Playbooks

Replace a popular tool the week it shuts down

When a tool that people rely on announces it is closing, build a simple replacement that pulls in the same data and shows the same screens. Then charge the users who are about to lose it.

The hard part: spotting the shutdown early and shipping something users trust before they settle on another replacement.

Setup 2 weeksRuns $25/moYour time A few hours a weekNeeds ClaudeSupabaseVercelStripe

Who pays

The users of the closing tool pay a monthly subscription so they can keep the reports and screens they use every day. MMSUCK1 set App Rings' price automatically from each customer's own average monthly revenue, but did not report any earnings. The source shows no revenue for this model, so any price here is only a suggestion. One option is to start near the old tool's price so switching feels like a simple swap.

How to build it

  1. Watch for tools announcing shutdowns

    Follow X, Reddit, and the blogs of tools in a niche you know, and look for shutdown announcements. A tool you use yourself is the best pick, because you already know what its users need.

  2. List the screens users rely on

    Write down the few numbers and screens that users check every day. Ask Claude to turn that list into a short plan for a first version.

  3. Build the data connection first

    Use Claude Code or Cursor to connect to the same data source the old tool used, so new users get their history on day one. Store each customer's data in Supabase and keep the connection read-only.

  4. Copy the familiar daily views

    Rebuild the main dashboard and alerts so they look familiar to people moving over from the old tool. Show how each number is calculated so users can check it against their own records.

  5. Launch where the users gather

    Put the app and a landing page on Vercel, then post the launch in the same places where people are talking about the shutdown. Say plainly which tool it replaces.

  6. Charge a monthly subscription

    Add a monthly plan with a Stripe checkout. Pricing that grows with the customer's own business size is one option.

Sources on X

  • MMSUCK1 · Oct 2, 2026

    MMSUCK1 says Mantle shut down on September 30. They had used it for their own Shopify apps, so they built a replacement called App Rings, which shows daily monthly revenue, cancellations, trials, and payouts for Shopify app developers. The poster says pricing is set automatically based on each organization's average monthly revenue.

Ideas are curated from public posts and untested by us. Read the full note.