Ask a Shop Owner

Built for startup founders and tech business owners.

16 kinds of startups and tech companies. Same grounded system, tuned to how founders and small tech teams actually operate.

16 kinds of startups & technology businesses

Pick yours - every one has its own numbers, leaks, and 90-day plan

SaaS StartupBootstrapped StartupVenture-Backed StartupSolo Founder / Indie HackerMobile App CompanyAI / ML StartupDev Tools / InfrastructureFintech StartupHealthtech StartupMarketplace / PlatformEcommerce Tech / DTC TechHardware / IoT StartupWeb / Software StudioIT Services / MSPCybersecurity FirmDigital Product Agency

How the money works

Startups & Technology runs on 3 different business models

Two shops in the same industry can need opposite advice, because they sell different things. Find the model you actually run on.

Recurring product revenue

You sell one paying account per month

You pay to acquire a customer today and get paid back over months, which means growth consumes cash even when the business is healthy. Retention and expansion beat acquisition at every stage. Most early products do not have a growth problem, they have a churn problem wearing a growth costume.

Your ceiling
Cash runway and payback period on acquisition spend.
Biggest leak
Onboarding that assumes the user will figure it out — Time-to-value is your churn dial. Shorten it before you buy more traffic.

Expertise sold by the hour or retainer

You sell one hour, one engagement, one retainer month

Utilization times realization times rate is your entire income statement. Scope creep is the silent killer - the work grows, the fee does not, and effective rate drops without a single conversation. Recurring retainers beat project revenue for planning, but only when scope is written down.

Your ceiling
Your billable hours and those of the people you trust with client work.
Biggest leak
Unbilled 'quick questions' — Twenty minutes a day for a client on a fixed retainer is 80 hours a year. Either price it in or route it to a scheduled call.

Recurring route work

You sell one stop on a repeating route

Revenue is stops times price times frequency, and profit is decided almost entirely by how close your stops are to each other. A dense route with modest pricing beats a scattered route with premium pricing every time, because drive time is unbillable and endless. Retention is the whole business - churn quietly resets you to zero every spring.

Your ceiling
Windshield time. Miles between stops is the tax you pay on every route.
Biggest leak
The account across town — One outlier stop can cost 45 minutes. Either raise its price to cover the drive or hand it to a competitor with a smile.

1 business type

Frequently asked

Questions startups & technology leaders ask us

Is this actually built for startup founders?
Yes. It is grounded in real business owners - founders, small-team leaders, and SaaS business owners who have shipped product, sold, hired, and made payroll. It refuses when your question is outside what its library covers instead of guessing.
How is this different from ChatGPT or startup Twitter?
ChatGPT and Twitter give you confident opinions from anyone. This advisor only answers from a vetted library of people who have actually run a business, with citations, so you know where the answer came from.
Is it useful for solo founders and indie hackers, not just funded startups?
Yes. Solo founders, bootstrappers, indie hackers, and small funded teams all use it. The advice adjusts to your stage - a bootstrapped solo founder gets different answers than a Series A team.
Does it cover fundraising, or only operations?
Both. You can ask about product, pricing, GTM, hiring, and runway, plus talking to investors, term sheets, and when raising is the wrong move. Answers come from business owners who have lived it.
What does it cost?
There is a free tier to try it. Paid plans start at $97/month with a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.