company, so you may be better off without him. It's one thing to offer your advice as an investor, and another to threaten to pull out
118.
by wdaher 13y ago
For pair programming or other remote collaboration stuff, I've been really happy with Screenhero (screenhero.com). [Disclaimer: I've invested in them -- but I legitimately do also use it regularly for this sort of thing.]
119.
How to name your startup(blog.bufferapp.com)
2 points by wdaher 13y ago|0 comments
120.
NPR's Planet Money Makes a T-shirt(apps.npr.org)
2 points by wdaher 13y ago|0 comments

More ›