QuickBooks Online connected accounting service for founders.
We built the Lend A Hand Accounting platform because we identified a need for invention and simplification in the cloud accounting and bookkeeping space. I mix human experts with advanced tech to deliver value.
We are currently growing YoY MRR by 110%. This is the result of a laser focus on client retention, relentless automation, and continuous invention and simplification. Above all, we work from the customer backwards and solve problems for our clients that cannot be solved elsewhere.
At this point, LHA was successful enough to cover living expenses on a monthly basis. This was after having a verified $220,000 corporate salary in 2019, with a minimum promise of $200,000 in salary for 2020 (if I stayed). As you can see, leaving the corporate world and bootstrapping this business was not an easy decision. Although I was happy that we reached Ramen Profitability, I knew we needed to do much more.
After a lot of hard work, we passed Intuit's security and technical reviews. Upon passing, we had our app listed in the QuickBooks Online App Store. My time as a professional engineer at AWS helped a lot with this part, as the Intuit security review consisted of 3rd party app penetration and security review.
With this accomplishment, we began the only cloud accounting firm to have an app listed in the QuickBooks Online app store.
This was probably the most difficult phase. That time between launching and getting the first paying customer is brutal. We probably spent too much on initial marketing as we were trying to figure out what worked for our business model. In retrospect, our first and second customers paid for all the money we put out on initial marketing initiatives.
We did so much refactoring and redesigning it felt like completely tearing down and rebuilding the entire app. I knew I would have my work cut out, as prior to this time, I was only working on building the technical side of the business part-part time. My business partner (Principal Accountant and Wife) just finished up writing tons of launch content. The 1st full deployment included a standalone WordPress-based site (strictly for SEO), as well as a SPA for the client portal (obviously the fun part).
I finally decided to unlock the golden handcuffs and go full-time developing the Lend A Hand Accounting platform. At this stage we only had a rough prototype, much of which would need to be refactored and made production-ready. We started with basic features: Automated billing, Authentication, secure upload portal, and a action item system to track outstanding client tasks/issues.
We built the Lend A Hand Accounting platform because we identified a need for invention and simplification in the cloud accounting and bookkeeping space. I mix human experts with advanced tech to deliver value.