[johnnyg]

Do you have a version of akumulate.com floating around. We are a small business with an asset tracking problem. Just got burned by ManageEngine's AssetTracker and would like something more in depth than SpiceWorks offers. Perhaps I can tour and buy the code base for modest amount for internal use?

[bmle]

We actually never modified the codebase to handle business assets. We were in the discovery phase to find out if we can repurpose the code. When we shut it down, it was still a product for managing personal assets.

[lsc]

So, I'm interested in making a play in a similar market (small companies/individuals) Well, "making a play" sounds more ambitious than I am. Mostly, I need it for me. But, like most people, I think that if I need it, others might, too.

My angle is focused more on locating the item than valuing it, (and I have the basics of a barcode inventory system) but I'm also wanting to add valuation (well, and 'where is the invoice') tracking to it.

I think your problem with small companies was that you went after companies that expected to be acquired.

Companies like mine that you expect to run long term are very different beasts with very different needs. And I know it doesn't seem that way in silicon valley, but there are more of us than there are "startups"

I mean, the 'where is the invoice' and the depreciation bit is important if I get audited (and I will, eventually) - but, see, I build computers and maintain networking equipment; I spend more time looking for tools/parts than I spend actually working with those tools/parts.. So a 'where is my stuff' thing is pretty dang useful.

Of course, it probably makes sense to have separate applications for inventory and for accounting value. But there are problems with that, too... for instance, it's dang difficult to come up with a solid/standard UPC database. the nature of barcode stickers is such that you probably have your own, unique numbers (which then, if you had a complete-ish upc database, you could link to) and small items? well, getting durable barcode (or rfid or NFC) tags appropriately sized for small things is usually difficult or expensive or both.

A reasonably written barcode (or rfid or nfc) based inventory thing means that other people can put things away and I can still find them; one of those things that makes living with other people (or hiring other people to help out) much easier.

[bmle]

We consulted a few small companies. I'm not sure I'd categorize the companies as startups hoping to be acquired. They had been around for a while and made money. I think many companies lease machines so the need to track those assets didn't exist.

We were in the middle of working on an iOS app for users to scan stuff around their house and we'd lookup those items to add to our inventory list. When we decided to pivot, we wanted to use that scanning functionality to scan asset tags. Obviously, we didn't pursue it any further but we were heading in that direction.

[lsc]

>I think many companies lease machines so the need to track those assets didn't exist.

Hm. Well, it's possible I'm imagining my own need here. I mean, all accounting work is a hedge against an audit and the resulting tax debt, and it's possible that it's acceptable to just handwave your small assets.

But yeah. In my experience? small, single owner businesses don't lease, 'cause it is both more expensive and less flexible than ownership. I mean, obviously, if you are a short-term business, leasing is great, as you get the stuff up front, and you only have to pay for it if you don't go out of business meanwhile... but it's generally a bad choice for the long-term slog kind of businesses I'm talking about.

>We were in the middle of working on an iOS app for users to scan stuff around their house and we'd lookup those items to add to our inventory list. When we decided to pivot, we wanted to use that scanning functionality to scan asset tags. Obviously, we didn't pursue it any further but we were heading in that direction.

The problem most of these apps have is that they use the built-in camera... which is way too slow. You need something like 250ms (certainly under 500ms) item scan ->recognition times, which usually the camera barcode decoder app thingie can't do at all. It does better with 2d barcodes; much better, but probably still not good enough.

[taproot]

Can you give us a rundown of the codebase / language / db / size / documentation? I can likely repurpose this for my own use as well.

[bmle]

Not sure if we're gonna release the code but was written using django/mysql. I don't remember how much code we wrote. I'm guessing something in the area of 10k lines.