u/Alive-Sink-4476

Has anyone here fisher silverhope creek? Im gonna be around it this weekend but cant seem to find much info online other than its open for fly fishing.

I built a tool that scans a business bank or card statement and finds where money is leaking. Duplicate subscriptions, forgotten charges, prices that crept up without anyone noticing. Runs entirely in the browser so nothing ever gets uploaded, which I thought was the thing stopping business owners from trusting tools like this.

I'm 15. I've sent 200 cold emails and done 30 cold calls to small local business owners. Not asking them to pay, just asking them to try a free report. Nobody has. The most common thing I hear when someone does respond is "why can't I just upload this to ChatGPT?"

I have an answer to that but I can't even get people to the point where they'd hear it.

I don't have a network. I can't walk into businesses and pitch myself. Every "how I got my first 10 users" story I read involves connections I don't have at 15.

What would you actually do if you were me?

Long story short: I built a way for small businesses to see where their money's going, track unnecessary spending, and find out what to actually do about it. You drop in a bank or card statement (CSV, Excel, or a PDF), and it gives you a plain-English rundown of where money's quietly leaking, and what to do about it.

I’ve sent over 200 cold emails and done about 30 cold calls to what (I think) is my target market: small, local business owners that are probably losing track of spending.

The part concerning me the most is that im not even trying to get them to pay. I only have a free version up right now, where you drop the data in and get a report in about 30 seconds, and even that wont sell. I’ve had no real feedback, and nothing to work with, even after pitching privacy as the main core of my business.

Now I’m stuck. I keep hearing about how SaaS startups got their first 10 users, and I’m still trying to figure out if anyone actually wants what I made.

I know these types of posts are all over this subreddit, but I want to know what to do after following advice and failing. Any help would be appreciated, and I’m happy to answer any questions.

Long story short: I built a way for small businesses to see where their money's going, track unnecessary spending, and find out what to actually do about it. You drop in a bank or card statement (CSV, Excel, or a PDF), and it gives you a plain-English rundown of where money's quietly leaking. Two tools doing the same job, a subscription price creeping up, a charge that should have stopped months ago. And what to do about each one.

Here's the decision I keep second-guessing: it runs 100% in your browser. Your statement is never uploaded. No account, no server, nothing for me to look at. You can open your dev tools and watch that nothing leaves, or disconnect your wifi after the page loads and it still works.

I did this on purpose, so that small business owners actually feel comfortable uploading their data and getting a report on it, for free.

As good as this sounds on the outside, it means I'm flying blind.  I can't see what people find, I can't build the data-driven upsells that everyone tells you to, and some days I can't even tell if the thing is any good. I optimized it entirely for trust, at the expense of ever knowing if my product stands a real chance.

Was that smart, or stupid? Specifically:

- Is "we can't see your data" a reason you'd actually trust a finance tool, or do people care less than I think?

- If you try it: is the output actually useful, or just something you could do with ChatGPT?

- What would make you (or a business owner you know) pay for a version that watches for new leaks every month?

Right now, the paid version isn't even out yet. I need real feedback from real users, so that I don't waste my time building something no one wants.

I launched a demo with sample business data for anyone to test out. I'll drop the link in the comments if anyones interested. Ask any questions you have!

I am currently in high school, and am wondering if there are any opportunities for student work as a train conductor after I graduate. Sort of an internship or co-op type of thing. Do programs like this exist? Im very interested in the field but I’m not so ready to lock it down as a long term career path. Any advice or recommendations are appreciated. Thanks!