Why I Built AirBill

Over the past 10 years, I’ve started five businesses. A SaaS platform. An e-commerce brand. A consultancy. An app. And now AirBill.

Every business was different. Different market, different product, different team.

But one thing was always the same: the bookkeeping was a fucking nightmare.

The Shoebox

I ran my first company from my dorm room. I had a shoebox where I’d toss receipts. Every three months, I’d hand that box to my accountant.

He’d send back an Excel with questions:

“What’s this €47.50 receipt for?” “Can you send the invoice for that software license?” “Is this payment business or personal?”

I had no idea. That receipt was from three months ago. I had to dig through my email, scroll through my banking app, try to reconstruct what I was doing back then.

And then the emailing would begin. Back and forth. Weeks on end.

This was 2016. I thought: surely this gets better as I grow.

Spoiler: it got worse.

The Chaos of Growth

With every new business came more complexity:

• Multiple bank accounts. Business, savings, a German bank for EU transactions.

• Neo-banks. Revolut for international payments. Wise for freelancers.

• PayPal. Because some clients won’t use anything else.

• Credit cards. American Express for the cashback. Visa as backup.

• Crypto. Yeah, that too.

My accountant had access to my main account. The rest? Screenshots. Exports. Manually sent PDFs.

There was no single place where I could see real-time how my business was doing. No dashboard that combined everything. No overview.

I was flying blind.

The Question

Every month, the same ritual:

1. Accountant sends list of open questions

2. I promise to respond “this weekend”

3. Weekend becomes next week

4. Next week becomes next month

5. VAT deadline approaches

6. Panic

7. Figure everything out last-minute

8. Repeat

The frustrating part? The questions were often simple:

“Is this €12.99 at amazon.com business-related?” “Can you upload the invoice for this payment?” “What’s the VAT category for this expense?”

I knew the answers. I just couldn’t be bothered to dig through my email and banking app every time. So I’d postpone it. And postpone it. And postpone it.

The Dream

Sometime in 2024, after yet another evening sorting receipts, I wrote a note in my phone:

“Why can’t I just take a photo of a receipt and be done? Why doesn’t someone message me when something’s missing? Why do I have to remember everything?”

I wanted:

✓ Invoices and receipts managed from my phone. Take a photo, done.

✓ Payments automatically matched to invoices. No manual searching.

✓ All accounts in one place. Bank, PayPal, credit card, everything.

✓ Real-time insight. No monthly reports, but live dashboards.

✓ AI that asks me questions. Not the other way around.

And not as an end user, but together with my accountant. He should keep control. I just don’t want to be the bottleneck anymore.

The Solution That Didn’t Exist

I searched for software that could do this.

There are accounting packages. They’re made for accountants, not entrepreneurs.

There are expense apps. They don’t work with your accountant.

There are bank aggregators. They’re missing the administrative layer.

Nobody had the complete picture.

So I decided to build it myself.

AirBill

AirBill is what I always wanted:

For me as an entrepreneur: - I open the app, take a photo of a receipt, done - AI messages me via WhatsApp if something’s missing - I reply with a single message - Everything gets booked automatically

For my accountant: - Real-time sync with Exact Online - All accounts connected (including neo-banks) - 80% fewer back-and-forth questions - More time for advice, less time for administration

It’s like having a really smart assistant standing between you and your accountant. That assistant handles the boring work. The accountant maintains oversight. And you? You just run your business.

Why Now?

Two things have changed:

1. AI is finally good enough. Two years ago, AI couldn’t read a receipt. Now it can recognize invoices, match amounts, and even guess the VAT category. The technology is here.

2. Open banking is mature. PSD2 means we can securely connect with any bank in Europe. No screen scraping. No hacked exports. Real, secure APIs.

The puzzle pieces are there. Someone just had to put them together.

The Launch

On July 1st, we’re going live with AirBill.

We’re starting with a pilot for 50 accountants working with Exact Online. Why Exact? Because they have the best API and serve 150,000+ businesses in the Netherlands.

If you’re an accountant who wants to spend less time asking questions and more time giving advice: this is for you.

If you’re an entrepreneur who always puts off their bookkeeping: this is for you.

I’m building what I always wanted. And I think you want it too.

Want to join? Claim your spot at airbill.app

— Alex

About Alex Newman Serial entrepreneur. Stanford CS ’25. Building AirBill from the conviction that bookkeeping shouldn’t suck. Believes in AI that helps people, not replaces them.