Satago: Anonymous Freelance Payment Reports

If you work as a freelance operative or as a small business owner, you will probably know that one of the most serious issues is late payments and subsequently, chasing customers for such payments, sometimes, months after a job was completed.

Satago wants to solve that problem for you.  The online platform is where freelancers and small businesses and can anonymously report when they get paid by their clients. The product officially launched at Disrupt Europe. All you need to do to join is to link your accounting software to Satago and then everything else will happen automatically. In this manner, you will get a better picture of what to expect from your clients.

Satago uses an API to connect its platform to existing accounting software. The CEO, Steven Renwick, mentioned QuickBooks and FreshBooks as targeted applications. Your data is hidden and will remain anonymous.  It is also concealed so that Satago is not informed of the exact amounts. You, as the freelancer, can control exactly what information is shared.  However, what if you are super security conscious and don’t want to share this data with anyone, even Satago? Then I’m afraid you’ll have to pay for it! Primarily, Satago defines itself as an information exchange, and the only way to get data is to provide something in exchange, data or money. The exact pricing of the Reports you would order, is not finalized yet.

The three man team behind the company, has raised £30,000 ($48,500) in equity investment through Seedrs, a crowdfunding platform for early-stage British startups. In fact, this is one of the first British companies to go down the crowdfunding route. The finance was enough to help the team develop Satago in only a seven month period.  Now that the startup has been finally released, many have shown a keen interest in the idea behind Satago. Even the British government met the company on multiple occasions because it is very interested in assisting in eradicating late payments. Satago could boost small and medium enterprises in the U.K.

In the future, the company plans to become an outsourced debt collector. This is the feature that could turn Satago into a very popular service for freelancers and small businesses. As Renwick said, “we’ll start chasing the customers for you so you don’t have to.”

Currently, it only works with U.K.based firms, as Satago is linking all of its data to a database of British companies. “The dashboard itself can be used from anywhere, and we’ll be expanding internationally,” CEO, Steven Renwick said.

[Image via beekays]

SOURCE: http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/28/with-satago-freelancers-can-anonymously-report-when-they-actually-get-paid/