I have used Personal Finance Software most of my adult life; and I have despised most of my time with it. As happens with many of life's non-urgent chores, my financial data inbox would pile up, and I would wonder if the benefits were worth the time and effort of maintaining my accumulated data in the software.

Once you have organized and accessible financial records, the list of problems that become easier is long: preparing tax returns, figuring out how to reduce taxes, budgeting or saving or living within ones' means, financial planning or decision-making, retirement planning, product returns or warranty claims, detecting unnecessary or unexpected expenses, detecting fraud, and more. It can improve one's peace of mind and confidence; and show one whether they need to save more or spend more freely. Wise use of money is part of a prosperous life - like it or not, for most people, money factors into our decisions about what we can and cannot do, or what we should or should not do. It may be obvious but it's worth stating: it's difficult to be wise about money decisions without a clear picture of one's financial activity and assets.

So there is clear value in having correct and complete financial records that one can use on demand. But even with connected bank accounts, data maintenance was a drag - it took far more time than it should, and I frequently found myself doing work caused by the software, or otherwise fighting it. Why didn't someone address the shortcomings? Or was this only affecting me, and not a broader problem? With better design and better software it could be sooo much less effort; if it were easier I'd be more likely to keep my data current, which would dramatically improve the total value that Personal Finance Software provides me over time.

I interviewed as many people as I could about their use of Personal Finance Software, to gauge whether my experience was unique or common. I found that most of the people I interviewed had previously used Personal Finance Software, but no longer used it. Of this group, most use bank web sites and spreadsheet software for financial tracking, either occasionally or regularly; some would use envelopes for receipts. A common theme was that Personal Finance Software required too much time to maintain, and “just wasn't worth it”.

It became clear to me that the world needs better, easier to use, lighter-weight Personal Finance Software. Software that automates much of the organization process, provides the visibility you need, and doesn't require additional work on tasks you don't care about. Solving this problem matters because it can help many people: By making it easier (and easy to afford), more people are likely to maintain their financial data in one place. If more people have a clear and current picture of their financial activity, they can plan better and make better money-related decisions. In short, it can be a tool to help more people lead the prosperous lives that they work so hard for.

For years, I expected someone else to address this underserved market. I watched a number of products launch, but in my estimation they came up short; most didn't last. A handful of new foundational technologies became available, and I realized that a small and talented team could build a better/faster/cheaper offering. Knowing that this problem matched my abilities and interests I decided to commit to creating Ease.