Invoice-o-matic
Web and SaaS
invoicing
SHOW HN2013
128points
88comments
#165of 1,739 in 2013
Top 10%of 2013 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
10 positive, 23 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 13 critical, out of 49 comments about the project. Thread score -0.04.
Idea: 3 for, 4 againstExecution: 3 for, 3 againstDesign: 1 for, 3 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Simple, fast, one-step invoice creation.
From 3 comments
it's just one step instead of 2,3, etc better mousetrap :)
markyc on HNjust downloaded an invoice to check the quality of the pdf, its perfect !
ing33k on HNI started my freelancing career with billable.me. Moved on to complexer tools by now, but I definitely made a few thousand euro with the help of your free tool. Thanks!
Swizec on HN
Good lead generation strategy and polished design.
From 2 comments
Love this lead gen strategy - offer free super simple tool to your target audience, and you get lots of opportunities to convert them to your full tool. Adds a ton of value and…
corry on HNVery nice CSS animation :)
Heliosmaster on HN
Objections
No VAT registration number field and weak legal compliance for some countries.
From 3 comments
While this is good from a UX perspective, don't rely on tools like this to make sure that you include all information on an invoice that you're legally required to include. For…
RobAley on HNMain issue that I can see with this is compliance. As some people commented these free invoicing templates are great, but if you happen to invoice someone in Mexico or anywhere…
mktnghacks on HNThis looks like what a good web designer with little knowledge of actual accounting requirements would do. Not what I would expect from a company specialising in accounting…
Renaud on HN
Sends banking data over HTTP and stores it on the server.
From 2 comments
Am I missing something, or is nobody concerned that this tool takes in all of your business' contact info and banking info? In the US, the bank name, account number, and a smidge…
DougWebb on HNIf they've generated a PDF, then they had to have you post the info to their server to run the PDF generator. I'm a little concerned about whether or not you know this and just…
moron4hire on HN
Offers little beyond a Word or Excel template.
From 3 comments
What does this do for me that the MS Word template that comes installed with Office does not? EDIT: I'm serious. I can think of several reasons why I would not want to use this,…
moron4hire on HNI dont get it. How is this so much better than having a, say, rtf document template on your own computer and emailing attachments from there? Or if you want to email a pdf…
cranefly on HNyep I agree. The premise is that one has to totally unable to create a template with your favorite Office tool. Heck you could do that in Excel and that's already an insult. This…
X4 on HN
Requests
Allow uploading a logo to the PDF.
From 2 comments
Add the ability to upload a logo and that's the definitive winner in that field
ozh on HNVery cool, and more importantly, a fun take on a dry subject! It might be nice to add a preview option though. Sure I can email it to myself, but lower the barrier of use as much…
wikwocket on HN
Make labels and table headers editable for translation.
From 1 comment
It'd be even greater if you could edit all the content, including table headers and field titles, so that users could, for instance, translate their invoices into different…
bromagosa on HN
Support a subtotal entered after VAT and custom tax names.
From 2 comments
I'd love to be able to specify the subtotal after VAT is applied as well, since that's often what you quote in practice and converting that to pre-VAT prices is a PITA. VAT is…
mtrimpe on HNGreat work! Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to use it since I would need there are two taxes to calculate in my jurisdiction. Also, I rename VAT to something else, it stays VAT…
smagman on HN
Questions
How is the PDF generated from a web form?
From 2 comments
How does one go about creating (and sending) a PDF from a web form (like Invoice-o-matic and billable.me)?
blasphymous on HNWhat technology did you use to build it? Or generate the PDF that fast?
creatio on HN
Can it be self-hosted?
From 1 comment
Project link? Cool idea - Hate wasting time on small things like this; but not comfortable putting my, or a clients, information in a public site. Would love to host this myself.
tjbiddle on HN
Alternatives named
FreeAgent
From 2 comments
For those not familiar with FreeAgent (the makers of this (marketing) app), they are one of the UK's most successful SaaS startups. I've been fortunate enough to have been a user…
jot on HNI was just about to comment and say "This is all well and good but I use an integrated tool called FreeAgent to manage my freelance business." and then noticed this is created by…
gadders on HN
Word or Excel invoice templates
From 2 comments
What does this do for me that the MS Word template that comes installed with Office does not? EDIT: I'm serious. I can think of several reasons why I would not want to use this,…
moron4hire on HNI would say over MS Word, this offers: - Discoverability: when I was working on my invoice template, I looked all over the web, and found a bunch of garbage, before I eventually…
wikwocket on HN
Duet app
From 2 comments
That's all? I expected something like duetapp or better.. :/ Here's the same, but opensource so that you can customize to your own needs. http://css-tricks.com/html-invoice/
X4 on HNBtw. here's a link: http://www.duetapp.com/ Personally I wouldn't ever use a SaaS for my core business! With Duetapp or other opensource project for example, I am able to modify…
X4 on HN
Freshbooks
From 1 comment
For the past 2 years I've used Freshbooks. I work full time at a company and only have 3 side customers so I use the free option. It works unbelievably well. They're even adding…
300bps on HN