Building Monie: From Dormitory Problems to a Real Product
Sharing the journey of developing Monie from initial user conversations to opening for beta testers, and everything I learned along the way.
Introduction
Monie originated from my firsthand experience living in dormitories and conversations with several property owners who were still managing every aspect by hand—from tracking utilities and paper notices to manual billing. I started developing Monie to transform dormitory operations into a straightforward, calm experience.
Problems Identified
Most dormitory owners juggle disconnected tools and repetitive chores: manually jotting down meters, calculating electricity tariffs, generating paper slips, and chasing bank transfers. This costs hours of tedious effort and introduces frequent calculation errors.
“I want property owners to reclaim their time, eliminate repetitive manual chores, and oversee their entire property in one calm dashboard.”
Solution & Approach
I designed Monie to be genuinely intuitive, handling the fundamental daily operations of dormitories while remaining accessible for tenants directly through LINE.
The system unifies room occupancy tracking, meter input logging, and invoice dispatch into a streamlined workflow. Dormitory owners can review occupancy and financial health without leafing through multiple paper ledgers.
Technology Stack
On the frontend, I chose Next.js alongside TypeScript and Tailwind CSS to deliver an ultra-responsive interface, solid type safety, and painless long-term maintenance.
The backend is powered by NestJS and PostgreSQL to guarantee robust transactional data integrity, integrated with the LINE Messaging API so tenants receive bills and reminders natively on their devices.
Key Learnings
Building a real product taught me that code elegance means nothing if it doesn't solve real human pain points. Sitting alongside property owners while they transcribed meter numbers helped me eliminate more than half of my initial assumptions.
What users truly value isn't feature complexity; it is absolute clarity, reliability, and the peace of mind that their numbers are always accurate.
What's Next
Monie is currently undergoing live trials with pilot dormitories. I am actively gathering hands-on feedback to polish monthly accounting summaries and simplified financial reports.
Upcoming milestones include maintenance ticket workflows and automated slip verification, moving Monie toward a comprehensive, empathetic property companion.