Chasing overdue invoices is awkward – I built a small tool to automate reminders

Hi everyone,

I just recently joined Indie Hackers and I’m looking for advice and feedback please.

Over the past few months I've been working on a small tool I’ve called PayNudger and this is my first attempt at building something myself.

The idea came from a problem I've seen for years.

When I worked as a tower crane erector I had to invoice companies for my work and sometimes had to chase payment, which was always awkward. Sometimes I was just too busy and simply forgot to chase it.

More recently my brother-in-law, an electrician, and another family member who imports produce both deal with late payments regularly.

They both said the worst part isn't sending the invoice, it's chasing it afterwards.

That awkward “just checking in on this invoice” email.

Some clients are habitual late payers, but many simply forget and reminders still need to be sent. My electrician brother-in-law said the worst part of chasing invoices for him is that it makes him feel like he's being desperate, which he hates. That was actually one of the reasons I built it.

I did look for simple reminder tools first, but most options were tied into full accounting software, which many freelancers and small businesses don’t want because they already work with an accountant.

So I built a very simple system that automatically sends polite reminder emails once an invoice goes overdue and focuses only on that.

The goals were to keep it as simple as possible:

• works with any spreadsheet/system
• no accounting software needed
• reminders come from your own email address
• easy setup

Another goal was to remove the awkwardness of chasing money you're owed. It also helps with the common situation where someone invoices a larger company, forgets to follow up, and then hears “you’ll have to wait for next month’s pay run.”

My electrician brother-in-law started using it and said it actually saves him time because he just adds the invoice to PayNudger when he sends it, so it fits easily into his normal workflow.

It also creates a record of reminders if clients become difficult.

I'm bootstrapping this with zero budget so I'm trying to figure out the marketing side as I go.

I would really appreciate feedback from other founders:

• Does the idea make sense?
• Is the problem common enough?
• Any advice on reaching freelancers or small businesses?

Thanks,
Neil