OMA: One Month App

Comments

Dhrumil

Great job guys! I've already started using it and I love the simplicity. We normally just sketch cash flow out on paper, but this really helps! Can't wait to grow with this application.

Geof Harries

I've created an account but will wait until tomorrow to go through and set up my details. I want to be fully awake (and not coding something else in the meantime) so that I can pay full attention to the experience. Looks hot!

Brandon

First let me say, the application looks great. Next, let me say that I don't really understand what the point of this application is. What business owner isn't using some type of accounting software that doesn't already show cash flow? Albeit not in an attractive web-based format, but the functionality still exists nonetheless. And if a business owner were to use both their regular accounting software AND this software, they'd be making entries twice. Seems like a colossal waste of time to the average small business owner, who already doesn't have a lot of time to waste.

Stephen Rainey

@brandon

Thanks for your remarks. We actually came up with this application based on something that we wanted. While we have an accounting package, we were still keeping a separate spreadsheet to track our upcoming cash flow and general outlook. This isn't an application that will be applicable for every small business but I definitely think it is good for people that handle projects the way we do.

Paul Stamatiou

Kudos to the chef! I love the whole idea of OMA - even more so that pulse has come to fruition. Will be following you guys from now on..

Aaron Boeving

@Brandon -- To follow up on what Stephen said, we'd all also argue that when you have your "cash flow/business health cap" on you're not really worrying about accounting. Accounting is about invoicing, paying bills and taxes, etc... Pulse is about how your business is doing and what cash is coming in and when. While we use Quickbooks for our accounting, we felt that it fell short in this area. You may think it's a waste of time for small businesses, but we're (Clear Function) a small business and it is saving us time and allowing us to better track our cash flow. Thanks for your comments.

Justin Davies

Guys, really impressed with what you have achieved in such a short time, and I love the interface design, really terrific stuff.

I'd be interested in how big the team was in building this app and perhaps a quant in terms of number of screens, plus feedback on the way you document.

I also appreciated the list of apps that you use in the stack, some really neat stuff there for OSX. In our part of the world most developers are working with the more traditional .Net or J2EE stacks...

Thanks again

Justin

Geof Harries

@brandon - I run my own business but pay an accountant to manage the books. An application like Pulse lets me keep personal tabs on cashflow without having to ask the accountant, a paid privilege.

louis w

Congrats on the launch.

I think the add income interface needs some work, I was quite confused by it:
http://myskitch.com/louiswalch/pulse-20071025-101628.jpg

Aaron Boeving

@lous w -- Thanks for that screenshot mockup. We'll take a look at making that more clear.

Geof Harries

Louis, good point, that confused me too, until I took the risk and just punched some numbers in. Then it all made sense. Even just a little $ sign would be handy beside the form field. I'd also make that field a little bigger to account for larger deposits.

Based on my experience so far, Pulse is truly excellent. Could use a few extra hints here and there (as above) but overall, it's fun, valuable and easy to use.

Aaron Boeving

@Geof -- The only problem with using the $ sign next to it is that we wanted to leave it currency independent. We're working on something that will make this more clear and will be pushing it live later on today. Thanks for the feedback, it really helps.

Nate Klaiber

@louis w
Thanks for that feedback. We have had several others say the same thing. As Aaron said, we are working on a solution. Thanks for the detailed screen shot.

Brandon

@Aaron: Accounting and cash flow truly do go hand in hand, as is evidenced by the fact that you're making entries twice. Once on your cash flow app, another in your accounting software. You yourself say that accounting is about invoicing and paying bills, aka. receivables and payables - is that not what this program is tracking? Cash flow? Also known as the pattern of income and expenditures? I'm not saying that the program isn't functional and doesn't look great. I'm saying that I don't really see the point of the app, and since the app has launched, I've wondered what the whole point of this project is anyway. Apparently there were no rules aside from that you had to end up with an "app" at the end of the month. There were no provisions about what that app had to be. It's like me saying, "I'm going to build a house and erect it in one day!" and then when I build a garden shed and people say, "That's not really a house.", I could just say, "Well, it's a house to me!!!" .. which is fine, I guess, but disappointing to hear after someone like me checks out this site for a whole month and you have all kinds of little "CAN WE MAKE IT!?!?!" statements plastered on it along with a cute little countdown timer. It would have been nice to include a provision saying that you're not trying to impress anyone and that your online app isn't going to be very impressive. You also claim that this program will "save you time". I would love to hear about how your month-long investment of time for building something that a simple spreadsheet could accomplish just as well, is going to end up "saving" you time. I just don't see any net benefit to building or using your app.

@Geof Harries - Your accountant, at any time, can produce a simple cash flow report for you from the software they use. That way, only one of you is making income/expense entries instead of both of you doing it, wasting a colossal chunk of your personal time.

JD Graffam

Brandon, calm down. Just don't use the app if it isn't for you.

Geof Harries

@Brandon It took me an hour this morning to completely set up my account with everything required. I feel more informed and aware than before. That, my friend, is far from being a colossal waste of resources.

Heck, I bet you spent almost as much time ranting about Pulse as I did being productive with my business operations.

Aaron Boeving

Hey guys... We've made an update on the add/edit income page that louis w brought up above. For those of you with accounts, you'll notice the change on your account. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like: http://pulseapp.com/images/screenshot_addincome2.jpg. We think this clears things up. Thanks for all your input.

Brandon

@JD Graffam: Don't worry, I won't use it.

@Geof Harris: Fair enough. But, perhaps the most important point I can make here, if you're going to enter all of your transactions into a program yourself, why even bother having an accountant? That's the bulk of what they do in day-to-day accounting and bookkeeping for any business. So now you're paying an accountant to do what you're already doing on your end. If that's not a waste, then I'm not really sure what is.

Stephen Rainey

It is also worth pointing out that you do not have to enter every little transaction. Pulse was made to allow you to get as granular as you would like or not.

For instance, I have grouped together our expenses and most are recurring. And it really only takes a minute to go in and add our income items. We'll be adding these in at the beginning of projects or while speculating potential projects. That is where the bulk of our input will go and this step is before we enter it in our accounting software. Pulse was meant to be a quick tool to let you see and plan your outlook.

Geof Harries

@Brandon My company pays an accounting firm to handle taxes, various government dues, statements and other bookkeeping tasks that would other take up too much of my time. I save money going this route. Less stress, less hassle.

As for me mucking around with Pulse, it's purely out of personal interest. Yes, I have cashflow statements from the accountant. They're sitting right here beside me. But with Pulse, I can get my hands dirty in the numbers and see where we're at whenever I want. Knowledge is power.

Collin

Much like the general reaction to the 20 tools for web app development, I find some folks' intense reaction to this overall project to be a little comical.

While I can understand why some would want to use this, I'm somewhat in Brandon's camp—at least in terms of the app's usefulness to me. The accounting software I use for my one-man design/advertising/web dev shop (AccountEdge) will generate cash flow reports at will, based on the payables and receivables it's already tracking. Thus, I have no interest in re-entering all my data elsewhere. There's just no benefit for me, though the Pulse interface and all looks really nice.

I don't use QuickBooks, but I assume it can't/won't generate such reports easily?

Again, every person and shop is unique. If Pulse works for you, great. If not, or if you don't see the point, by all means... don't use it. Either way, no sense getting panties twisted. I think it's been a neat experiment to watch unfold, and even if you the spectator didn't learn anything, I can virtually guarantee the ClearFunction guys did.

And I have a feeling that was one of the prime reasons for tackling it in the first place.

Stephen Rainey

We primarily are using this tool to track future projections. It will let us see how our next few months are going to shape up - when we should be scared and when we should decline projects. This also helps us know when we can afford to do our crazy ideas like the One Month App without hurting our upcoming cash flow.

We don't actually use our accounting software to do estimates or enter future projects. So we use this tool to primarily speculate about the future... and it really only takes a few minutes for us to put these items in.

You could even use this tool to speculate how your next year would look if you sold a certain amount of work. Surely, if you are looking to grow and optimize your company you are concerned about seeing these metrics. You can do this with different tools. This is just one option for doing this that we think will sit well with a certain group of people.

I'm fine with people not liking it and even not understanding it. I don't understand why people do the things they do 99% of the time, but I also don't understand their context. This only gives me the right to not understand, not pass judgement.

Elliot Yates

Absolutely Brilliant! I love it...teach me lol