nowceipt

PROBLEM

splitting the bill is fragmented

One person does it all, and they're left to chase everyone else for it. To understand the problem better, we talked to university students about their experience splitting the bill in group settings, surfacing 5 key pain points:

4 out of the 5 clusters are about time and effort, which is something current receipt-splitting apps already solve. Thus, we dove deeper into the last pain point:

KEY INSIGHT

the cost of asking exceeds the value of the money

For small, everyday amounts, the discomfort of asking outweighs the money itself.

time cost

social cost

everyone leaves, but nobody has paid yet

at the table

at the table

one person pays

recall who
ordered what

do the math
with tax+tip

payer gives everyone
e-transfer info

hours/days later

payer reminds everyone,
feels awkward

e-transfers come in

someone puts off the payment

payer lets it go,
not worth
awkwardness

so you remind again

Mapping out the current bill-splitting flow, we realized it could be broken down into two sections. Receipt-splitting solutions today mostly optimize for time, but convenience isn't only about time; there's an entire layer of social friction being ignored.

OPPORTUNITY

designing to reduce social cost

hours/days later

payer reminds everyone,
feels awkward

e-transfers come in

someone puts off the payment

payer lets it go,
not worth
awkwardness

so you remind again

while unpaid and awkwardness < amount_owed:
    remind()
    awkwardness += 1

Awkwardness only goes up because someone has to call remind. The social cost isn't attached to the reminder, but rather the asker. Why don't we change how the remind happens?

while unpaid and awkwardness < amount_owed:
    remind()
    awkwardness += 1
    nowceipt.remind()

Taking away the incremental awkwardness, the only way out of the loop is someone actually paying.

OPPORTUNITY

stopping the problem before it starts

everyone leaves, but nobody has paid yet

at the table

at the table

one person pays

recall who
ordered what

do the math
with tax+tip

payer gives everyone
e-transfer info

hours/days later

payer reminds everyone,
feels awkward

e-transfers come in

someone puts off the payment

payer lets it go,
not worth
awkwardness

so you remind again

What if the flow just ended in the first half? The problem is that students are putting the split off for later, leaving the table unsettled. This calls for an opportunity to design something that starts and ends at the table.

DESIGN DECISION

claiming, family style

One phone goes around the table since everyone is already together, and claiming items is turn-based. So, not everyone needs the app, the split is done before everyone leaves the table, and the payer isn't the one doing everything.

The problem we found was social, so the solution treats it as one too, bringing everyone together - same as how the meal happens!

DESIGN DECISION

skip the awkward part

Instead of having to type out an awkward ask, we made reminding fun with buttons that send friendly notifications to your friends' lock screen.

This is inspired by Life360: people spam notify their friends affectionately simply when they're bored. We wanted to bring that level of unseriousness to something more serious, like getting your money back.