My new startup: split-the-bill.com

It really reminds me of BillMonk (http://billmonk.com - sort of defunct since they haven't renewed their SSL certificate), a project that was the genesis of Obopay back in 2006. It was very similar to split-the-bill and had a strong emphasis on mobile (ahh - remember when having SMS apps was cutting edge). It had notifications, long-term tracking between parties, and several ways to split it for registered users, but also provided easy service for unregistered users. I used it pretty continuously for about a year but ran into two big issues. One - it was difficult enough to SMS in a bill to split evenly, and a pain to itemize the bill even online. I imagine that even as a web app optimized for different mobile devices, this could still be a problem. When you're at the table and trying to figure out the bill, time is key - that means a quick UI and fast latency. The other issue was getting other people to use it. I convinced maybe three friends to use it over the course of that year and none used it for more than two days. It's difficult to get people to use and stick to.

That said, structuring it as a longterm balancing solution for financial "partners" like roommates might be a better model.

Interesting... Thanks for the feedback.

First up, no sign up is required to create the bill. Check out the mock-ups: http://blog.split-the-bill.com/split-the-bill-the-mock-ups

Also there are no emails notifications (yet). You are free to IM, tweet, SMS or Facebook the link to the bill.

Of course we are looking at mobile phone apps and an API for other systems to integrate with (How cool would it be for a POS to include a link at the end of your receipt ?).

Integrating a payment method would also be a possibility.

Nonetheless I do like the idea of supporting more formal agreements and larger costs... will add it to the road map :)

My girlfriend and I have an ongoing problem where we are trying to split living expenses fairly. I can see this as a partial solution, but definitely not a complete one.

I can see myself using this if there were an iPhone app or a good mobile site. It would be a quick step in the process if I could just note a bill and who owed me whenever I ate out, read a bill, or anything else.

I think this idea had been done before and didn't work. I think signing up for a website to split a dinner tab is a bit excessive, especially with the email notifications and everything.

Maybe a better focus would be on larger costs such as rent payments and room subletting that actually requires a more formal agreement between parties.