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A financial management system I've developed over 15 years – would this help your business?

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TrueBalance said:
I'm working on a more compelling educational infographic video to help with explaining the concept better than I ever could in a forum post.
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This will come long after your initial marketing. You first need to attract their attention and get them to visit the website. How are you going to get them to even see your tagline? Where are you going to be spending your advertising money?

@Paul Carmen might have some ideas for you.
 
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TrueBalance said:
I'm working on a more compelling educational infographic video to help with explaining the concept better
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If you can't explain it in a sentence or two, either it is too complicated or you don't fully know/understand what the benefits are.
 
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I'm not sure the video explaining the methodology being 2 minutes is necessarily the killer. It's a video that the marketing points you to, not the marketing itself. Without the explanation of the method, what are you even advertising? In a way, this video as much the product as the app itself, as who uses an app for a method they haven't even seen yet.

The other part of my last message focuses more on the benefits and tag lines. The hook is to resonate and call out your target audience and recognise their pain, followed by the benefits of this. None of that needs to explain how it works at that stage... which is where the video comes in.

This is still early stage where I just want to get users to test it and get feedback realistically. It's far too early to be spending marketing on something that isn't anything more than an MVP. Until it's proven to bring value to people trialling it, I wouldn't look to spend anything yet. For this scale, there are various free ways to get people on board, but just requires a lot more work per person.
 
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I've just googled for True Balance app and all I can see is an Indian personal loan app/website.

So that's already a huge hurdle to overcome.
 
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The AI summary tells me it’s a method used by Plum Finance….

Looked at your website and tried the demo. It’s all very confusing. Probably makes sense to a bookkeeper but financially challenged me isn’t at all sure what I’m looking at.

Website reviews are only permitted for business member so can’t say more.
 
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No problem. Plum Finance is a personal finance app I believe. But the method itself isn't necessarily revolutionary or new, none are in finance now, but it does take a few different core concepts and puts them together into what has worked well for me.

Thanks for the feedback on the demo. The plan is to do a guide about what you're actually looking at, so it makes more sense. I agree that suddenly being hit by a busy dashboard is a bit much. There is a page tour that does a bit of explaining about what things are.
 
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Looks like Plum Finance isnt actually the same method afterall. They're more of a monthly cash flow forecast for personal finance. Just a one monthly wage in, deduct expected bills and whats left. Similar, but not the same as a business accounting for larger bills on a daily basis.
 
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TrueBalance said:
Looks like Plum Finance isnt actually the same method afterall. They're more of a monthly cash flow forecast for personal finance. Just a one monthly wage in, deduct expected bills and whats left. Similar, but not the same as a business accounting for larger bills on a daily basis.
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The point is they appear at the top of the page and you don't.

Maybe worth reconsidering the name. Could be something really random.
TrueBalance said:
The plan is to do a guide about what you're actually looking at, so it makes more sense.
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If you need a guide it's already gone wrong. What you see should be totally intuitive - it's the sign of a really well designed website (it's not an app - an app is what you install on your phone). The problem you have is you are too close to the coalface and very comfortable with the presentation. A new user won't have the same familiarity.
 
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The hook needs to be short, eye-catching and Targeted at the user, not so much the product. Something like: Plan to SUCCEED

I am sure others can think of something better
 
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fisicx said:
The point is they appear at the top of the page and you don't.

Maybe worth reconsidering the name. Could be something really random.
If you need a guide it's already gone wrong. What you see should be totally intuitive - it's the sign of a really well designed website (it's not an app - an app is what you install on your phone). The problem you have is you are too close to the coalface and very comfortable with the presentation. A new user won't have the same familiarity.
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Great feedback thank you. Maybe showing the demo is a bad idea. A new user goes through an onboarding process so theyre not just hit with that and get introduced to it slowly and the data added by them. It sounds like the demo view is more off putting than helpful though.

The name of the app and method could be changed easily. I have no users and it's just been set up and tested by me so far. Have people booked in to take a proper look at it though.

The website has only recently gone online. Its very early days for it, so I wouldn't expect to be anywhere on Google yet. The pages have only just been indexed.
 
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Based on your various descriptions it seems to me that the one line description of you product is something like:

Allocate funds for future liabilities
 
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I asked ChatGPT for a one line summary of your initial post. Here is what it said

A system that shows a business’s true real-time financial position by accounting for current commitments, future costs and genuinely available cash.
 
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Love that, its so true.

I think this conversation has made me realise a few different things. Knowing the 'True Balance' isn't the real main benefit. Security knowing that you've always got your meaningful bills accounted for is the main benefit. You don't get caught out.

I need to change the name from True Balance. Its confusing I think and is too busy on Google. I think I need to come up with a memorable name that would be the brand product but also the methodology in one.
 
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fisicx said:
This will come long after your initial marketing. You first need to attract their attention and get them to visit the website. How are you going to get them to even see your tagline? Where are you going to be spending your advertising money?

@Paul Carmen might have some ideas for you.
Click to expand...
Thanks @fisicx

@TrueBalance I've skimmed the threads and must confess I don't really understand what the tool is for. What benefit does it have over an accounting package, that most businesses will already have?

As an example, Xero has Cash Flow Manager, which uses AI and previous/recurring payments to estimate forecasts for your business cash-flow and bank account balance.

The other potential problem is if users don't keep their accounting package up to date, or regularly input relevant information, why will they do so in your App?

Answer those questions, and research what problems customers search for solutions for, to find your USP. It needs to be unique, otherwise you're fighting other similar tools or accounting packages, and end up marketing and competing on price.
 
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TrueBalance said:
I do really like this, but does it lean too into cash flow forcasting instead of the covering obligations angle?

What about something to do with piggy banks? I think they'll be a great analogy of people saving a little bit daily into future obligations. Call it PiggyPro or something cute too.
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I think piggy banks makes it look like a kid's savings tool. Needs to be more buisness focussed. I chose prophet due to the subliminal association with profit.

You could go for somthing like alloCash
 
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Paul Carmen said:
Thanks @fisicx

@TrueBalance I've skimmed the threads and must confess I don't really understand what the tool is for. What benefit does it have over an accounting package, that most businesses will already have?

As an example, Xero has Cash Flow Manager, which uses AI and previous/recurring payments to estimate forecasts for your business cash-flow and bank account balance.

The other potential problem is if users don't keep their accounting package up to date, or regularly input relevant information, why will they do so in your App?

Answer those questions, and research what problems customers search for solutions for, to find your USP. It needs to be unique, otherwise you're fighting other similar tools or accounting packages, and end up marketing and competing on price.
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Hi Paul,

Appreciate your detailed feedback. Clearly shows I'm unable to properly articulate what it is. Which I'm fine with for the moment as it's new for me to, and this conversation has been so valuable to help me find the right message.

I've done various cash flow forecasts in the past, but I always ended up going back to my self built spreadsheet to get a better snap shot of where the business stood financially. Its so lightweight in use, than all I have to do is add my current bank balance and mark if any outstanding due obligation was paid, and the system calculates the updated position. The longer its used, the better picture it paints in its trend graph. I think it helps me understand the business's financial flow a lot better too as it's a current snap shot in a cycle of obligations and what ownership they each have of the current bank balance.

If a bank balance shows £100,000 one day and £30,000 the next due to £70,000 of obligations, the 'True Balance' would have shown £30,000 ONO the day before, because it had already accounted for the £70,000. It means in a month where you 'break even' the True Balance would remain almost the same, whereas the bank account could be jumping up and down through money in and out. If anything, it provides a calmer picture of the business finances.

Its definitely not trying to be a complex accounting piece of software. It could be updated as little as once a week in a few minutes and over time would give an accurate picture of the company's financial health and its direction.
 
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GLAbusiness said:
I think piggy banks makes it look like a kid's savings tool. Needs to be more buisness focussed. I chose prophet due to the subliminal association with profit.

You could go for somthing like alloCash
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I agree, I think the piggy banks are good as an analogy to teach the concept, but definitely a bit childish for its business audience.

Cash Prophet is actually starting to really grow on me. I suppose the whole thing is a different style cash flow forecast, that takes known future obligations that you'd see in a classic cash flow forcast, and bring it to the present day.
 
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TrueBalance said:
Hi Paul,

Appreciate your detailed feedback. Clearly shows I'm unable to properly articulate what it is. Which I'm fine with for the moment as it's new for me to, and this conversation has been so valuable to help me find the right message.

I've done various cash flow forecasts in the past, but I always ended up going back to my self built spreadsheet to get a better snap shot of where the business stood financially. Its so lightweight in use, than all I have to do is add my current bank balance and mark if any outstanding due obligation was paid, and the system calculates the updated position. The longer its used, the better picture it paints in its trend graph. I think it helps me understand the business's financial flow a lot better too as it's a current snap shot in a cycle of obligations and what ownership they each have of the current bank balance.

If a bank balance shows £100,000 one day and £30,000 the next due to £70,000 of obligations, the 'True Balance' would have shown £30,000 ONO the day before, because it had already accounted for the £70,000. It means in a month where you 'break even' the True Balance would remain almost the same, whereas the bank account could be jumping up and down through money in and out. If anything, it provides a calmer picture of the business finances.

Its definitely not trying to be a complex accounting piece of software. It could be updated as little as once a week in a few minutes and over time would give an accurate picture of the company's financial health and its direction.
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Unfortunately, this isn't how most marketing works, e.g. you've not sold me any features and their benefits. This is too detailed for the quick browsers, yet not detailed enough for the detail people!

Too detailed - The problem with the 2 or 3 long paragraphs is many people won't read them online; you need snappy short benefits and solutions to problems for most customers.

Not detailed enough - We use the full Xero package, this has a cash-flow and bank forecasting tool that does what you describe above.

I may be wrong, but to me, I cannot see any benefit, as I have something that already does that. You have not explained how it does it any better and what the accounting packages don't do.

Unless you familiarise yourself with the likes of Xero, Quickbooks, Freeagent etc, you cannot answer the question above, so can articulate no tangible benefit to a large tranche of potential customers.

You also didn't answer the "why would I input my data into this and an accounting system". I can update an accounting package in a few minutes if I do it every week, the point is a lot of people do it a handful of times a year.

Next steps - Ask yourself, why does a business need it, if they've got enough money in their bank account do they care?

For us, it would not be worth it unless there was a real upside, which I cannot see from what you've said.

There are loads of searches for "cashflow modelling/software" etc every month, but you're up against enterprise solutions and the accounting packages.

Do you know who your target customer is; you need this to find what they look for and where, by looking at their pain points and understanding their online searches?

If you can't explain the features and benefits easily, or find niche areas to market using the process above, it's going to be very hard to find customers. I'd suggest any sort of name comes after you've done proper customer and market research.
 
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For me personally, because everything is fluid, keeping the financial systems up to date is obviously key. I definitely depend on the balance sheet and P&L, but for making quick decisions, I rely on what I have in my head as I'm always on the pulse in terms of the company's financial position. Not suggesting this works for everyone, but it helps me move quickly and clear bottlenecks when traditional decision-making can slow things down.
 
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Paul Carmen said:
Unfortunately, this isn't how most marketing works, e.g. you've not sold me any features and their benefits. This is too detailed for the quick browsers, yet not detailed enough for the detail people!

Too detailed - The problem with the 2 or 3 long paragraphs is many people won't read them online; you need snappy short benefits and solutions to problems for most customers.

Not detailed enough - We use the full Xero package, this has a cash-flow and bank forecasting tool that does what you describe above.

I may be wrong, but to me, I cannot see any benefit, as I have something that already does that. You have not explained how it does it any better and what the accounting packages don't do.

Unless you familiarise yourself with the likes of Xero, Quickbooks, Freeagent etc, you cannot answer the question above, so can articulate no tangible benefit to a large tranche of potential customers.

You also didn't answer the "why would I input my data into this and an accounting system". I can update an accounting package in a few minutes if I do it every week, the point is a lot of people do it a handful of times a year.

Next steps - Ask yourself, why does a business need it, if they've got enough money in their bank account do they care?

For us, it would not be worth it unless there was a real upside, which I cannot see from what you've said.

There are loads of searches for "cashflow modelling/software" etc every month, but you're up against enterprise solutions and the accounting packages.

Do you know who your target customer is; you need this to find what they look for and where, by looking at their pain points and understanding their online searches?

If you can't explain the features and benefits easily, or find niche areas to market using the process above, it's going to be very hard to find customers. I'd suggest any sort of name comes after you've done proper customer and market research.
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Hi Paul,

Just to clarify, my previous message was simply a response to your questions rather than an attempt at a marketing pitch.

Interestingly though, I think you've accidentally identified the target customer in your reply.

It isn't someone like yourself who's already making good use of Xero and its forecasting tools. It's the business owners who update their accounts a couple of times a year, or only use their bookkeeping software to record income and expenses without really using the wider financial planning features.

Those are often the businesses making day to day decisions based purely on what's in the bank account. That works until several known costs happen to fall close together and they realise the money wasn't really available after all.

I think there are a lot more businesses operating like that than we sometimes assume.

The idea isn't to replace Xero or compete with accounting software. It's to provide a lightweight way for those business owners to understand what their bank balance actually represents after accounting for their known obligations. In practice, it takes very little ongoing maintenance.

And ultimately, the app isn't really the product. The aim is to educate people on the method first. The software simply makes it much easier to follow consistently.
 
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Would it work for a business which just takes a box of receipts to the accountant at year end?
 
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GLAbusiness said:
Would it work for a business which just takes a box of receipts to the accountant at year end?
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It's really got nothing to do with accounting or bookkeeping, so it doesn't really matter how involved they are with it. It's really for those businesses who don't have a solid process for understanding the context of their bank account, or a proper system for ensuring their meaningful expenses are covered when they come up. Cash flow forecasts can help, but there are so many that don't do it and are just winging it because they're put off by the process. This method almost automates it for them.

I would add that it suits businesses with a consistent flow of income rather than lump sums. The system is effectively translating the lumpy outgoings into something more similar to their income.
 
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Maybe that is your target market - businesses who do not use an accounting package. A first step towards better management.
 
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Too much focus on "money in the bank account". A bank balance is just a single snapshot in time. You can have half a million in the bank (and honestly, keeping that much uninvested cash idle in an operational account makes zero sense for a mid-market business anyway), but if you owe £2m in liabilities, that balance is a illusion. It's the wrong metric to look at, which is exactly why suppliers don't get paid on time. Businesses see the cash sitting there and treat it like vanity, forgetting it's already committed.
 
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EnterprisePro said:
Too much focus on "money in the bank account". A bank balance is just a single snapshot in time. You can have half a million in the bank (and honestly, keeping that much uninvested cash idle in an operational account makes zero sense for a mid-market business anyway), but if you owe £2m in liabilities, that balance is a illusion. It's the wrong metric to look at, which is exactly why suppliers don't get paid on time. Businesses see the cash sitting there and treat it like vanity, forgetting it's already committed.
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I never look at my bank balance anymore unless I'm using it to enter it into the system. I only ever look at my True Balance because I know it has all my accruing obligations, at that moment, baked in, that when their date to pay comes, it doesn't change the True Balance like it does the bank account.

If I had that number removed from me and I was left with just my bank balance, I would feel totally lost now.
 
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TrueBalance said:
It's really got nothing to do with accounting or bookkeeping, so it doesn't really matter how involved they are with it. It's really for those businesses who don't have a solid process for understanding the context of their bank account, or a proper system for ensuring their meaningful expenses are covered when they come up. Cash flow forecasts can help, but there are so many that don't do it and are just winging it because they're put off by the process. This method almost automates it for them.

I would add that it suits businesses with a consistent flow of income rather than lump sums. The system is effectively translating the lumpy outgoings into something more similar to their income.
Click to expand...
You need to do some research, why do they behave like that, as there are lots of reasons and many won't be looking to change; e.g.

- Happy as they are - won't want it
- Too disorganised - won't use it
- Only use pen & paper - won't use it
- Use spreadsheet - may use it
- Accountant does bookkeeping & accounts - may use it

This isn't just keyword and market research, you need some actual potential customer type research too. As this could be good and scaleable, but only if you find out the pain points and can target the people who'll use this type of solution.

I suspect you'll have to make it clear that it's really easy to use too...
 
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Paul Carmen said:
You need to do some research, why do they behave like that, as there are lots of resones; e.g.

Happy as they are - wont want it
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Of course, its the main reason I'm asking questions here! :)

It's not ready to market, its still a work in progress with others due to look at it properly and give me feedback. Lots of work required to position it ready to encourage people to try. Even if people don't ever use the platform, it's the methodology that could actually help many business owners.

I think GLAbusiness said it nicely - A first step towards better management.

Its a low maintenance, easy to manage process to give better business financial clarity.
 
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Then put all your efforts into teaching the method. Website, YouTube, LinkedIn and other places business hang out.

Those that are interested may then want to know more about the tool (don’t call it an app).
 
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fisicx said:
Then put all your efforts into teaching the method. Website, YouTube, LinkedIn and other places business hang out.

Those that are interested may then want to know more about the tool (don’t call it an app).
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Yep this is the approach I'm going for. The platform (You're right to not call it an app at this stage!) will just be the best way to follow the method and be easy to find via the educational routes.

Obviously I need the platform ready before I can do this, but I am planning out the teaching part alongside it.
 
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It's really got nothing to do with accounting or bookkeeping, so it doesn't really matter how involved they



I think this is a big error. If you are 'into' the numbers enough to want to forecast in detail, then you will want to base it on the best data, which is gleaned from the facts of your accounts.

Forecasting without the accounts history is pointless!
 
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fisicx said:
This will come long after your initial marketing. You first need to attract their attention and get them to visit the website. How are you going to get them to even see your tagline? Where are you going to be spending your advertising money?

@Paul Carmen might have some ideas for you.
Click to expand...
I think a way to first get into advertising is always google or meta ads. and organically, blogs and linkedin.
 
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