TIRED OF ‘DRAWING THE SHORT STRAW’, EASYSHARE’S FOUNDER AUTOMATED SHARE HOUSE BILL PAYMENTS

Sydney-based fintech startup easyshare has launched its rent and bill payment mobile app following a successful pilot phase, which saw it process over $10m in payments for a thousand early users. John Bush, who founded easyshare in 2014, spoke to Dynamic Business about his company’s early success.

DB: WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO LAUNCH EASYSHARE?

Bush: I was in my 20s, living in a share house with my good mates and having a great time. However, I was also the household’s ‘spreadsheet guy’ with responsibility for collecting everyone’s share of the weekly rent and bills, when they were due. This involved sorting through a shoebox of receipts at the end of the month to figure out who paid for – and owed – what. I realised this admin was taking me several hours a month and it was me drawing the short straw when any of my housemates were late to pay. So, I went searching for a solution and when I couldn’t find one, I decided to build easyshare.

DB: WHAT IS THE UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION?

Bush: easyshare is the only rent/bill splitting and payment app on the market that can collect payment from several users and make one total end payment to the biller. Other apps tend to focus on a single feature, such as keeping a ledger of who owes what or processing peer to peer payments, whereas we bring all of these functionalities together with the unique ability to consolidate a single final payment in the app. We collect everyone’s share of rent and bills, and pay the total for you. Read more

James Harkness - Dynamic Business - 11 Aug 2017