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Agency built client a "workflow marketplace" for $89k over 14 months. I replicated it in 29 minutes and added features they couldn't deliver.
Agency built client a "workflow marketplace" for $89k over 14 months. I replicated it in 29 minutes and added features they couldn't deliver.
This is how agencies price themselves out of the market:
THE NIGHTMARE PROJECT
SaaS CEO, Rachel:
"We spent $89k and 14 months on an internal workflow marketplace"
Me: "What were you trying to build?"
Rachel: "Let employees request automations, track status, share workflows"
Me: "And it doesn't work?"
Rachel: "Half the features are broken, the other half are too slow"
🚩 Red flag: $89k for an internal tool that failed
THE AGENCY'S "SOLUTION"
What they delivered after 14 months:
- Custom React frontend (buggy)
- Node.js backend (performance issues)
- MongoDB database (constantly crashes)
- AWS infrastructure (overengineered)
- User authentication (broken half the time)
- Workflow builder (unusable interface)
- Request system (emails get lost)
- Status tracking (never updates)
Monthly hosting costs: $2,400
Monthly maintenance: $4,500
Employee adoption rate: 12%
Rachel: "We paid enterprise prices for a prototype"
THE 29-MINUTE REBUILD
Discovery call ended, opened Skada.ai:
"Build internal workflow marketplace: employee request system → approval routing → automated workflow creation → status tracking → workflow sharing → usage analytics → team collaboration"
29 minutes later:
✅ Intuitive request interface
✅ Automated approval workflows
✅ Instant workflow generation
✅ Real-time status tracking
✅ Team workflow library
✅ Usage analytics dashboard
✅ Collaboration features
✅ Mobile-responsive design
THE LIVE COMPARISON
Rachel: "Can our team test both systems side by side?"
Me: "Absolutely"
Employee workflow request test:
Agency System:
- 6 screens to submit request
- 4 different login attempts
- Request disappeared twice
- 12 minutes to submit
- Status: "Pending" (never updated)
My System:
- 1 screen workflow request
- Single sign-on
- Request submitted successfully
- 23 seconds total time
- Status: "Auto-approved, building workflow"
- Workflow ready in 3 minutes
THE FEATURE SHOWDOWN
Agency System Missing Features:
- Workflow templates
- Bulk approvals
- Team sharing
- Mobile access
- Usage reporting
- Automated notifications
My System Included:
✅ 50+ pre-built templates
✅ One-click bulk approvals
✅ Team workflow sharing
✅ Full mobile experience
✅ Detailed analytics
✅ Smart notifications
✅ Integration with existing tools
Rachel: "You built more in 29 minutes than they built in 14 months"
THE ADOPTION EXPLOSION
Old system: 12% employee adoption
New system: 94% adoption in first week
Employees actually started requesting workflows:
- Week 1: 47 workflow requests
- Week 2: 89 workflow requests
- Week 3: 156 workflow requests
- Month 1: 340 active workflows created
Rachel: "Our productivity just skyrocketed"
THE COST COMPARISON
Agency Solution:
- Development: $89,000
- Monthly hosting: $2,400
- Monthly maintenance: $4,500
- Total Year 1: $171,800
- Employee usage: 12%
My Solution:
- Development: $6,500
- Monthly hosting: $47
- Monthly management: $800
- Total Year 1: $16,664
- Employee usage: 94%
Savings: $155,136 first year
THE PERFORMANCE METRICS
Agency System:
- Page load time: 8-15 seconds
- Workflow creation: 45+ minutes manual
- Success rate: 67%
- Support tickets: 25-30/week
My System:
- Page load time: 0.8 seconds
- Workflow creation: 2-3 minutes automated
- Success rate: 98.7%
- Support tickets: 1-2/month
THE BUSINESS IMPACT
Productivity improvements from faster workflows:
- Engineering team: 15 hours/week saved
- Sales team: 22 hours/week saved
- Marketing team: 18 hours/week saved
- Operations team: 28 hours/week saved
Total time savings: 83 hours/week
Value at $75/hour: $323,700 annually
ROI on my $6,500 fee: 4,980%
THE TEMPLATE STRATEGY
I've now deployed variations for:
- HR workflow requests (employee onboarding)
- IT service requests (software provisioning)
- Finance approval workflows (expense processing)
- Marketing campaign requests (content automation)
Same 30-minute build time, same dramatic results.
THE AGENCY REPLACEMENT MODEL
1. Find companies burned by expensive custom development
2. Rebuild better solutions in under 30 minutes
3. Include features the agencies couldn't deliver
4. Price at 90% discount from their original spend
5. Deliver immediately working systems
Current pipeline of agency replacements: $134,000
Average savings per client: $127,000
Average profit margin: 91%
Who else is finding these overpriced custom development disasters?
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Agency built client a "workflow marketplace" for $89k over 14 months. I replicated it in 29 minutes and added features they couldn't deliver.
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