This playbook outlines best practices for bootstrapped startups with fewer than five employees to use Expensify efficiently. The goal is to focus on product development while seamlessly capturing business-related receipts for future reimbursement.

• If you’ve secured venture capital and are prioritizing top-line revenue growth, see our Playbook for VC-Backed Startups.
• If maintaining profitability is your primary concern, check out our *Playbook for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses.

Who You Are

As a bootstrapped startup, you work with a small, trusted team and are focused on developing your concept. You may be self-funding or have limited support from friends and family. While the company isn’t profitable yet, you’re tracking expenses now to reimburse yourself later when you secure investment or generate revenue.

Setting Up Expensify Step-by-Step

This guide is based on best practices from processing expenses for thousands of companies. Use it as a starting point, knowing you can customize Expensify to fit your business needs.

Step 1: Create an Expensify Account

If you don’t have an account yet, sign up at new.expensify.com using your business email.

Step 2: Create a Workspace

Expensify offers three plans (Individual, Collect and Control). We outline the features of both plans in our pricing article, but for your needs, we recommend the Collect workspace for the following situations:

• You are looking to capture receipts, but you don’t need an advanced approval workflow. Instead you can have a single approver for all expenses.
• You are a small, highly collaborative group and project-oriented Chat functionality can help you stay organized.
• When your business produces enough cash that you can pay yourself, you might want to reimburse yourself for the expenses you’ve captured.

Expensify provides you with direct access to lightning-fast 24/7 support via Concierge. Within new.expensify.com, you can start a direct message (DM) with Concierge to discuss which plan might be better for your business.

Step 3: Invite Your Team

As a bootstrapped startup, you communicate with your team all day. Similarly, if you are a co-founder, you will have multiple people who will need to capture receipts for your project.

1. Click your profile photo or icon in the bottom left menu
2. Click on your workspace
3. From the workspace view, click Members on the left
4. Click Invite member
5. Use the search field to find the individual by name, email, or phone number. Note: You can select multiple people
6. Click Next
7. (Optional) Enter a custom message into the Message field
8. Click Invite

Inviting your team grants them unlimited receipt capture via SmartScan and access to Expensify’s free chat tool for seamless collaboration.

Step 4: Link Your Business Bank Account (Optional)

If you are located in the US, you can unlock many great features by linking your US-based business bank account such as using the Expensify Visa® Commercial Card to streamline expense management and receive additional discounts and company perks.

To setup a business bank account, follow the steps in this help article.

Step 5: Get the Expensify Visa® Commercial Card

After linking your business bank account, you’re eligible for the Expensify Card. The card offers:

• 1% cash back on all US purchases (2% if spending exceeds $250K/month).
• Unlimited virtual cards with fixed or monthly limits for specific company purchases (e.g., marketing, advertising, travel).
• Fast access to funds via a virtual card while waiting for a physical card.

To enable the Expensify Card:

1. Click your avatar.
2. Select Workspaces.
3. Click your workspace.
4. Select Cards.
5. You’ll be redirected to expensify.com.
6. Set a SmartLimit above $0.
7. Enter your mailing address for a physical card.

A virtual card is available for immediate use, and a physical card will arrive in 1-3 business days. The Expensify Card is accepted anywhere Visa is.

Step 6: View and Pay Bills

If you have vendors or services essential to growing your project, you can pay bills directly through Expensify after linking your bank account.

Expensify provides you with a _yourdomain.com@expensify.com_ email address. Have vendors send bills to this address for automatic organization.

To view and pay bills:

1. Click your profile photo or icon in the bottom left menu
2. Select Workspaces.
3. Click your workspace.
4. Select Bills.

Click View all bills under the Manage your bills section to see an organized list of pending bills, which you can pay via ACH directly from Expensify.

You’re All Set!

Congratulations! Your Expensify setup is complete. If you need assistance:

• Message Concierge anytime at new.expensify.com/concierge.
• Email concierge@expensify.com.
• Upgrade to a Collect or Control Workspace to be assigned a dedicated Setup Specialist.