tsestrich

What you described actually sounds really useful, but probably not for the hobbyist. For people with just hobby projects, yeah, it's probably overkill.

I definitely agree, though. My intent is to monitor for if/when we get close to entering a new billing tier, see any obvious abnormalities in usage, etc. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out!

That's a fair point, but it's so far down the road that for the foreseeable future it won't be a problem (at least for us). We're not under VC-backed pressure to grow at some unsustainable pace, so we can choose to bring on service providers at a pace that allows us to maintain quality. This definitely is a problem for the large on-demand companies out there, but that itself is part of a bigger problem where every startup thinks they need to be a billion dollar company (for many reasons)

Thanks so much for your well thought-out response!

I think your perspective is one that many people share, though fortunately for us, not everyone does! My co-founder is a CPA with his own tax firm, and they handle ~1000 clients/year without meeting anyone in person. The demand there is what ultimately led us to giving this model a try in the first place.

As you described, it all comes down to trust, and we're working on building that up right now. I think our messaging, as it stands today, doesn't do enough to build trust. So far we've gotten a fair number of early users that will hopefully help build up credibility in the process, and we'll do a better job explaining how we vet our preparers.

Looking specifically at H&R Block, our value proposition is actually more than just convenience. They typically will hire people each year off the street with little to no tax prep experience, and give them a crash course in just a few hours. Compare that to our CPAs and EAs that average over 15 years of experience, and I think we have a strong value proposition in terms of expertise as well. We're not a true "Uber" model either, where the assignment of work is a black box. We let clients select their preparer from a set of compatible tax pros, and they are free to research which one makes them most comfortable. We encourage preparers to write about their experience, and to provide LinkedIn profile URLs to make it a little easier to find their background.

Obviously we're not in a position to convince someone with an existing relationship with their accountant to switch to using us, but we're targeting someone who otherwise would walk into a big-box tax store to get their taxes done.

As for target market, we're still struggling a bit to narrow it down. It's a little more complicated than just picking one at random, but we're testing hypotheses. We're looking in two directions right now - either on-demand economy workers who are working as independent contractors, and/or early career business travelers. Independent contractors because they are comfortable with the "gig economy" model and may have complicated tax situations, and business travelers because I know that world and know that they are busy and can have complex tax situations as well.

Hopefully some day in the future we can convince you to give us a try!

That's awesome! We're excited to have you giving it a try.

Thanks for the feedback. I absolutely agree regarding the ranking/rating system. We've really just recently launched, so right now we just don't have many reviews. We do have the system in place, though, and we'll be building up those reviews.

Regarding the preparer locations - we plan to add the ability to sort/filter preparers, but we do only show you those that have specifically indicated that they can handle the type of returns required based on your quote. So, if you said you worked in NY and lived in NJ, the listed preparers will be able to handle both states. Same goes for rental property, capital gains, etc.

If you have any feedback or issues as you go, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately, since we're U.S. based we weren't comfortable branching outside the U.S. just yet (since we aren't sure of the laws in other countries in this area). I hope we can support other countries in the future!