A note from the founder

The original concept was straightforward. Snap a photo of a renewal letter or forward a bill to a personal email address, and software would read it, file it, and remind you in plenty of time. No tagging, no folders, no spreadsheets that nobody ever opens twice.

But the idea quickly evolved.

Talking to a friend who runs a small business, I heard the same frustration from a different angle. Their business receipts were scattered across the same personal inbox as their kids' school letters, and every Self Assessment in January meant a weekend of digital archaeology. The problem was not a missing tool. It was that personal life and work life shared the same shoebox.

The realisation

Orlo had to do two things at once. Take the chore out of filing every document worth keeping, and quietly nudge people before the dates that actually cost money. Not louder. Not more of them. Better timed and tied to the real document, so the reminder was something you could act on in ten seconds.

From there, the rest followed. Workspaces, so the household stayed separate from the business and a rental property could have its own corner. Sharing, so an accountant or solicitor could see exactly what they needed and nothing more, with the link revoked the moment the work was done. Per-workspace forwarding addresses, so the invoice for a job never accidentally landed next to your weekly grocery delivery.

Where Orlo is today

Today, Orlo handles fifteen document types out of the box, from MOT certificates and council tax bills to passports, insurance renewals, and Self Assessment paperwork. It works on the web, on iOS, and on Android. It reads documents you upload or forward by email, files them by type, and sets reminders tuned to what the document actually is.

It tracks how much your renewals cost year-on-year and tells you when a policy is going up before it auto-renews. It sends a short summary every Monday morning so you start the week knowing where you stand.

It is built by one person, in West Yorkshire, with a lot of input from real users. That is on purpose. Software in this corner of life should feel personal. It should feel like it was made by someone who has been on the same end of the paperwork.