Monetization Autopsy
An automated competitive intelligence tool that dissects competitor payment funnels and pricing pages. It provides a deep analysis of their monetization strategies, feature-gating, and technology stack.
Merchant Memento
A crowdsourced database and API that deciphers cryptic merchant descriptions on bank statements, helping users and financial apps identify and understand their spending.
Inspired by the fragmented memory of 'Memento', the assembled nature of 'Frankenstein's monster', and the data-gathering of a 'Forum Scraper', Merchant Memento solves a common problem in personal finance: understanding cryptic bank statement entries.
The Story (Memento's Amnesia): Many people experience financial 'amnesia' when reviewing their transactions. They see an obscure charge like 'NTFLX-DRCT-DEBIT-81X' or 'SQ-WANDERINGPIGS' and cannot recall the purchase. This uncertainty makes budgeting difficult and can lead to unnoticed, unwanted recurring subscriptions.
The Concept (Frankenstein's Creation): We will build a service by 'stitching together' thousands of disparate, disconnected pieces of information into a single, coherent entity. The 'body parts' are user-submitted corrections and data harvested by a scraper from financial forums and subreddits (e.g., r/personalfinance, Bogleheads). In these forums, users frequently ask, 'Does anyone know what this charge is?' The community's answers are the raw material for our creation.
How It Works (The System):
1. Data Scraper & Crowdsourcing: A low-cost automated script scrapes public forums to find threads where users identify cryptic merchant codes. This data, combined with direct user submissions through a simple web interface, populates a central database. The system maps the cryptic code to a clear, human-readable name (e.g., 'Netflix Subscription', 'The Wandering Pigs Coffee Shop'), assigns a category, and aggregates user notes ('This is the annual subscription fee.').
2. The Product - A 'Memory' for Payments: The core product is a simple API. For a small fee per call, fintech apps, budgeting tools, and neobanks can integrate Merchant Memento. When they display a user's transaction list, they can call our API to replace the confusing merchant string with the clear name and context from our database, dramatically improving their user experience.
3. MVP & Scalability: An individual can easily build the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). It would be a simple website with a single search bar where anyone can look up a charge for free. This builds the brand and the database. The high earning potential comes from the B2B API model, which is a niche, low-cost, high-value service for other businesses in the payment systems domain. Future growth could include direct-to-consumer premium features, like automated statement scanning and alerts.
The Story (Memento's Amnesia): Many people experience financial 'amnesia' when reviewing their transactions. They see an obscure charge like 'NTFLX-DRCT-DEBIT-81X' or 'SQ-WANDERINGPIGS' and cannot recall the purchase. This uncertainty makes budgeting difficult and can lead to unnoticed, unwanted recurring subscriptions.
The Concept (Frankenstein's Creation): We will build a service by 'stitching together' thousands of disparate, disconnected pieces of information into a single, coherent entity. The 'body parts' are user-submitted corrections and data harvested by a scraper from financial forums and subreddits (e.g., r/personalfinance, Bogleheads). In these forums, users frequently ask, 'Does anyone know what this charge is?' The community's answers are the raw material for our creation.
How It Works (The System):
1. Data Scraper & Crowdsourcing: A low-cost automated script scrapes public forums to find threads where users identify cryptic merchant codes. This data, combined with direct user submissions through a simple web interface, populates a central database. The system maps the cryptic code to a clear, human-readable name (e.g., 'Netflix Subscription', 'The Wandering Pigs Coffee Shop'), assigns a category, and aggregates user notes ('This is the annual subscription fee.').
2. The Product - A 'Memory' for Payments: The core product is a simple API. For a small fee per call, fintech apps, budgeting tools, and neobanks can integrate Merchant Memento. When they display a user's transaction list, they can call our API to replace the confusing merchant string with the clear name and context from our database, dramatically improving their user experience.
3. MVP & Scalability: An individual can easily build the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). It would be a simple website with a single search bar where anyone can look up a charge for free. This builds the brand and the database. The high earning potential comes from the B2B API model, which is a niche, low-cost, high-value service for other businesses in the payment systems domain. Future growth could include direct-to-consumer premium features, like automated statement scanning and alerts.