# Namu

Namu helps freelancers avoid overpaying taxes and unnecessary tax penalties. 

## Elevator pitch
For 1099 workers, we calculate estimated taxes, manage invoicing, collect payments, and help them save for retirement.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/namu
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:47831
- Last updated: 2026-08-25T05:01:17Z
- Generated at: 2026-08-26T00:00:32Z

## Quick facts
- Sales distribution strategy enhanced by company's advisers
- Strong technical knowledge for building financial systems
- Strong accounting and tax knowledge
- Advisors and investor is a Techstars Fintech 2019 NYC mentor, and 2 time founder with exits.

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:28443: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## Story
Having worked in wealth management for 15+ years helping millionaires and billionaires manage their money through exceptional technology, I wanted to bring the relevant advice, tactics, and technology that was available to the very wealthy to working Americans.I had 3 major personal values when starting Namu:1. to work directly with customers, not with enterprises;2. to value privacy and confidentiality above all, and not sell any customer data for advertising revenue;3. to work in the personal finances space and help people not make financial mistakes, but rather be efficient and strategic with their finances = increase financial wellness.Through our research into various financial struggles that many Americans were facing, we found the problem for 1099 workers to be a very clear and solvable problem. The US tax code is complicated, and there are many tactics small business owners can use to pay less taxes through following best practices, which we found many 1099 workers were not following, including paying quarterly estimated taxes.Based on this large problem in front of us, we decided Namu's mission is to help entrepreneurial Americans be successful with their businesses and not let the financial aspects slow them down or penalize them through interest and overpaying taxes.We are building a financial accounting, tax planning, and business management platform to help 1099 workers including freelancers, real estate agents, and others streamline and automate their financial matters.

## FAQ
1. **Like the concept, but what sets you apart from online offerings such as Quickbooks, Turbotax, and H&R Block? Or the local CPA firm? How much do you plan on charging for a subscription to this service? Is this only a focus on tax filing/reporting or will this platform also ...**
   - I'll break apart your questions to answer them. 1. Quickbooks only does accounting, not tax calculations, and only on an accrual basis, which is way overkill for a solopreneur/1099 worker who are cash basis. Turbotax does year end taxes, but doesn't have an estimated tax planning function at all since that requires accounting data. 2. We plan to charge anywhere from $5-$40 a month, depending on functionality. In comparison, cheapest Quickbooks Online is over 40, and QB SE is useless. 3. This ...
2. **Can you help me understand how you spent $ 32,011.83 on "Sales & Marketing" and generated $0 in revenue?**
   - That was for freelancers to develop our first MVP in the parent/kids finance space, www.namumoney.com. We did a pivot 2 months ago to the 1099 space because we heard from our customer interviews that this was a bigger and more painful problem.

## Team
- Ushir Shah (Founder & CEO)

## Recent posts
- Fundraising Update (2019-10-18T01:36:24Z)

## Q&A
- Q: Like the concept, but what sets you apart from online offerings such as Quickbooks, Turbotax, and H&R Block? Or the local CPA firm? How much do you plan on charging for a subscription to this service? Is this only a focus on tax filing/reporting or will this platform also assist in financial management, such as cash flow management, invoicing, and financial statement generation?
  - A: I'll break apart your questions to answer them. 1. Quickbooks only does accounting, not tax calculations, and only on an accrual basis, which is way overkill for a solopreneur/1099 worker who are cash basis. Turbotax does year end taxes, but doesn't have an estimated tax planning function at all since that requires accounting data. 2. We plan to charge anywhere from $5-$40 a month, depending on functionality. In comparison, cheapest Quickbooks Online is over 40, and QB SE is useless. 3. This platform is both financial management and tax calculations, so yes, it includes cash flow, invoicing, payments, and financial reports, since that info is needed to properly estimate the taxes in real time. Feel free to email me at help@namu.ai if you have more questions or want to have a call to discuss further.
- Q: Why is this valued at 10M? Do you have a MVP for this new idea? What was wrong with the original idea? Tracking money, expenses, calendars, costs etc is a real problem between groups of people especially when children are involved. Let’s say a father or mother insists that his child’s other parent uses Namu for all expenses, visits, etc as it relates to a child, that log of events could potentially be used in court. Do you plan on continuing on the original namu money idea or throw it away?
- Q: Can you help me understand how you spent $ 32,011.83 on "Sales & Marketing" and generated $0 in revenue?
  - A: That was for freelancers to develop our first MVP in the parent/kids finance space, www.namumoney.com. We did a pivot 2 months ago to the 1099 space because we heard from our customer interviews that this was a bigger and more painful problem.