SaaS

Sell local trades an online booking tool in person

Build a small booking tool that electricians, mechanics, repair shops, and music studios add to their websites so customers can book online. Sell it by walking into each business with an iPad that shows the tool already in their branding.

The hard part: walking into many shops in person, then turning a quick demo into a signup with busy owners who only buy what pays for itself.

Setup 2 weeksRuns $45/moYour time Most daysReadiness Readiness 55 out of 100Some detailHow we score thisNeeds ClaudeSupabaseVercelStripe

Who pays

Local businesses pay a monthly subscription for the booking tool on their website. starter_story reports that a widget sold this way, Avenue, now does $85K AUD a month and got its first 10 customers door to door. That is the founder's own figure. The post does not give a price per customer, so you set your own monthly price.

How to build it

  1. Talk to trades before building

    Visit a few local electricians, mechanics, or repair shops and ask how they take bookings today. If someone offers to pay before the tool exists, you have a signal worth following.

  2. Build a simple booking tool

    Use Claude Code or Cursor to build a booking form businesses can paste onto their website, with bookings saved in Supabase and the tool hosted on Vercel. Send the owner an email for each new booking.

  3. Make branding quick to change

    Let each business's logo and colors be swapped in quickly, so you can mock up a version for a shop before you walk in.

  4. Prepare an iPad demo and brochure

    Load the branded demo on an iPad and print a one-page brochure that explains what it does and what it costs.

  5. Walk in and demo in person

    Go door to door through local trades and studios without skipping any. Show each owner the tool in their own branding and leave the brochure.

  6. Collect monthly payments

    Sign up each customer with a Stripe Payment Link for a monthly subscription, then install the tool on their site for them.

Sources on X

  • starter_story · Oct 13, 2026

    starter_story reports that Tom, who had no coding experience, built a booking widget for electricians and mechanics called Avenue that now does $85K/month AUD, which is the founder's own figure. The post says Tom went door to door with an iPad, showed each business the widget in its own branding, and left a printed brochure. That is how Tom got the first 10 customers. Tom's advice was to sell before you build.

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