u/Still_Dependent_3936

5 days in and still no code written.

That is intentional. The rule I set for myself: one paying founding member before a single line of product code. So today was outreach and sales prep instead of building.

23 DMs sent.

4 Reddit posts live.

One call booked for Sunday.

Build a 1 page FolioGate overview and a founding member agreement to send during or before(depends) the call. Very important thing to note... If you want to secure first customers fast - you MUST-HAVE a genuinely great offer. So it would feel stupid to refuse.

Has anyone closed a founding member before shipping? Curious whether showing up with a signed agreement feels too formal or signals you are serious.

Set a rule at the start: no product code until someone pays.

So today was AGAIN marketing and cold outreach work.

23 DMs sent to AI automation freelancers.
4 Reddit posts live.
One person booked a call for Sunday.
Built a 1 page overview and a founding member agreement to bring to the call. I realized that you need to have a really good offer! I mean genuinely good offer to secure you first customers. So it would be stupid to refuse it.

MRR: $0. Founding spots claimed: 0 of 5. Code written: 0.

23 DMs sent to AI automation freelancers.

4 Reddit posts live across different communities.

One person replied and booked a call. First real conversation with a potential founding member.

Also built two things: a 1 page FolioGate overview and a founding member agreement. Both go out before the call. No product exists yet. The ask is $29/mo locked forever before anything is built.

MRR: $0. Customers: 0. Code written: 0.

Call is on Sunday.

Trying to get a realistic picture of ongoing costs before taking on client work. The build is easy to price but the monthly side seems messier.

Once something is live there's hosting, platform subscriptions, API costs, maybe third-party tool fees. Does that typically add up to something the client pays separately or does it get folded into a retainer?

I've heard the costs can vary a lot depending on volume. Like an automation that runs 10 times a day costs very differently from one that runs thousands of times. Do you build that variability into the pricing upfront or just deal with it as it comes?

Trying to figure this out before taking on client work. Zapier's task-based pricing makes the monthly cost hard to predict, especially once a workflow is actually running in production.

Do you put the client on their own Zapier plan from the start, or run their Zaps from your account and charge them back somehow? And if task usage spikes one month, who absorbs that?

I've heard the task overage thing catches people off guard more than once. Is there a clean way to handle the billing side or does everyone just figure it out per client?

Trying to understand the ongoing costs before I start doing this for clients. The setup fee makes sense but the monthly side seems harder to figure out.

Once something is live, there's the platform subscription, API costs if you're using AI tools, maybe Zapier or Make credits. Does that get passed to the client as a separate bill or built into a retainer?

I've heard some people just tell the client to set up their own accounts so the costs go directly to them. Others handle everything and charge a monthly fee that covers it. Neither sounds clean.

What does a typical month actually cost to keep a client's automation running?

Trying to get a realistic picture of ongoing costs before taking on client work. The project fee is straightforward but the monthly side seems harder to predict.

AI automations feel especially variable. API calls to OpenAI or Claude add up depending on volume. Then there's hosting, the automation platform, maybe external data sources.

Do you estimate this upfront and charge the client for it, or does it come out of your margin? And has a project ever cost significantly more per month than you expected once it was live?

Wondering what a realistic monthly number looks like for a typical project.

Trying to understand the real ongoing costs before I start taking on client work. The build fee makes sense to me but the monthly side is less clear.

Like once an n8n workflow is live, there's hosting, API calls, maybe Make or Zapier credits if you're chaining tools. Does that add up to something meaningful per client or is it usually pretty small?

And who actually pays for it? Do you pass the cost directly to the client, roll it into a retainer, or just absorb it because it's too awkward to invoice separately?

I'm trying to figure out what a realistic monthly overhead looks like for a typical automation project. Is it closer to $10 or $100?

Day 4 of building FolioGate. No code yet.

I set myself a rule before starting: no product code until at least 1 person pays. So today I went to the target customer directly. Found 14 AI automation freelancers and sent cold DMs asking about their client delivery setup.

One replied. They're interested and potentially we will have a 10 minutes.

That call hasn't happened yet so I'm holding off on being optimistic. I have no working product to show. Just an idea, UI mockups, and a clear problem I've validated through research.

Not sure what to expect. Wondering if people who closed their first pre-launch customer just talked through the problem or if there was something more structured that actually worked.

What did that first real conversation actually look like for you?

The rule is: get 1 paying founding member before writing a line of product code. So the whole day was outreach.

Found 14 AI automation freelancers who match what I'm building for and sent each of them a cold DM. One replied. Interested in the idea. Hoping to get a 10 minutes call to discuss more details.

No demo to show them. Just the idea, a domain, and some early UI mockups.

14 for 1 feels about right for cold at this stage. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm not treating it as a failure. One real conversation beats none 😃

Also posted a few discussion threads across automation communities to keep getting feedback on the delivery problem.

$0 MRR
0 customers
0/5 founding spots

When a client stops working with you, what does wrapping up actually look like?

Getting the automation running is one thing. But if someone decides to stop, where does everything go? Their files, invoice history, the documentation you put together. Do you send a final email with everything attached or does it usually end up being a mess?

Most of what I see discussed is about delivery. Endings feel like everyone just wings it.

What's your process, or do you even have one?

When a client churns or a project wraps, what does that actually look like?

Do you export everything and send it over? Give them access to whatever accounts were set up? The reason I ask is that delivery gets talked about a lot but endings are way murkier. The client might need workflow files, documentation, maybe access to a Claude or GPT wrapper built specifically for them.

Is there a clean way to handle this or does it just get figured out when it happens?

When a project ends or a client churns, what does that offboarding look like? Do they get their workflow exported, credentials handed over, files sent somewhere? Or does it just kind of stop?

The messy part seems to be that everything ends up scattered. Their walkthrough video is in one folder, the invoice is in a PayPal email from three months ago, the workflow JSON is in a Google Drive they may or may not still have access to.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a clean way to close this out or if everyone just handles it case by case.

Is there a process people actually use for this?

The automation works. Tested it, runs fine. But now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what "delivering" this actually means.

Do I send a Loom walkthrough? Write a doc? Give them a login to something? It feels like every other type of freelance work has a clear handoff/maintenance moment. A developer pushes a repo. A designer exports files. What's the automation equivalent?

I don't want to just send a Slack message saying "it's live." That feels unprofessional. But I also don't know what professional looks like here. Is there a standard or does everyone figure this out themselves?

Spent day 1 talking to automation freelancers about how they deliver work to clients. Same answer every time. Email, Loom, Notion, PayPal. No system.

Day 2 writing everything down. Day 3 designing the first two screens. No Figma. Built directly in Claude Design and iterated from there.

Two screens: the freelancer dashboard and the client portal. The portal is the one that matters. It's what the freelancer's client sees when they log in. Automations delivered, invoice, Pay Now button. Everything visible without scrolling.

MRR: $0
Customers: 0
Founding spots claimed: 0 of 5

Honest feedback welcome. Happy to share the screenshots in the comments.

Here's where things are.
Spent day 1 and 2 talking to automation freelancers about how they deliver work to clients...

Two screens done: the freelancer dashboard and the client portal. The dashboard is what the automation freelancer sees every day. Clients, deliverables, invoice statuses. The portal is what their clients see when they log in. Two columns, automations on the left, invoice and Pay Now on the right. Everything visible without scroll.

MRR: $0
Customers: 0
Founding spots claimed: 0 of 5

Posting the journey here as I go. Honest feedback welcome.
Happy to share the screenshots in the comments.

Once you finish building and hand it over, what does the client actually see?

Do you send them updates, give them somewhere to check the status, or just wait until they message you saying nothing happened? Most clients have no idea how to tell if an automation ran or not. They just notice when something they expected didn't show up.

I've heard some people share a simple spreadsheet log or send a weekly summary so the client feels informed. But I'm wondering if that's worth the extra effort or if it opens up more questions than it answers.

Is there a simple way people handle this or does everyone just wing it?

Once you deliver an AI agent or automation to a client, what do they actually see on their end?

Do you build them any kind of status view, send periodic updates, or just wait until they message you saying something stopped working? With an agent running continuously in the background, the client has no idea if it's doing its job or if it quietly broke two days ago.

I've heard some people set up a telegram bot or a simple dashboard so the client has something visible. But that feels like a second project on top of the first. Is it worth building or does it create more support work than it saves?

Wondering how people handle this or if it's just an accepted part of the job.

Once the work is done and handed over(or maintained by you), what does the client actually see day to day?

Do you give them any kind of status page, send a weekly update, or just wait for them to message you when something breaks? And when something does break, how do they even know it was supposed to do something?

I've heard some people set up a telegram bot or a simple spreadsheet so the client has something to look at. But I'm wondering how long that actually takes to build and maintain on top of the project itself. Is it worth the extra time or does it create more problems than it solves?

Wondering if there's a standard approach here or if everyone figures it out client by client.