Startup problems

As I have started to build my startup, I ran into a few problems that I really wish were solved or there are solutions for these. By no means have I went to turn every rock to see if there is a solution for my problems (although I do extensive research). This is an ongoing list I will update regularly. Feel free to reach out if you want to learn more.

Email rendering, testing

• Rails ActionMailer and HTML is great to start, and letter_opener gem makes it easy to test on dev
• VERY hard to test on dev once you don't render HTML in source code (Sengrid)
• VERY hard to create beautiful emails and render to HTML string via API (makes it easier to generate, then send off to provider of choice)

Managing files

• Flatfile.io is very cool for uploading CSVs. Filestack, Uploadcare and many are great for uploading files, images, videos, etc. Docspring is very neat for filling out PDFs via API
• But it's still hard to generate files for a user output. For example, we have to generate a PDF for our end user. My hack is to build it in React on Nextjs, then server-side render for my Rails app which then will upload to cloud, save cdn url to DB, etc.
• Another is I now have to zip a few files together (call them from CDN, then zip them) and it's been painful to learn about Tempfile, and more in Ruby land

Travel insurance

• Travel insurance really sucks. The buying experience is unpleasant and antiquated, especially for someone who frequently travels across countries (nomads)
• The experience also stops at the certificate – a huge loss of opportunity for partnership with travel companies (use our travel insurance, get a discount at Hilton as an example)
• Insurance, since for the most part is a 'need' not a 'want', is a huge channel for partnership. I love what Walnut is doign with Life Insurance

TurboTax for LLCs, Trusts and others

• It's really hard to navigate the investment world from a governance and logsitcal perspective. Should I invest in a property and put it behind an LLC? Should I sign up for a self-directed IRA? When should I create a Trust and how much will it cost me?
• These questions are usually solved with 'it depends' – but this was brilliantly solved in the accounting world with TurboTax
• Potential to manage the entity and have recurring revenue