PhoneDog was fortunate to be able to speak with Phil Tadros, entrepreneur and owner of several tech-based companies. Along with owning two coffee shops and Doejo Interactive Media, Tadros is the founder of Metroproper, a city-based profile-driven citizen media social network where members share hyper-local and web content. We sat down with him to get the full scoop on his latest business venture, TextHog.com.
1. What is TextHog.com, exactly?
TextHog is a really simple way to keep track of your spending in real time on the go; you just sign up with an e-mail and password, and then you save your unique TextHog e-mail address in your phone. From there, you just text your spending on the go. For example, you would message "coffee, 3.50" to the provided address and then it will auto associate categories and easily export your financials to Excel, Quicken and Quickbooks.
2. What inspired the idea of TextHog?
I have 2 coffee shops, a web development ad company and a vintage store, so I have a lot of expenses. I started TextHog because I was so used to text messaging all of the time. Believe me, with several businesses to keep track of, it's not easy to keep all your receipts and go back later and match up your credit cards, your checks, your cash spending, and then organizing them. Furthermore, the data often gets entered in way too late to be effective in budgeting, etc. With TextHog I can keep track of all my business spending as it happens with a simple text to TextHog.
3. Do you see a concept such as this replacing traditional budgetary methods?
Let's face it, people's phones are their life - in addition to contacts, media, calendars, now they'll be able to process budget alerts! And because we don't store personal private info, it provides a level of privacy to our users.
4. How much does TextHog cost; is it widely available yet?
TextHog is free at the moment, but business versions are on the way. It's a first draft vision graphic of where we are going as a useful service with a business model.
TextHog can be found on the internet at www.texthog.com.
