willlllliw
Newbie
- May 27, 2026
- 1
- 0
Hey BHW,
I spent the last ~6 months building a complete business operating system for freelancers and small studios. Think Notion +
QuickBooks + a CRM + an AI agent + client portal + marketing automation + payroll, all in one web app with a mobile companion.
What it actually does:
- Project management with time tracking, Kanban tasks, calendar (Google sync)
- Invoicing with auto-numbering, VAT, payment links via Revolut
- Full finance suite: income/expense tracking, receipt AI-scanning, bank reconciliation, P&L reports
- Customer CRM + quotes + leads pipeline (AI-scored)
- Marketing hub: Apollo.io prospecting, email sequences, social scheduling, AI briefs, trend monitoring
- AI business assistant (Helmies AI) that reads your data, answers questions, creates tasks/invoices, sends emails, and learns your preferences
- Client portal where customers see their projects, invoices, files, messages, and can book appointments
- payroll + VAT automation (pension, withholding, employer costs auto-calculated)
- Full email client (Gmail/Outlook/IMAP) built in
- Mobile app (Expo/React Native)
- Multi-tenant SaaS with 5 plan
The problem: I can build anything. I cannot sell anything.
I don't have a marketing background. I don't know where to find the first 10 paying users. I don't know if I should:
- Run ads (Meta/Google)? If yes, what's the actual angle that converts?
- Go agency-first and white-label this to studios?
- List on AppSumo / Product Hunt and eat the discount?
- Partner with accountants/business consultants who can push it to their clients?
- Pivot to a niche (e.g., only freelancers, only marketing agencies) instead of "everyone"?
I'm not here to shill a link. I'm here because I've read enough BHW threads to know that the people who actually make money are the ones who understand distribution, not just the ones who ship clean code.
What I'm asking:
If you were sitting on a functioning SaaS with a free tier and Stripe checkout already wired, what would be your first 3 moves to get from 0 to 10 paying customers? And what would you charge for a product like this in your market?
Appreciate any brutally honest takes. I'll read every reply.
I spent the last ~6 months building a complete business operating system for freelancers and small studios. Think Notion +
QuickBooks + a CRM + an AI agent + client portal + marketing automation + payroll, all in one web app with a mobile companion.
What it actually does:
- Project management with time tracking, Kanban tasks, calendar (Google sync)
- Invoicing with auto-numbering, VAT, payment links via Revolut
- Full finance suite: income/expense tracking, receipt AI-scanning, bank reconciliation, P&L reports
- Customer CRM + quotes + leads pipeline (AI-scored)
- Marketing hub: Apollo.io prospecting, email sequences, social scheduling, AI briefs, trend monitoring
- AI business assistant (Helmies AI) that reads your data, answers questions, creates tasks/invoices, sends emails, and learns your preferences
- Client portal where customers see their projects, invoices, files, messages, and can book appointments
- payroll + VAT automation (pension, withholding, employer costs auto-calculated)
- Full email client (Gmail/Outlook/IMAP) built in
- Mobile app (Expo/React Native)
- Multi-tenant SaaS with 5 plan
The problem: I can build anything. I cannot sell anything.
I don't have a marketing background. I don't know where to find the first 10 paying users. I don't know if I should:
- Run ads (Meta/Google)? If yes, what's the actual angle that converts?
- Go agency-first and white-label this to studios?
- List on AppSumo / Product Hunt and eat the discount?
- Partner with accountants/business consultants who can push it to their clients?
- Pivot to a niche (e.g., only freelancers, only marketing agencies) instead of "everyone"?
I'm not here to shill a link. I'm here because I've read enough BHW threads to know that the people who actually make money are the ones who understand distribution, not just the ones who ship clean code.
What I'm asking:
If you were sitting on a functioning SaaS with a free tier and Stripe checkout already wired, what would be your first 3 moves to get from 0 to 10 paying customers? And what would you charge for a product like this in your market?
Appreciate any brutally honest takes. I'll read every reply.
