Example execution pack
This is a saved public example of an Edge Arena execution pack. It shows the same structure a user receives after a run, using the prompt: “Build me a small app that solves a specific pain point for groups of friends on shared trips.”
Saved example artifact • Your own pack will reflect your goal, launchpad, and constraints
Executing:
Receipt-First Expense Splitting for Group Trips
Use this pack like a working document — review, validate, then execute.
Receipt-first trip expenses, $5 to settle the whole trip.
Selected from 15 ideas • Winner score 83
A focused photo-first group expense splitter for short-duration trips. One person snaps a receipt, the app extracts the total via OCR, and the group settles up via a single tap at the end of the trip. Built as an 8-week MVP, monetized via a $5 one-time "trip settlement" fee per group trip.
If you execute consistently, you could have a usable MVP in ~8 weeks.
boltStart here - first steps
Have a working photo-to-total OCR flow on iOS that can capture a real receipt and produce a settleable trip inside 5 business days.
Build the photo capture + Apple Vision OCR flow that extracts a receipt total to an editable field.
2–3 days
Stand up Supabase with a trips table, members table, and expenses table - no auth on members in v1.
1 day
Wire Stripe Payment Links and confirm the $5 settlement charge works end-to-end.
1 day
Why This Won
01. Execution Plan
Get the photo-to-settlement flow working end-to-end for one fake trip before involving any pilots.
- 1.Build the receipt photo + Apple Vision OCR flow.
- 2.Implement the trip + members + expenses data model in Supabase.
- 3.Wire Stripe Payment Links for the $5 trip settlement.
- 4.Run 3 fake trips end-to-end with the operator playing every role.
A working flow that takes a photo and produces a payable settlement summary, with logs that prove it.
On-device OCR accuracy on crumpled receipts is 75-85% in real conditions. Plan for the editable-total field to be visible and one tap away - making the user fix the number is fine, hiding the number is not.
Skip the friend graph in v1. Phone number / email-based ad-hoc groups are the entire product surface.
Onboard 3 real friend groups with trips scheduled in the next 30 days; observe the first real trip end-to-end.
- 1.Pick 3 friend groups the operator personally knows with upcoming trips.
- 2.Onboard the trip organizer in person, install the app, do a practice receipt capture.
- 3.Stay in text proximity for the entire trip; respond to issues within 1 hour.
- 4.Run the 15-minute post-trip call with each organizer.
3 Real trips settled, 5-10 small bugs surfaced and fixed, 3 strong testimonials captured.
The first real trip will surface 5-10 bugs that did not appear in the fake trips - budget 3 days of bug-fix time in this phase.
Resist adding features mid-pilot. Every "while you're here" request from an organizer extends the timeline.
Submit to App Store and Play, drive 25 paid trip settlements through word-of-mouth and one Reddit post.
- 1.Submit to App Store and Play Store with screenshots from the pilot trips.
- 2.Post a single short Reddit post in r/solotravel, r/bachelorette, and r/familytravel describing the problem and the $5 price.
- 3.Convert organic interest from pilot-trip non-app members into next-trip organizers.
- 4.Read the 8-week numbers and decide v2 priorities (itemized split? currency support?).
25 Paid settlements ($125 revenue), 50+ active trips in flight, and a written v2 spec on real usage data.
A 4.5+ App Store rating is the launch floor. Below that, every subsequent download converts at half the rate. The extra runway in weeks 7-8 exists to fix the issues that only surface on real trips before submitting to the stores.
Do not run paid ads in the first 8 weeks. The product's entire distribution loop is the share link - paid acquisition before the loop converts is wasted spend.
02. Validation Signals
Splitwise app reviews cite "had to convince everyone to install" as the #1 friction in 30%+ of 1-3 star reviews (App Store review scrape, 2024)
Validates the install-friction diagnosis - the entire share-link design is built around this signal.
Limitation: Review data is biased toward dissatisfaction; positive Splitwise usage is underrepresented.
Group-trip spending averages $1,800 per person for multi-day domestic US trips, growing 8% in 2024 (Allianz Travel 2024 survey)
A $5 settlement fee on a $1,800-per-person trip is well inside the reflexive-yes price band - the math supports the price point.
Limitation: Allianz data covers insured trips and is biased toward higher-spend cohorts.
Group expense settlement is a well-understood pain point with documented stalled adoption in existing tools. The unknown is willingness to pay $5 per trip rather than tolerating the free-but-broken alternatives - verify with at least 25 paid trips before scaling.
03. Core Strategy
MVP Architecture
Expo (iOS + Android) -> on-device OCR via Apple Vision / Google ML Kit -> Supabase (Postgres + Auth + Storage) -> Stripe Payment Links for the $5 settlement fee -> Twilio/SES for settlement-link delivery to non-creator group members.
Tech Stack
Expo SDK 51 (React Native) + TypeScript, Supabase for backend (managed Postgres + Row-Level Security + Storage), Stripe Payment Links for the one-time fee, Apple Vision (iOS) and Google ML Kit (Android) for receipt OCR, Resend for transactional email. Deploy via Expo Application Services.
Scope Boundary
MVP supports: trip creation by one user, receipt photo capture with OCR-extracted total and editable line, equal split or per-person split, settlement summary, and a $5 paid settlement that sends each member a payment link via SMS or email. Out of scope for v1: itemized line-item splits, currency conversion, recurring shared expenses, friend graphs, in-app payments, web app.
Build Timeline
Week 1: trip-creation flow + receipt photo capture + initial OCR integration setup. Week 2: OCR accuracy tuning - handle crumpled receipts, faded thermal paper, editable-total fallback flow. Week 3: settlement math + equal/per-person split logic + group member data model. Week 4: SMS/email delivery of settlement links to non-creator members. Week 5: Stripe Payment Link integration + end-to-end settlement flow. Week 6: settlement summary screen + manual-entry fallback + edge-case hardening. Week 7: pilot with 3 friend groups on real trips, live bug fixes and polish. Week 8: App Store / Play Store submission, review-response setup, launch.
First User Strategy
Start with 3 friend groups the operator personally knows that have a trip scheduled within 30 days. Onboard the trip organizer in person, install the app, and watch the first receipt capture happen live. Skip self-serve onboarding entirely for the first cohort.
04. Risks & Operator Advice
OCR fails on a critical receipt mid-trip and the user gives up on the app
A single 0% extraction on a $400 dinner receipt is a trust-destroying moment - and the user is mid-trip with no time to debug.
Mitigation: Always show the OCR-extracted total in an editable field that's one tap away. Add a "manual entry" fallback button on the same screen, not in a settings menu.
A trip organizer settles up but the group members don't pay their share
The $5 fee is paid by the organizer, but unpaid balances damage the organizer's social capital - and the bad outcome will be attributed to the app.
Mitigation: Send each group member a single SMS/email with a Venmo/PayPal/Apple Pay deep link to the exact amount owed. Make payment a 2-tap action, not a 6-tap one. The app cannot enforce payment but can remove every excuse not to pay.
05. Immediate Next Steps
The OCR flow is the entire differentiator - every other piece of the MVP stacks on it being fast and accurate.
An 8-week MVP without identified pilots in week 0 turns into a 12-week MVP. Pilot identification is the launch dependency.
Real billing from day one filters serious trip-organizers from tire-kickers.
Post-trip feedback loses 60% of its detail within 48 hours of the trip ending - the call has to be on the calendar before the trip starts.
06. Supporting Evidence
Claims
Demand
Group-trip spending averages $1,800 per person for multi-day US domestic trips and grew 8% in 2024 (Allianz Travel 2024 survey).
Friction
Splitwise reviews cite "had to convince everyone to install" as the #1 friction in 30%+ of 1-3 star reviews (App Store scrape 2024).
Technical
On-device OCR via Apple Vision and Google ML Kit reaches 80%+ accuracy on US receipts at 0ms cloud latency (Apple 2024 benchmark).
Evidence
Consumer survey
Allianz Travel 2024 group-trip spending survey, multi-day US domestic trips.
Review analysis
App Store review scrape of Splitwise and Tricount, 1-3 star reviews, 2024.
Platform data
Apple Vision and Google ML Kit on-device OCR accuracy benchmarks, 2024.
System Provenance
AI-generated plan, stress-tested by competing agents for feasibility. May contain assumptions, inaccuracies, or incomplete context. Outcomes may vary—use your judgment.