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- Hacker News
- A lot of these super-simple utility apps will die off with AI.
Two years ago I paid a little app to extract the member list of a WhatsApp community I manage. Now I just ask Codex to do it.
It sucks for the founders no doubt. But it’s better for the consumer not to have a million paid utility apps for solving small nuisances.
by nostromo - > Sharing revenue data is a good way to get attention on Twitter, but for this business the Twitter attention doesn’t really translate into sales. I stopped sharing revenue data because a lot of people started using AI to build their own bank statement converter applications.
A lot of build in public is theater with MRR porn which has no basis in ground reality creating noise. Now the agentic world is coming after it. Build in public has turned into display in public these days.
by tchalla - AI kills SaaS dead - because most will use AI to do what this does directly (presumably convert bank statements), and the rest will use AI to write a non-AI tool that does it likely just as well.by bombcar
- I did this… I have a specific system-generated PDF bank statement and it didn’t take too long to write a parsing program, which would have taken much longer before.by jbs789
- I like this writing style, dry and direct. Refreshing after reading ai output all the time.by JV00
- Agreedby FailMore
- Hang in there. I've yet so see an even modestly successful business that didn't have this or some other bleak problem at one point in time. I'm sure they exist, I just haven't seen one yet :D
My gut says this one can be turned around. Even if 90% of people just happily prefer ChatGPT for this (which I'd doubt), the remaining 10% is still a lot to fund a small venture very well. Just gotta find them effectively.
Even the "giving up" route can be pretty juicy, there's companies that pay decent money for a "distressed asset". And there's also investment firms (like mine) that go for a minority stake and help turn things around.
by fhd2 - Ironically, doesn't the "Get a job" paragraph have the solution? If you believe that is what the future of jobs at a company looks like, perhaps try to market your tool to agents?
You could add an API which is perfect for agents to use. Something that survives the pull request review process.
by 317070 - I liked the article, although I have no idea what it even means to convert your bank statements. Is this a Chinese thing?by wincy
- I assume it means converting PDFs transaction statements provided by banks into spreadsheets which accounting software can import.by Symbiote
- It’s fascinating to read all the tech feedback in the comments here, but I think this business is failing because it has yet to achieve true product market fit.
Any half decent product, with a nice website, a real solution and some SEO can get in front of say 100,000 prospects these days. Here I imagine discovery is mainly from Googling “convert bank statements”, and conversion from prospects to client is straightforward for 1-2% of views.
But a conversion niche like this is dynamic - you basically luck into it and unless you actively find and occupy niches faster than the competition discovers them and stomps on you, your “business” is on a time fuze. For example, if someone like Xero where this is a feature discovers the keyword combo and does some paid ads. Or if Google pushes AI results up and your page goes below the fold. My expectation is that this latter situation is happening everywhere as Google AI search starts to strangle everything.
Leverage AI to be your CMO. It should be telling you things like (i) your product is likely perceived as too technical to break into the general market, (ii) you need a much better handle in target customer profile (demographic, messages), (iii) you need a customer relevant sustainable USP and (iv) you need a distinctive and memorable brand. The ultimate win is to create market pull from customer to customer recommendations.
by librasteve - > Any half decent product, with a nice website, a real solution and some SEO can get in front of say 100,000 prospects these days
A lot of the Internet says otherwise — especially these days. Care to share your sauce?
by alexaholic - > My friends tell me the job is basically managing AI agents and reading Pull Requests. That sounds like hell, and I’ll try to avoid it for as long as possible.
It really is not that bad when you are in a company with a good culture. Leadership is gonna be AI piled everywhere, but imho that's how you learn where to use (and not to use) the technology.
by RMPR - I disagree. Having to work with the clanker is hell on earth. I'll do it if I have to, because I need to eat, but I hate every second I have to put up with those stupid things.by bigstrat2003
- The hell part is the delay. Says the PR is done, but you only see the cliff once you read it.by johnxianren
- > Leadership is gonna be AI piled everywhere
I have doubts
by hypfer - Places that can't have code leave the work site still do not use AI.
- > When a user cancels a subscription Stripe asks them for a reason. At the moment I don’t really do anything with the cancellation reason, actually this is the first time I’ve ever looked at the data.
This comes across as very unserious. If you’re truly trying to build a business then this seems like one of the best signals/datapoints you can get…
by jbs789 - I often think of my experience at Citibank 15 years ago when I closed my account at the branch. The teller said 'sure thing, just put your debit card into the device and enter your pin'. I did that and he said ok I'll close the account and give you cash? I said 'yes' and then it was done. He said, "have a great day!"
It was one of the best customer experiences of my life to not have to answer a series of 'why are you leaving?' questions and I would like to head back to Citibank just because of it. Unfortunately I don't live in NYC anymore so can't really do that.
by AdamN - > Last time I worked at a company was November 2020. I love programming, but I really do not enjoy programming at a company. Things were bad in 2020, but I feel like they’re worse now.
They're much worse now, but that also creates more opportunity than ever before. Chaos truly can be a ladder if you take advantage of it and endure the unhappy parts. Having a bit of savings to work with can make all the difference. You can focus on emerging opportunities without melting down over your next paycheck.
The concept of W-2 employment is completely dead to me now. Especially for this kind of technology work. I charge per outcome now (1099). I am no longer interested in being provided what amounts to hazard pay for the job of interacting with an adult day care center every day. Walking in as a hired gun with no political agenda and a clear mission feels great compared to where I was before. When I do participate in the clients' meetings, I generally get away with murder because I am laser focused on the outcome itself (my compensation) rather than belaboring whatever technical details behind it. If I'm on a call these days, there's an explicit reason for it. The business can sense that I am aligned with their goals, so the proverbial seas tend to be parted whenever I unmute my microphone.
The clients' salaried developers loathe me to the extent that it's creating even more opportunities. The amount of unqualified ego tripping in tech has become astounding and can serve as a powerful ally for humble wizards.
by bob1029 - Sub-humble-wizard here, how do I sign up?
- It is not ego tripping. They probably loathe you because you turn the power structures even more in capital's favour by undercutting or overriding them.by rightbyte
- > I charge per outcome now
Are you perchance paid by number of distinct metaphors used?
by michaelt - > I generally get away with murder [...] The business can sense that I am aligned with their goals, so the proverbial seas tend to be parted whenever I unmute my microphone.
>The amount of unqualified ego tripping in tech has become astounding and can serve as a powerful ally for humble wizards.
beautiful, funniest thing i've read all week
by GeoAtreides - > The clients' salaried developers loathe me
Of course they do. You waltz in, do exactly management's bidding (finally someone who doesn't talk back!), and leave them to deal with the consequences. The onus of proving that it's because of "unqualified ego tripping" is on you.
by zombot - Somebody else said most of it, but I'll add a little more. Said developers loathe you because you decimate the thing they care about for your own benefit by being a hired gun of management and doing the killing for them.by bayindirh
- There is something I'd call Subscription Fatigue. People and businesses are asked to pay subscription fees left and right.
If I convert my bank statements only each quarter in a spike or once or twice a year, why should I pay for each month or the entire year? Of course I don't know the real usage patterns of this application, but that's one scenario I'd think of.
by einrealist - hell yes.
I hit this wall about 2-3 years ago at least...
by senectus1 - The problem is that web applications have an ongoing monthly cost to maintain for bandwidth, usage, disk space, etc.. so the only solution is to charge a subscription.
Yes, traditional software also has a cost for maintenance and features but users could opt out to not pay for them.
I personally rather to either pay per usage, pay for the full year if it's valuable enough to purchase a license for desktop / mobile apps if possible.
by swat535 - The perceptive utility of software declines when it is subscription-based in current times. A one-time fee for software is reasonable to a purchaser, renting/leasing software is no longer economical for the size of most phone apps...too little for too much.
*Edit: Apparently I forgot how to spell.
by johndubchak