Should I Build It Should I Build It
19 Apr 2025
Fintech

Invoice to po checking system. To ensure overcharging is not happening

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Minimal Signal

There’s barely any market activity - either because the problem is very niche or not important enough. You’ll need to prove real demand exists before investing significant time.

Should You Build It?

Not yet, validate more.

Your are here

Your idea of an invoice to PO checking system falls into a category we call "Minimal Signal." This means that based on our analysis of similar product launches, there's not much market activity indicating a strong demand. It could be a very niche problem, or perhaps not urgent enough for many businesses. With only two similar products found, our confidence is low. There is zero engagement, use and buy signals, so you'll need to proactively validate whether a real need exists before investing heavily in development. Don't be discouraged, but be realistic: you'll need to put in the effort to find demand to justify building this product.

Recommendations

  1. Given the "Minimal Signal" category and low confidence, focus on direct customer interaction. Start by identifying online communities (industry forums, LinkedIn groups, subreddits) where potential customers (accounts payable professionals, procurement managers) gather. Share your idea and directly ask about their current invoice approval pain points.
  2. Offer to manually solve the invoice checking problem for 2-3 potential customers. This could involve reviewing their invoices against purchase orders and flagging discrepancies. This hands-on approach will give you firsthand experience with the challenges and help you refine your solution.
  3. Create a concise explainer video (2-3 minutes) showcasing the core functionality of your proposed system. Highlight how it automates the invoice-to-PO matching process, saves time, and prevents overcharging. Track how many people watch the video fully, as this indicates genuine interest.
  4. Gauge commitment by asking potential users for a small, refundable deposit to join a waiting list or to pre-order the product. This helps separate casual interest from serious intent and provides early validation of demand.
  5. Set a clear, time-bound goal: If you can't find 5 genuinely interested people (those willing to provide feedback, participate in a pilot program, or place a deposit) within 3 weeks of actively engaging with potential customers, seriously reconsider the idea. This might mean pivoting to address a related but more pressing need, or putting the project on hold.

Questions

  1. Given the existing accounting software solutions already in the market, what specific niche or unmet need does your invoice-to-PO checking system address that would compel businesses to switch or adopt your solution?
  2. Considering the lack of strong signals in the market, what is your riskiest assumption about the problem you're solving, and how can you quickly and cheaply test that assumption?
  3. What is your plan for differentiating your solution from existing manual or semi-automated invoice processing methods that businesses currently use, and how will you measure the value proposition (e.g., time savings, cost reduction, error reduction)?

Your are here

Your idea of an invoice to PO checking system falls into a category we call "Minimal Signal." This means that based on our analysis of similar product launches, there's not much market activity indicating a strong demand. It could be a very niche problem, or perhaps not urgent enough for many businesses. With only two similar products found, our confidence is low. There is zero engagement, use and buy signals, so you'll need to proactively validate whether a real need exists before investing heavily in development. Don't be discouraged, but be realistic: you'll need to put in the effort to find demand to justify building this product.

Recommendations

  1. Given the "Minimal Signal" category and low confidence, focus on direct customer interaction. Start by identifying online communities (industry forums, LinkedIn groups, subreddits) where potential customers (accounts payable professionals, procurement managers) gather. Share your idea and directly ask about their current invoice approval pain points.
  2. Offer to manually solve the invoice checking problem for 2-3 potential customers. This could involve reviewing their invoices against purchase orders and flagging discrepancies. This hands-on approach will give you firsthand experience with the challenges and help you refine your solution.
  3. Create a concise explainer video (2-3 minutes) showcasing the core functionality of your proposed system. Highlight how it automates the invoice-to-PO matching process, saves time, and prevents overcharging. Track how many people watch the video fully, as this indicates genuine interest.
  4. Gauge commitment by asking potential users for a small, refundable deposit to join a waiting list or to pre-order the product. This helps separate casual interest from serious intent and provides early validation of demand.
  5. Set a clear, time-bound goal: If you can't find 5 genuinely interested people (those willing to provide feedback, participate in a pilot program, or place a deposit) within 3 weeks of actively engaging with potential customers, seriously reconsider the idea. This might mean pivoting to address a related but more pressing need, or putting the project on hold.

Questions

  1. Given the existing accounting software solutions already in the market, what specific niche or unmet need does your invoice-to-PO checking system address that would compel businesses to switch or adopt your solution?
  2. Considering the lack of strong signals in the market, what is your riskiest assumption about the problem you're solving, and how can you quickly and cheaply test that assumption?
  3. What is your plan for differentiating your solution from existing manual or semi-automated invoice processing methods that businesses currently use, and how will you measure the value proposition (e.g., time savings, cost reduction, error reduction)?

  • Confidence: Low
    • Number of similar products: 2
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 0
  • Net use signal: 0.0%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

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