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Startup Camp London: Video Interview With Startup Scred

I have a friend who does everything in Excel. I mean EVERYthing. If he were ever to write a novel, I am convinced he would do it in Excel. He obsesses about balancing his books at home on Excel; organizing trips in Excel. So when we went to Italy a couple of years ago and shared expenses, he built us a handy spreadsheet. There was nothing complicated about it, but its elegance and logic just made everything tidy -- well, except the part where I owed him money. Now I don't need the spreadsheet, though. Enter Scred, one of the attendees at last week's Startup Camp in London.

This Finnish startup offers a service for tracking shared expenses and debts among friends who travel and share expenses for transportation, food, gas, and hotels. No more complexity, just register with the Web site, or use a mobile phone to work offline and sync back up. Scred's core developer, Kristoffer Lawson, said that it balances everything and handles all currencies.

Lawson's biggest challenge as a startup is to get the word out without a marketing budget and a self-funding model. He spent some time picking the brains of other startups, and says he's been trying some ideas on Facebook and Google. He also gave out vouchers for free beer if you visit the company in Finland.

It will take more than free beer. While this very focused application is interesting and practical, it may need to grow some wings beyond just travel expenses, like shared household expenses among roommates or business partners. Relationships (and co-marketing deals) with travel agents might also be an avenue for Scred.

Meanwhile, if you're traveling soon with another group, check out Scred. If you're traveling to Finland, give Mr. Lawson a ring for some free beer.

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