How we built our own platform instead of renting one
TOOL started as a time tracker. It now runs sales, estimates, delivery, meetings, finance and a set of AI agents for the whole studio, with a client portal on top.
We built it because no product covered how an agency actually works. Owning it means every gap we find gets fixed in days, not added to someone else's roadmap.
As the studio grew, every handover between those systems became a place for work to go missing. A quote went quiet and nobody followed up. An estimate was signed but its hours never reached the project. A project ran over and we found out at invoice time.
Each tool we tried solved one stage. None joined them up, so the joins were done by hand, by whoever remembered.
We needed one record that followed the work from deal to delivery to payment, so the numbers at the end matched the promise at the start.
Time tracking came first, because every report above it depends on honest hours. Then we built outward, one stage at a time, and released each one to ourselves before starting the next.
Sales came next: a pipeline of deals, contacts and companies, with reminders and follow-up tasks when a quote goes quiet. A Chrome side panel saves contacts and creates deals straight from LinkedIn and Gmail.
Estimates and documents followed, built from reusable blocks, exported to PDF and signed online. A signed estimate becomes a project with its hours already set, so nothing is re-keyed.
Finance closed the loop. A two-way Xero sync brings invoices, leave and transactions back in, and payment plans schedule invoices and send reminders on their own.
Deals, contacts and follow-ups, with deal tasks carried into the project.
Block-based documents, PDF export and online signing in one flow.
Timelines, milestones, component hours and personal, project and team plans.
Two-way Xero sync, payment plans, budgets, cash flow and P&L reports.
Because TOOL holds the deal, the estimate, the hours and the invoices, AI has real context to work with. Virtual PM agents draft documents, suggest priorities, review code and prepare invoices. A person approves every step, and each agent has a written brief setting its data, schedule and allowed actions.
Each morning TOOL builds a daily plan for every person and re-plans it when the day changes. Meetings sync from Google Calendar, a Mac app transcribes them on the device, and recaps land in Slack.
An MCP server with around 85 tools lets Claude and other AI assistants read and update projects, estimates, deals and budgets as the signed-in user. Clients get their own portal to see progress, raise requests and track risks without asking us for an update.
Drafts, priorities, code reviews and invoices, each approved by a person.
A plan for each person every morning, re-planned as the day shifts.
Around 85 tools so AI assistants can work inside TOOL safely.
Clients see progress, raise requests and track risks themselves.
TOOL is central to our operations, enhancing accountability, time management, and project visibility. It has streamlined processes and boosted our ability to deliver value to clients.
