It gives you dedicated phone numbers you can share with the people and places that may need to reach you urgently. When someone calls one, it can ring multiple people at once, break through Do Not Disturb, and if no one answers, escalate to others.
For example, we give one to our kid’s school. It rings both of us at the same time so someone alway picks up.
Or we can give one to my dad’s doctor. It rings me and my sister first, and if we do not pick up, it rolls to my wife and brother in law.
No matter what number they call from, it shows up clearly as something like “Dad Emergency” or “Kids School” on our phones.
If no one answers, it uses its own voicemail, transcribes it, and sends it to everyone. We can still see who actually called via text or the dashboard.
At first we built it for ourselves, but figured it might be useful to other families too.
PS- recently someone brought to our attention that this could be useful for patients on transplant list. This will be worthwhile if we even help one transplant patient!
I actually don't know if Google Voice has that capability unless you hack it by having each phone logged into the same account.
The biggest benefit for me with StatPhone is the incoming callerID is the StatPhone number. So even if the kid's school is calling from a random number, on your phone it shows the StatPhone number and you know its a call pertains to your child.
Also grouped escalation, so if my father calls in an emergency, the kids get called first and then the in laws and our uncle.
Can you clarify how Statphone deals with the problem of random spam calls hitting the number by chance and ringing everyone? I assume that’s how most spam operates these days, just brute force on number permutations. I love the idea!
Unfortunately if a spammer called the StatPhone number, it would dial everyone. I thought about blocking or automatically categorizing but then you may miss an important call from an unknown number.
Most spammers are actually operating off of known lists, usually made off of some data leak.
I haven’t encountered that issue yet. I don’t have a great solution for that case.
How do escalations work for statphone? If the first group doesn't respond to the call, does it escalate to the second group while the call is in progress still? What happens if the caller hangs up? Very cool idea btw!
If the first group doesn't pick up, it starts calling the second group, but first group continues to ring.
If the caller hangs up, all ringing is stopped.
The cool thing is if it encounters the native phone's voicemail, it hangs up and continues to ring so doesn't think it was a picked up call.
We do have our own voicemail that will eventually answer (user defined timing), which then transcribes and sends the voicemail+transcription to all the group members.
I did and a few CPAs. Surprisingly my customers have been CPAs buying to offer to their clients.
Pixie is more like quickbooks or any other record keeping software. We don’t employ the children, their parents do. And as long as the kids are doing legitimate work, it’s fair and actually the irs has a page on it.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...
Thank you for kind words.
Really appreciate this. You’re exactly who I had in mind.
On the subscription concern, totally fair. Everything in Pixie is exportable, so you always have your documentation. The underlying rule is longstanding. Pixie just helps systematize compliance. I’m building it assuming families will use it for 10+ years, so durability matters.
Great point on task based work. I can build that in if there’s demand. It makes a lot of sense for kid jobs.
On expat eligibility, I’ll look into it more closely. The key requirement is US taxable earned income, but living abroad can add complexity.
I’ve created Pixie, a platform to employ and track your kids work. For families with a business, it helps reduce tax burden and fund a child’s Roth.
I’m a physician with some 1099 income, built the platform myself because my kids help with my side projects, and have since onboarded CPAs who now offer it to their clients. I saved 5k this year on my own taxes by employing my kids and it has funded their Roth.
Soon after launching, I crossed the $500/month mark.
This is neat, I appreciate that even if I can't use the service, i still learned something new about what's possible. Gonna keep it in the back-pocket for sharing with friends.
Also reminded me of when Justin Jackson talked about how he hired his kids for help with real projects and the positives from it https://justinjackson.ca/flipping-tables
I’ve been working on Pixie, a platform to employ and track your kids for real work; for families with a business, it helps reduce tax burden and fund a child’s Roth.
I’m actually an anesthesiologist with some 1099 income, built the platform myself because my kids help with my side projects, and have since onboarded CPAs who now offer it to their clients.
It's been a fun journey!
Thanks for the kind words! It is not at all profitable, but it gives me purpose, and scratches a particular intellectual itch. I wish I could afford to make it my full-time job and just write every day without worrying about day-job income, but alas, the universe currently desires otherwise.
I have young kids and elderly parents. Very much in the sandwich generation.
When I’m in the OR or busy and an unknown number comes in, I have no idea. Is this my kid’s school? My dad’s doctor? Something urgent? Or just spam?
So my wife and I built StatPhone (https://statphone.com).
It gives you dedicated phone numbers you can share with the people and places that may need to reach you urgently. When someone calls one, it can ring multiple people at once, break through Do Not Disturb, and if no one answers, escalate to others.
For example, we give one to our kid’s school. It rings both of us at the same time so someone alway picks up.
Or we can give one to my dad’s doctor. It rings me and my sister first, and if we do not pick up, it rolls to my wife and brother in law.
No matter what number they call from, it shows up clearly as something like “Dad Emergency” or “Kids School” on our phones.
If no one answers, it uses its own voicemail, transcribes it, and sends it to everyone. We can still see who actually called via text or the dashboard.
At first we built it for ourselves, but figured it might be useful to other families too.
PS- recently someone brought to our attention that this could be useful for patients on transplant list. This will be worthwhile if we even help one transplant patient!
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