Why I Built Finance Farmhand

I built this because I needed it.

I hate paperwork. After a day in the field or on the road, sitting down to do the books is the last thing I want to do. For years my system was a spreadsheet I fought with and a desk drawer full of receipts. It got me by for filing taxes. It was useless for telling me whether I’d actually made any money.

I grew up on my family’s small farm raising corn, soybeans, and hay. I bought my first farm right after I graduated college, and I sell ag inputs full time. Farming and a full-time job means the books get done at night and on weekends, if they get done at all.

Farming on that schedule, I have not done a good job of knowing my own numbers. I couldn’t have told you my cost per bushel without an afternoon of work I never had. So I built something that could — quick, simple, and easy enough that I’d actually use it.

I built it for the farmer using it, and there’s nobody else to answer to. No investors waiting on a return, no headquarters in some big city deciding what farmers need. Just me, on my own ground, building the thing I wanted to have.

What That Means for the Software

— Jacob