That problem is the niche demand found by YoCalculo, an app created by Mathias Lehrer that is the first 100 percent online accounting firm. The start-up has just won the third edition of App Circus, a competition that recognises mobile apps with potential and scalability.
The previous two editions were won by Paganza (2013) and GpsGay (2014). This year Mathias was the winner of the competition and the trip to the Mobile World Congress 2018. He also won one of the Samsung Galaxy S8 that the company gave to those who made it to the podium. Second place was shared between Liga Bancomer and Casstor. Third place went to the Loog Guitars app.
How does it work? In a nutshell, Mathias explains that the app solves "in a simple way" the tax settlement, which is essential for sole proprietorships or small businesses.
"For the self-employed, we solve everything related to tax payments with a simple photo in the app," he adds. After registering in the app, the user takes a photo of their purchase or sales invoice, the platform categorises it (whether it is an income or an expense) by item and sends the corresponding tax settlement. They can also see how their personal finances are evolving. "All income and expenditure information is graphed so that the user has control of their finances," he says.
The app is free to download for both Android and iOS but the service has a varied range of costs, depending on the size of the company. To get an idea, the average cost of the service is around 750 pesos per month.
How did you come up with it, we asked him. Although he comes from an IT background, Mathías worked in an office and was linked to the accounting firm that handled the paperwork for him. That's when it occurred to him that there had to be a way to simplify the paperwork. He thought about it, created it and launched it in March this year. The app already has about 600 users of the paid version.
A fortnight ago they launched a freemium version with which they intend to extend the service, so anyone can download the app, manually enter their expenses and receive reports on their personal finances. It's a way to test the app and if they are interested, they can then sign up for the service.
Mathias told us that they are working on another update of the app that will allow the user not only to settle taxes but also to see how they evolve day by day. "We want to expand in the region but it will be a step to take later, for now we are focused on growing locally," he concluded.
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