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Feature Release: Dashboard, Persistent Login, Transfers in the Transactions Calendar

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 by James

I’m very excited to present to you some new features and one small tweak. PocketSmith now has a Dashboard, the application login page has had an overhaul, we keep you logged in longer if you wish, and we’ve tweaked the way that transfers are represented in the Transaction Calendar.

PocketSmith Dashboard

We’ve always intended to have a dashboard – one area where you can get a top-down view of what is coming up, what is being spent, and how you are tracking against your budgets. It took a while to get there: the application has been evolving pretty rapidly, and the data we can show you has been changing too. With a stable feature set over the past 4 months, we decided to take the plunge.

This also solves a number of issues around the flow of PocketSmith. Previously, selecting what area to head to after login was needed, whereas a Dashboard means there is one solid consolidated area that people can go to. In keeping with the whole picture-thousand-words thing, here is the result (fresh from my personal account):

James' PocketSmith Dashboard. Isn't he trusting!

We’d love to hear what you think about the new Dashboard, get in touch with us at contact@pocketsmith.com, or even leave a note in the comments below.

This particular build has sparked off a massive amount of discussion between ourselves around how we display and process certain information in PocketSmith. As a result of this, we have some pretty awesome mockups that I am chomping at the bit to make reality. You’ll certainly hear more of this soon.

Cleaned Up Login Page

With the release of the Dashboard, we have been able to give the login page a spruce-up and strip-down to its bare necessities. We really like the new look, and find that logging into the application is a little bit more pleasurable now. There are some pretty nifty new animations in there, and we’ve also added in a few inspirational quotes into the login process as well. Have a quote you’d like to see in the mix? Just get in touch with us at contact@pocketsmith.com!

Out with the old...

...in with the new!

Persistent Login

Something else that has been added is the option to remain logged into PocketSmith if you so choose. This has been a long time coming, and we’re happy that we have been able to work around the technicals and deliver this to you. So if you select the “Remember me for 2 weeks” checkbox on the login page now, you will be remembered. If you return to a long-running session, you will be delivered to a loading page. This will load up your forecast balances and take you straight to your dashboard!

Transfers in the Transactions Calendar

Not so much a feature, but a tweak. Transactions which are assigned to a transfer Forecast Event are taken out of the straight income / expense totals in the transaction calendar now, and displayed in a separate area totaling your transfer transactions. Makes the numbers far more accurate in terms of what you have actually spent and earned.

Much more to come!

2010 is going to be a very large year. We have some great ideas, and some fantastic re-interpretations on how we currently display financial information. We’re going to be completing the two most requested features on Uservoice in the medium term, and releasing some exciting new ways of connecting your money to your life.

Stay tuned!

Posted in Releases | No Comments » Comments

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-07

Sunday, February 7th, 2010 by @Twitter

On Budgets Are Sexy: '6 Questions to Financially Get to Know Each Other' – How do you manage your finances? http://bit.ly/9Gehtx #
The New Bootstrapping on Portfolio.com: Veteran entrepreneur Christine Mason McCaull writes that technology and a… http://bit.ly/alRxYi #
Our app imay be running slowly as we suspect our host, @hivelocity is having hiccups. We'll keep you posted! js #
We're back up and running again now, sorry about the glitch everyone! :jw #
Note: service will be intermittent as our @hivelocity servers are rebooting without notice. Apologies everyone for the unscheduled outage. #
OK, guys at @hivelocity had issue with a power circuit that went down. All should be well again now; thanks for your patience! #
Why 20-Somethings Hate Personal Finance? http://bit.ly/9iRNvT #
RT @amatix: RT @craigds: Google phasing out support for IE6 – w00t! http://tr.im/Ms9T #
If you're in the South Island, look to the sky to see the ISS fly by at 10.09pm. It should be visible for about 6 minutes js #
RT @willie_apiata: @PocketSmith check out this pic of the space station over welly! classic. http://bit.ly/cLDea1 #
RT @CanadianFinance: Enter to win 1/10 books or 3 @PocketSmith accounts in Canadian Finance Blog’s 1 Year Anniversary! http://bit.ly/c0zsgL #
"Love and Money: Do Savers Seek Spenders?" on Get Rich Slowly – Differences can help you grow as a person http://bit.ly/cuMLVU #
Lol! RT @PolarBearFarm: "JavaScript is the incredibly hot girl at the party that brings her loser boyfriend DOM" (via @me1000) Nailed it. #
The March 2010 “Manage Your Money” Challenge: Featuring Pocketsmith – Are You In Or Out? http://bit.ly/ba4QZE #
RT @thedistiller: From BusinessWeek: Acacia: The Company Tech Loves to Hate. Good article on patent trolling. http://bit.ly/8YpdUd #

Posted in 74 | No Comments » Comments

A New Year and a New Perspective

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 by James

So we’re rapidly closing in on the end of the first month of 2010, and I thought I’d take this moment to do a little bit of motivational-navel-gazing. Just bear with me for a moment. Well, for this post.

We’ve found ourselves shifting gears in the past 4 months, and are gradually reaching some sort of level of pre-pubescent maturity as a company.

After 14 months of the thrill of the unknown, moving the business forward at a rapid pace, I found myself heading towards stasis towards the end of last year. With the start of PocketSmith being so exciting, with each hour of ‘work’ taking us significantly closer to our end goal, developing and formalising a proper ‘plan’ in the past 6 months drastically changed the way that I looked at my days.

I felt like I was cruising along during the last quarter of 2009. Of course, we were still achieving great things, but I did feel that I had lost some of that eternal drive that kept me going for 12-16 hours a day for the first year. So why did this level of drive peter out?

In thinking about this over summer, I realised something. We now have a plan; a defined strategy. We know what we need to achieve, prepare, build, tweak and enhance. We have a great market strategy.

So all of a sudden, I was no longer working from hour-to-hour, achieving something each minute; I was working day-to-day, achieving something each hour. It would appear that I thrive on the unknown, and the ability to make a real difference quickly. And since we are now relatively established, everything is planned and mapped out for the medium term – there is less unknown for me to feed on now.

How did I fix this? I looked deeper into our strategy and plan. The unknown is now in the details – not in the future. And since starting to look at things in this light, I’m firing again.

So in conclusion, here is to a fantastic 2010, and indeed a fantastic decade. May the excitement of the unknown find you!

Posted in Ramblings, Startup tips | No Comments » Comments

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-24

Sunday, January 24th, 2010 by @Twitter

PocketSmith User Reviews on MoneySmartLife.com – Hugo & Sam http://bit.ly/8OkTAF #
Guest Post by Sam Schuurman from iThnk.com: 'Cliches About Free' – Who wants a Free Beer? http://bit.ly/6VfHHg #
Happy Birthday @Giapo! http://bit.ly/53dio2 #
RT @thebankchannel: Citi-backed social money comparison site Bundle launches http://bit.ly/7QIjBp (via @Finextra) #
It's about time that flag of Brittany got a friend http://bit.ly/85jdc9 #
On Get Rich Slowly: 'Planning a (Debt-Free) Dream Vacation'. Great travel resources including a Vacation Budget and… http://bit.ly/5ateID #

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The time is right to get going

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 by Jason

Note: This is the introductory post of ‘This is Just A Start(up)’, a series of articles on growing a grassroots tech business published on 3news.co.nz. You can find the original post at the following address: http://www.3news.co.nz/The-time-is-right-to-get-going/tabid/1283/articleID/135250/Default.aspx

fortune

In the process of writing up those resolutions for the coming year, perhaps you should consider taking a step towards realising that idea you’ve been harbouring.

This summer, make the time to pour yourself a glass of something nice, sit back, and consider the possibility of making this idea a reality.

It may be the next big thing, or perhaps you’re simply looking for a change in lifestyle and some financial freedom. And sometimes, all that’s needed is a simple nudge to motivate you to start.

Once you overcome that uncertainty, the excitement kicks in and your reward is an adventure that lies ahead.

The sheer thought of being an entrepreneur was one that never crossed my mind in the early years. I had ideas, but the perceived challenges that lay ahead seemed too difficult.

My nudge, believe it or not, came from a fortune-teller vending machine on a quiet Tuesday evening in Monterey, California. There it sat, off a boardwalk, looking decidedly lonely, bearing a suspicious similarity to the Zoltar machine in the 80’s Tom Hanks movie, ‘Big’.

Not being of the superstitious sort I nevertheless slipped a quarter in with some trepidation, and while thankfully I didn’t age by twenty years, out popped a card with a fortune on it. Let me share it with you.

It says, “Now is the time to start that new project you have been contemplating.

Your deliberation will pay off in the long run because doubt is the father of invention and the key to knowledge. This new-found industry pays debts, while if you despair, you will only increase them.”

“The time is right to get going. If you are to move the world, first you must move yourself. If you find yourself working too hard to achieve your goal, you may find basic truth.”

“The great person with vigour would demand the rightness of things, timeliness of action, and propriety of method. In this way, power does not become sheer force. You will be surprised at what you will accomplish.”
A few years on, and with the help of my co-founders, PocketSmith is becoming an increasing reality.

Over the coming year, we’ll be blogging on entrepreneurship and starting up, because we think New Zealand’s a great place to realise your ideas, and we’d love to share our tips, thoughts and experiences, and engage in a conversation with you.

We’re also big believers of community and collaboration – so once you’ve considered that possibility, share it with some friends and see what happens. The feedback might inspire you to take the next step.

Remember: the time is right to get going! Start by talking to someone these holidays, you will find confidantes, critics, advisors, and best of all – allies. And as the fortune goes – you will be surprised at what you will accomplish.

Be safe these holidays, we look forward to seeing you in the New Year

Posted in Startup tips | 1 Comment » Comments

‘Cliches About Free’ – by Sam Schuurman

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 by Francois

In this guest post, Sam Schuurman (a.k.a @SocialSammy) – founder of iThnk.com and co-founder of TEDxDunedin – shares some insights on the concept of ‘Free’ in business. Since PocketSmith is freemium (anyone can create a free account from the site), we’ve always been interested in getting different perspective on our business model.

When talking about free there’s clichés aplenty…“there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, “there’s free as in speech and there is free as in beer” etc. The funny thing about clichés is that there’s often a kernel of truth to them.

There’s No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

You might be thinking…I’ve snuck into a couple of free lunches in my time and got away with it pretty much scot-free, are you sure there’s no such thing as a free lunch???

Well yes, but I’m not gunna argue with you, you can take it up with Chris Anderson. In his latest book Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business (download the free audiobook here) he acknowledges that even when the consumer is paying $0.00, somebody is still paying for it in some way, shape or form.

Who pays when its “Free Forever”…free forever could be more appropriately re-labelled as “subsidized”. With zero cost to the consumer, the cost is usually passed onto an advertiser or future acquirer. In some cases this can create a conflict of interest and almost always results in an indirect cost to the consumer.

Who pays under a “Freemium Model”…“Freemium” basically describes giving away a free version of a product with the hopes that a number of free users will love it enough to upgrade to the “premium” version. Simply put, the minority who love/need the service enough to upgrade to the premium version pay for the free users. Countless online businesses use this model simply because the marginal cost for hosting each free users is almost $0.00 – long live the longtail.

Who pays when there is absolute “Freedom To Pay”….also known as the donation model. This is where the generous consumers who actually uses the donate button funds the service for the huge majority who take the free version and run. In the case of free wordpress plugins this model sometimes leads to underpaid developers, poor plugin maintenance which ultimately costs the blogger in both time and energy.

Who pays for “Open Source”…loads of different people, in the case of the Mozilla Foundation, Google forks out for over 85% of their revenue. In the case of Linux there are a number of large organisations (e.g. IBM & Intel) that dedicate the time of their developers to making and submitting changes – don’t believe me then check this chart. Both Firefox and Linux also also sell T-shirts, mugs and other fan gear which gives the consumer the ability to (financially) support the cause. There is often also an additional cost to the consumer, this is the time cost associated with the additional hours dealing with bugs.

Um duh’…there are pros & cons for each form of free…when choosing between similar types of software each using a different free model you’re clearly making a trade off between the various pros and the sometimes not so obvious cons of each.

Free Beer vs Feer Speech

Free beer is supposedly the bait that is used to hook a consumer. Free speech is supposedly free with no strings attached. To some extent the same is true for the online world.

Free software is somewhat like free beer, as indicated above, someone is always paying. However, speech is now freer than ever. We can now publish what ever we want whenever we want. Your newly empowered consumer voice now gives you (along with everyone else) the ability to air your concerns, wants, needs, dreams and desires to the world.

Who Wins In The World of Free?

The real winner in the world of free is the uber-smart consumer who will take advantage of one or multiple forms of “free“. A truly savvy consumer will also maximise their bliss by using the web to supercharge their Free Speech and get more of what they want.

On the flip side of this it’s the companies who attempt some sort of free (as in $0.00) and are open, responsive and even encourage the free speech of thier consumers that will really excel in the world of free – Phil Osborne would call this Free/Style Business (video here).

If you’re interested; this is a great post about 3 variations of free from OnStartUps.com, and this is a great Trendwatching briefing about FreeLove – enjoy

Posted in Business Models, Marketing | No Comments » Comments

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-17

Sunday, January 17th, 2010 by @Twitter

To celebrate her 1 year blog anniversary, Kelly Gehrmann Whalen is inviting you to win some amazing prices… http://bit.ly/4D900t #
Very interesting post on Moolanomy today: "How To Talk To Your Partner About Money" by Miranda Marquit http://bit.ly/4×2Ea3 #

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PocketSmith User Reviews on MoneySmartLife.com – Hugo & Sam

Friday, December 18th, 2009 by Francois

Back in August 2009, I sent an email to Ben – the blogger behind MoneySmartLife.com – asking him if he was interested in writing a piece on PocketSmith. At that time, he was too busy to review our application properly and consequently declined my offer. However, he came out with a great idea: if we had any of our current users that would be open to letting him do an email interview, he could email them some questions and publish their responses on his site.

I really liked the concept of having our users sharing their experience with PocketSmith in a blog post – their feedback would also provide Ben with fair insights on how PocketSmith can make a real difference! I offered him to keep in touch with some of our users and let him informed of any volunteer that would be interested in participating to an email interview.

The first volunteer was Hugo Vitorino from Portugal. Hugo has been a PocketSmith fan for over a year now and has been regularly sending feedback through, helping us improving the user experience across the board. Here are a few highlights from his interview:

2) What features of PocketSmith do you tell your friends & family about?
‘The biggest feature on PocketSmith that I tell to my friends & family (and everyone else too) is the ability to forecast the accounts on a daily basis for a full year, allowing me to really see how my savings will be on such a long date”‘

7) Any final words for people that are considering giving PocketSmith a try?
‘Well, like I’ve been saying, there are other tools that have the same financial purpose, but I still haven’t seen anything like the ability to forecast your accounts. Try it for some time and I bet you’ll fall in love with it.‘

While Hugo was the first person to be contacted by Ben, Sam Law from New Zealand was the first user to have his interview published on MoneySmartLife.com. Sam has certainly been one of the most patient of our beta users, and has been extremely helpful with his bug reports and feature suggestions. Here is an extract of his interview:

1) Tell us more about the beta test group and the role it’s played in adding functionality to PocketSmith.
‘The guys at PocketSmith have certainly made sure their users play a big part in where the tool could go, it’s great to get the warm fuzzy feeling of suggesting something then seeing it in the application a number of days/weeks later.‘

6) Have you used any of the mobile functionality like the mobile app, twitter updates, and text messaging?
‘I have used the mobile app, and I think it’s great for keeping up to date with everything on the go. As for twitter/text messaging I haven’t really used it a whole lot because I’m always close to a full computer.‘

If you’d like to read more, you can find the full interviews here: Hugo & Sam. We at PocketSmith are very lucky to have such passionate users – it’s been great being able to have people like Hugo and Sam put the application though its paces

Thanks all for giving us the energy to keep doing what we’re doing, and get better along the way – PocketSmith loves you!

Posted in General, User experience | 4 Comments » Comments

One of the most important Key Success Factor in setting up your Startup: Picking the right Co-founder(s)

Monday, November 2nd, 2009 by Francois

It has been a while since I last read Paul Graham’s essays on startups. Paul is a programmer, venture capitalist and essayist – he also started the Y-Combinator to provide seed fundings to startups, particularly started by younger, more technically-oriented founders. If you’ve never read one of his (absolutely amazing) essays, I strongly encourage you to do so! Paul’s essays have been a great source of inspiration to our work with PocketSmith and The Distiller. Going through ‘How to Start A Startup‘ and ‘The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups‘ reminded me how important it is to pick the right co-founders.

With PocketSmith, we are almost 18 months down the track and I sometimes take my two co-founders for granted. I have recently witnessed startups going through incredibly difficult times because they didn’t get the right ‘balance’ or ‘fit’ from the beginning – I am not sure how they are going to end up but there are lots of time and energy wasted where founders should focus on making their businesses successful.

The question then is how to get the right ‘fit’? Obviously, there is no ’secret formula’ but there are Key Success Factors I’d like to share with you:

In a technology startup, the founders should include technical people. While it sounds obvious, I have seen many cases in which it wasn’t the case. You need hackers who get their hand dirty and LOVE building cool stuff. Out of three co-founders, at least 2 of them need to be coders/hackers/designers – confrontation helps ideas get hashed out better!

Ideally, your team needs synergistic skills. Don’t partner with people who likes to do what you are good at! In other words, find people who are good at what you suck at. All in one, your team should be able to understand technology, marketing, sales, finances, operations, etc… Also, you and your co-founders need to be adaptable – you are going to deal with limited resources so you need people that can embrace these limitations instead of complain about them.

Include people from different cultures. We live in a globalised world – people study overseas, learn multiple languages and adapt their behaviors to different cultures. Differences lead to creative solutions! Moreover, chances are that you will be selling your product/service in various countries around the world. A good understanding of cultures/languages is required to be truly international – having that understanding from the start is a key asset for the future of your company.

In his ‘Hierarchy of Success‘, Seth Godin ranks ‘Execution’ as the less important factor to be successful. Instead, he praises ‘Attitude‘ as being a key factor of success – when looking for co-founders, pay attention to their attitudes. How do they deal with failure? When will they quit? How do they treat competitors? These questions have to be raised.

With regards to attitude, trust should be the most important criteria for choosing a co-founder. You are going to be busy dealing with your workload so you cannot afford to watch over each other with every move. In short, you need to be able to trust that the person has the right capabilities and the right motivation (Honesty plays a big part in Trust). Also, remember that your co-founders bring you more than just their competences and capabilities – they give you moral support. You should trust them to be with you when things go wrong (and they will!).

Last but not least, pick people who are passionate about the space you’re in. Jason, James and I have great passion for building a successful global SaaS company. We are not going to give up until we’ve achieved this objective!

*BONUS*: Don’t forget to team up with people you can have FUN with!

Finally, I’d like to quote Eric Goh who said ‘Found your company with people you really trust, respect, and admire’ (I’m lucky to have ‘brothers I really trust, respect, and admire!). I’d also like to thank the good guys at LoopSolutions and Litmos for featuring truly inspirational teams

Sources:

‘How to Start a Startup‘ by Paul Graham

‘The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups‘ by Paul Graham

‘What’s The Optimal Number Of Co-Founders For A Startup? 2.09!‘ by Dharmesh Shah

‘Keep Your Startup Co-Founder Closer‘ by Ryan Roberts

‘Important Questions Startup Co-Founders Should Ask Each Other‘ on OnStartup.com

‘How to start a technology company – Startup advice, Part 1 “Choosing co-founders” by Eric Goh

Posted in Business structure, Startup tips, The Distiller | No Comments » Comments

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-01

Sunday, November 1st, 2009 by @Twitter

From Consumerism Commentary: Podcast 27: Man Vs. Debt and Frugal Travel – Traveling tips collected throughout Adam… http://bit.ly/3HTwPr #
Francois in Auckland doing a shameless plug for Esquires Coffee Houses (cause you get free wifi You kind of have… http://bit.ly/G7Lgd #
The 10 Best Financial Blogs for Beginners – Let's get started http://bit.ly/fL7nY #
RT @five15design: Heart Foundation tick for @pocketsmith now with 99% more megrobytes with every login #megrobytes #
We've updated our features page with pretty pictures and more megrobytes – check it out http://bit.ly/21DDZG #
11 Bizzare Ways People Avoid Paying The Bills – lol ^^ http://bit.ly/uG2xC #
Otago's Moeraki Boulders at Bing.com today http://bit.ly/vXdww #
fb: I am back to Dunedin tomorrow, cannot wait to catchup with Jase and James – Ive been missing my brothers http://bit.ly/2gd2qp #
Spamusement! "Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines" – hilarious http://bit.ly/GXESE #
PocketSmith on wakoopa.com, a social network for software! http://bit.ly/37pERN #
Very interesting article on Moolanomy 'The Importance of Personal Money Management' http://bit.ly/6fcE8 #
fb: Got the PocketSmith Twitter List running! Feel free to join the party http://bit.ly/2i0AqI #
James and Dan Bregmen working hard to set up The Distiller office! Feel free to pay us a visit, we'd love to have a… http://bit.ly/rLYmf #