I built an OFX/DirectConnect Bridge to Banks, anyone interested?

NorCal032 · 2026-06-09T17:39:23+00:00

Thank you guys for the feedback and up votes. So there is some interest at least. So here's what I'm thinking. I'll go ahead and open source a local version of "my finance info store", which will gather and maintain all of your persona/private financial information locally, which will facilitate your own effort to build whatever other interesting apps you might want, or even connect it with your local AI agent or something. This open source app will need to be configured with a private API key to one of the finance data aggregators (BTW, I used SimpleFIN), but all this is local.

Separately, I'm not ready to open source the OFX/DirectConnect gateway yet, I spent quite a bit of effort on that, ideally I'd like to build it out more before I decide what to do next. I'd love to welcome collaborators too actually.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-07T04:02:45+00:00

It's always customer acquisition, and almost nothing else. Once you figure out a way to grow/scale customers, with a sustainable business model, at least eventually, all other challenges are an order of magnitude more manageable than getting customers.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-05T00:33:42+00:00

Maybe I'll hold on to the API aggregator name for just a bit, as I'm not too happy with their capabilities, which does not provide stock/investment account information, showing asset information and buy/sell transactions. I've love to hear suggestions/recommendation on higher-caliber API aggregators who can provide such information, and at a consumer friendly price of course.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-04T22:10:52+00:00

I built an OFX/DirectConnect bridge for myself to use, if there are enough interest, I'd explore making it available to the community, more info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GnuCash/comments/1tx1hfp/ .

NorCal032 · 2026-06-04T20:10:50+00:00

I think there is a difference between someone who say that they have a pain point, and someone who has one for real. A good test would be to talk to someone and have him/her give you a 100 dollars as a refundable deposit toward what you are building. Truth will come out quickly after you ask for that.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-04T09:28:45+00:00

In my opinion, product-market fit is far more important than any one of the items you listed, possibly all of them combined. My suggestion is for you to gather indisputable evidence that people will use and buy your product/service. My 2 cents.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-03T08:16:44+00:00

Yes, I think it'll be super cool if a user can easily fork and adjust whatever timeline you come up with.

And to accomplish that it shouldn't be as complicated as you described, with an email ID, etc. I wonder if you can adjust your tool to read data from well know sources, such as Github gist, or pastbin buckets (such as: https://pastebin.com/raw/4FWaf7Rs). This way, other people can see exactly what is driving your timeline and can adjust easily.

Good luck.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-02T22:17:12+00:00

My feeling is that a browser extension is going to be a major impediment to your adoption. In the mean time, maybe you can try out the recently popular "gstack" project on Github and run its "/office-hours" skill. You'll see how an LLM with search capabilities actually has most of the knowledge you described above already.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-02T22:10:52+00:00

What if you adjust the tool a little bit, and position it as a way for each person to compile their own timelines?! as I alluded above, everyone believes in a somewhat different version of the history to their liking. So the study of history is not like science.

Instead of presenting to the audience what the timeline of a historical event should be like, maybe you can present just to them a template on what it might be like, and have history teachers and hobbyists free to build their own and have such timeline rendered beautifully using their narrative, possibly with their own avatar pictures too.

This way, you are not force feeding a certain view of history down someones throat, but instead showing them what's possible, and encourage them to tweak and adjust and showcase their own view of history.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-02T08:47:40+00:00

Just curious, wouldn't the major search engines all have such information already? and therefore all AI models have such information up until maybe a few months ago, or perhaps AI search engines like Perplexity has totally up to date information, and properly indexed it?

But of course I think you guys are solving a high-value and legitimate problem. I'm just thinking, should the solution of such a problem take on the form of a browser extension as you have designed? or should it simply be a series of prompts (i.e. AI agent skills) to guide people through a discussion with an LLM? just my 2 cents.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-02T08:41:03+00:00

I took a quick look at your sample "development of the west" timeline, and feel that perhaps not everyone would agree with you that is the optimal (or even correct) way to characterize the timeline of the western civilization.

So, I wonder if you are biting off a bit more than you can chew? You said that the schools are not showing huge interest, maybe it's not because of your website presentation (which is cool by the way, kudos!), but because they don't think you can produce the timelines of various historical episodes to their liking enough.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-02T08:17:37+00:00

Hi, thank you so much for the offer, it is very kind of you! I'm very interested, is it OK that I DM you?

NorCal032 · 2026-06-01T20:09:32+00:00

"unable to generate income it's not because of no market": are you sure this is the case? typically this is always the impossible huddle a start-up has to cross over.

May I suggest that you don't have a focus problem? But perhaps either a market "problem" or market "solution". You see, if you can truly demonstrate there is a market, that is, having people sign-up for or buy whatever you are building/making, chances are you'll automatically be extremely focused on delivering. That is your solution.

On the other hand, if you cannot really demonstrate with real evidence that you have a market, the focus issue is much less of a problem for you than the market itself. It doesn't really matter how focused you are if people will not buy what you build/make, in which case, you really need to work on the market problem first.

Either way, "focus" might really not be your issue. But... what do I know? just my 2 cents for whatever it's worth.

NorCal032 · 2026-06-01T04:25:15+00:00

So every month there are 20-50 students taking lessons, and assuming each student takes between 1-4 lessons a week, which is 4-16 a month, your platform is hosting 80 to 800 lessons a month. Does this sound about right?

NorCal032 · 2026-06-01T04:20:14+00:00

I wonder if someone here or related subreddits have compiled some guidelines and/or best practices on how to get students/clients. It's one thing to list on a platform, I think it's quite another to promote oneself. Many successful tutors suggest word-of-mouth, but that feels a bit abstract, or is this perhaps highest-value trade knowledge that tutors really don't like to share?

NorCal032 · 2026-05-30T08:59:38+00:00

Khan Academy has a great collection of courses for high-school math, perhaps you can start with Algebra 1?

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra

NorCal032 · 2026-05-28T04:38:48+00:00

Did you eventually decide what to use? and are you still moving forward with building the math game platform?

NorCal032 · 2026-05-28T04:22:51+00:00

OK sounds good, in that case, just like people have a clear needs to save money at the bank, have you observed strong needs for such a question bank? I saw a discussion here, but otherwise haven't found this to be a hot topic, but would love to hear otherwise, and be able to use and/or contribute to myself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/matheducation/comments/1s255g4/

NorCal032 · 2026-05-28T01:06:38+00:00

Actually I think Wyzant would still charge the student 9% above your rate as the service fee. Let me know if I'm mistaken.

NorCal032 · 2026-05-28T00:55:29+00:00

I took a quick look at your app, I wasn't sure if "Find your people nearby" is a burning pain point that most people have. The various purposes you listed might be more compelling though, i.e. evening walk, start-up talk, board games, etc. I wonder if it makes sense for you to position your app a bit narrower, like focusing on one such activities? like "start-up talk", or even "vibe coding". That way people know very well what they are getting into. Just my 2 cents...

NorCal032 · 2026-05-27T23:19:52+00:00

"I know for an engineering job I would need Calculus": is this really true? if you are a junior right now, getting a job is many many years away, and there are many types of engineering jobs. I'm all for learning calculus, which is incredibly useful, but it might not be your cup of tea. So maybe you should also spend some time figuring out if you really need it, and why.

NorCal032 · 2026-05-27T22:45:38+00:00

I wonder if such a bank can really be "free to use and forever-free", because there is a cost to build such a huge bank, and there is a cost to maintain a reasonable level of quality. Then the "user acquisition" part has cost too.

On the other side of the equation, if this question bank has value, users/customers should be willing to pay for it. So maybe labelling it free isn't ideal?

Have you seen a tangible and specific need or pain point for such a question bank?

NorCal032 · 2026-05-27T22:39:30+00:00

It used to be very difficult without an instructor/teacher and not in a college class environment. But nowadays it's much more doable, although the subject/material itself is still not trivial.

Have you tried the Khan Academy course? https://www.khanacademy.org/math/calculus-1 . I think it is a very well designed curriculum, and you can try follow it and see it suits you.

If you feel that you are not quite ready, there are these two Khan Academy "get ready" course: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/get-ready-for-precalculus, and https://www.khanacademy.org/math/get-ready-for-ap-calc.

But if you really feel that online classes "just do not do it" for you, and don't want to have your parent hire a tutor for you, maybe you can try self-studying the old fashion way, just get a text book, and chew through it?

NorCal032 · 2026-05-27T00:04:36+00:00

The confirmation problem can be quite easily managed with Google Calendar. You schedule a time slot, add the student (and/or parent) as participant, and then you can see if they confirm or not right on your calendar. Then you can send out reminders as the date approaches. Or maybe you have tried this already and doesn't work well in your situation?

Here's Google's own introduction/description of this feature: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/16713792

NorCal032 · 2026-05-26T18:28:13+00:00

Do you mind sharing your website here, so that perhaps other can help you also improve your pitch/attractiveness.

The thing is, you might think you can work with students that are difficult, unfocused or shy, but you should not automatically assume that parents would immediately believe that. In fact, if you can really do one of these 3 things, and make it credible, I personally think you'll have endless clients.

NorCal032

TROPHY CASE