The story of Orbit

During a sabbatical a couple of years ago, I noticed that I was losing track of all the software subscriptions I was paying for, and it felt like a problem.

After a wee bit of googling, I also discovered that shockingly, 42% of people are paying for subscriptions they've completely forgotten about, often spending hundreds (even thousands) more yearly than they realize.

As a designer, I know how powerful good design can be, to help people positively change their behaviour. I saw this as an opportunity to inspire people to care about their spending. I wanted to make a finance app that was so unbelievably simple, that it felt more like the Apple notes app, instead of another (boring) excel spreadsheet. I couldn't see another app like this.

By making a finance app so painstakingly simple, we're lowering the bar to increasing financial wellbeing for people.

I also wanted to use my experience as a designer to turn what is mundane and important, into something delightful and even fun through beautiful game-like aesthetics.

I don't believe we have even begun to scratch the surface of how beautiful software can be. When we think of art, we think of paintings, but we never think of software. I want to change that. I think software can be art. An app born out of these two complementary goals felt exciting to embark on.

We're not finance people. We're just people who were tired of the question "What am I actually paying for?" when checking my transactions.

Believe it or not, I actually believe in subscriptions. They allow us to use tools that makes our lives better. I just don't believe in the ones we forget about, that quietly drain our bank accounts without us noticing. Subscriptions allow beautiful, useful software to exist. It funds the craftspeople, the creatives, the engineers, the entrepreneurs which have an idea to make people's lives better and then will them into existence. We just need a tool to help us navigate that.

Orbit is already saving customers on average ~$403 per year.

We're just getting started.

– Josh