01
Oode
2023-2025
The tools for scheduling businesses? A circus of half-baked bandaids. Calendars that can’t take payments. Payment processors allergic to booking slots. CRMs that forget you need to, y’know, actually get paid. And bookkeeping tools that still can’t auto-record it. It’s like every app got amnesia about what ‘workflow’ even means.
I built Oode because I figured scheduling folks deserved better: one simple place that automated everything from bookings straight through to bookkeeping. Less busywork, more time actually running your business.
02
Process
AppSumo
We successfully launched Oode on AppSumo, initially attracting 3,000 new users and plenty of positive feedback. Users loved having appointment scheduling, payment processing, CRM, email marketing, and automated bookkeeping all in one place— a platform that goes from zero to fully operational in minutes and looks gorgeous while doing it.
The AppSumo Rollercoaster
Launching Oode on AppSumo in 2023 felt like a big win. Users praised Oode for being exactly what they needed, solving real headaches. But enthusiasm alone does not pay the bills. When we looked closer, users loved the lifetime deal discount but were not willing to move to our regular subscription price.
The Hard Reality Check
Even with all that excitement, we had not built something users valued enough to pay full price for. Eventually, my cofounder (who was also our primary financial supporter) stepped away. We had to pause, leaving the product without a team.
That experience reminded me of something obvious, but easy to ignore: attracting free or heavily discounted users is not the same as delivering genuine, sustainable value.
Reinventing Oode with AI
Restarting Oode forced us to rethink everything. We asked a blunt question: what feature would deliver value so obvious that users would gladly pay for it? The answer was bookkeeping. If Oode could close the loop from booking a client to logging the payment in the ledger, the subscription would pay for itself. So we scrapped the old standalone stack and rebuilt Oode's accounting core as an AI layer on top of QuickBooks Online, the accounting system millions already trust.
The shift unlocked the sustainable value we had missed. Now the journey runs end to end on autopilot: a client books a slot on a branded Oode page, the payment link fires, funds land, and an invoice is generated. Seconds later the entry is posted inside QuickBooks, automatically reconciled and correctly categorised. Owners can run freeform queries such as "How is my cash flow this month?" or "Who is my best client?" and get instant answers pulled from live numbers. Bookkeepers clear routine tasks with a single command, and CPAs dive straight into insights without redrawing charts of accounts.
Building on QBO also let us ship faster and removed the "yet another app to learn" complaint that hurt our first version.
03
Future
Sleep Time Compute
With the core workflows coded and battle tested, we can finally tackle our next big challenge in scheduling: Sleep Time Compute. This AI system works while owners focus on their trade or simply rest:
Reconciling the ledger: sweeps every transaction outside the booking flow, categorises it, and flags anything unusual.
Reminding clients: understands client behaviour, recognises late payers, and sends tailored follow ups.
Invoicing faster: learns from past patterns to speed up payments and improve cash flow.
Maintaining relationships: keeps relationships warm without demanding constant owner input.
We do not expect a single big bang of autonomy. Each release inches Oode closer to a self running back office assistant that quietly absorbs the administrative grind. Oode does more than organise workflows; it saves owners time and money, the two things they actually care about.
The AppSumo ride was painful but priceless. It showed us the gap between building something people like and building something they value enough to buy. That difference separates a cool idea from a sustainable business.
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