Replacing SaaS Subscriptions with Custom-Built Tools
Over $100 per month in SaaS subscriptions eliminated, replaced by tools that work the way the business actually works.
The Problem
Running J-Curve Racing, a motorsport equipment company, required paying for QuickBooks at $30 per month, Adobe Acrobat at $23 per month, DocuSign at $25 per month, Shopify at $39 per month, plus various other tools. That added up to over $100 per month in SaaS subscriptions for a small business. More importantly, none of these tools talked to each other. Expense data lived in QuickBooks, invoices in one place, signed contracts in another. There was no unified view of the business. Every month meant logging into five different platforms, exporting data from each one, and manually reconciling information across systems.
The Approach
Rather than integrating third-party tools through APIs and middleware, Jon built replacements tailored to his exact workflow using AI-assisted development tools. Each tool solved a specific pain point he experienced daily running the business. A consistent technical foundation across all applications made maintenance straightforward and allowed shared infrastructure: single Google SSO authentication, Google Drive storage, and offline PWA capability across the suite.
ExpenseTrack
The problem with QuickBooks was manual transaction entry. Every expense had to be logged by hand, categorized manually, and reconciled at the end of the month. ExpenseTrack replaced this workflow entirely by connecting directly to business bank accounts through Stripe Financial Connections and using AI to automatically categorize transactions as they appeared. Tax-deductible expenses are flagged automatically, and CSV exports are generated for accountants without any manual data entry.
PDF Editor
Paying $23 per month for Adobe Acrobat to occasionally merge PDFs, compress files, or redact sensitive information was not a justifiable expense for a small business. The replacement is a free, offline-capable Progressive Web App that supports merge, split, compress, redact, crop, watermark, password protection, and electronic signatures. It runs entirely in the browser with no file uploads required, meaning documents never leave the user's device.
E-Signature
DocuSign charged $25 per month for a service that was used a handful of times each month to get contracts signed. The replacement provides multi-signer workflows, complete audit trails, SHA-256 document integrity verification, and completion certificates. Signed documents are stored in each user's own Google Drive, eliminating storage costs entirely.
Photo Editor
Product photography for an e-commerce business requires consistent editing: cropping, resizing, adjusting brightness and contrast, adding watermarks. The Photo Editor handles all of this in the browser with support for HEIC images from iPhones, no file upload needed. Images are processed locally, so there are no privacy concerns and no waiting for server-side processing.
The Result
Over $100 per month in SaaS subscriptions were eliminated. More importantly, the tools work the way the business actually works, not the way a generic SaaS product assumes it should. All tools share a single authentication system through Google SSO. User files live in their own Google Drive, meaning zero platform storage costs. Every application works offline as a Progressive Web App.
What started as a cost problem became a product portfolio. The same instinct that drove the J-Curve Racing tool suite (build exactly what you need, make it production-grade) is the same one behind the CPQ, and behind the platforms that came after it.