SMBMate
The back-office copilot for small businesses that can't afford an ops hire.
Replaces the 'someone should automate this' work that small businesses never get to — built automation-first in n8n so it could be useful before it was a polished app.
The wedge
Small businesses don't need AGI. They need the boring stuff done.
The SMB AI pitch is usually some grand agent. The actual job-to-be-done is smaller and more valuable: the chase-the-unpaid-invoice, copy-this-into-that, did-we-reconcile-March work that the owner does at 9pm because there's no one to delegate it to.
SMBMate goes after that directly — automate the operational tail using the tools the business already pays for, instead of asking them to migrate to a new platform.
Tradeoffs
Decisions
Build the automation engine in n8n first, UI later
The value is in the workflows actually running, not in a dashboard. Building automation-first meant I could deliver real outcomes to early users and let the interface follow the proven jobs.
Integrate with existing tools
An SMB will never migrate their accounting to a beta. Meeting them inside their current stack is the only adoption path that survives contact with a busy owner.
Honest status
What's real
Core automations run; the product is in private beta. [PLACEHOLDER: specify which workflows are live, how many businesses are using it, and what's still a prototype.]