Validated Business Idea
Job scheduling & customer texts for solo tradespeople — set up in 10 minutes.
SaaS subscription at $29/month (solo plan: 1 user, unlimited jobs, SMS included up to 200/month) and $59/month (growth plan: 3 users, unlimited SMS, online booking page, review requests). SMS overages billed at $0.02/message. No setup fees, no contracts. Target 60% gross margin after Twilio SMS costs and Stripe fees. Upsell annual plans at 2 months free to improve cash flow and reduce churn.
Pricing Tiers
Margins: No server costs until >500 active users. Hosting on Render ~$5–15/mo. Gross margins 85%+ once customer base grows.
Solo plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, and handymen aged 30-55 running 1-3 person operations in the US and Canada. They currently use pen-and-paper, Google Calendar, or spreadsheets. Pain point: missed appointments, no-shows, and hours wasted on phone tag. Urgency now because post-COVID home services demand is high, labor is tight, and these tradespeople are overwhelmed but cannot afford or learn Jobber at $149/month.
Week 1-2 [Setup]: Register TradeDesk LLC and tradedeskapp.com. Set up Stripe for billing, Twilio for SMS, and a no-code backend using Bubble or Softr + Airtable. Define MVP feature set: job calendar, customer contact list, automated appointment reminder SMS, and a simple invoice generator. Join 5 Facebook groups for tradespeople and Reddit communities (r/Plumbing, r/electricians) to observe language and pain points. Week 3-6 [Build]: Build MVP on Bubble — job creation form, calendar view, customer profile with SMS history, and one-click reminder send. Integrate Stripe billing with a 14-day free trial. Set up a simple marketing site on Carrd or Webflow with a demo video (Loom walkthrough). Reach out to 30 solo tradespeople via Facebook groups and local Nextdoor offering free 30-day access in exchange for a 20-minute feedback call. Week 7-9 [Validate]: Onboard 10-15 beta users. Track activation (did they create a job?), retention (did they log in week 2?), and NPS. Conduct 8 feedback calls. Fix the top 3 friction points. Collect 3 video testimonials. Confirm willingness to pay at $29/month — ask directly on calls. If 6 of 15 say yes unprompted, proceed to launch. Week 10-12 [Launch]: Convert beta users to paid. Launch cold outreach to 200 solo tradespeople via LinkedIn and Facebook DMs using testimonial clips. Post a case study on r/smallbusiness and r/Entrepreneur. Run a $300 test budget on Facebook Ads targeting self-employed contractors aged 28-55 in the US. Set a goal of 30 paying customers ($870 MRR) by end of week 12. Begin building a referral program offering 1 free month per referral.
The AI handles everything else. You just approve these 5 decisions — everything between approvals runs autonomously.
Claim "TradeDesk" and set up the domain
Register the domain (~$12/yr) and point it to the platform.
Connect Stripe for payment processing
Create your free Stripe account and enable the Pro ($19/mo) and Enterprise ($79/mo) pricing tiers. Payments go directly to your bank.
Approve landing page + beta launch
AI builds the landing page and sets up the free tier. You approve the copy and design before going live.
Approve Pro tier billing launch
AI enables Stripe billing for the $19/mo Pro tier. First paying customer triggers automated receipt emails.
Approve Enterprise tier and $500 MRR push
AI adds the $79/mo Enterprise tier with team features and priority support. Launch targeting indie hacker communities.
Ready to run this?
Approve this idea first — reply YES to the email or go to Approvals. Then come back and hit Launch.
Review Approvals →