DocChase
As described:StopNarrowed:NarrowNo as a generic portal. Go, small, as the MTD quarterly records chaser, with a day-60 kill test.
accounting practices · ~£75 a month (~$100) · last reviewed (next review by 29 Dec 2026) · 21 cited sources
Start this week
- Tell me your hours per week available, whether you're UK-based (company, VAT, UK-hours support), and whether you know any UK accountant or bookkeeper with MTD IT clients.
- Run the name check for "DocChase" (UK IPO, domain, existing products), and pick a fallback.
- Book 10 calls with UK practices (LinkedIn, AccountingWEB Any Answers, local AAT branches). Ask about the 7 Aug quarter: how many MTD clients, how many chases, how many were late, what tool they used, what they'd pay.
- Set up the concierge kit: a Tally form per client type, a WhatsApp Business account, a Google Sheet deadline board. Offer to run the 7 Nov quarter for £99.
Checkpoints and kill gates
Decide in advance what counts as on track. Missing a checkpoint means changing the buyer or the offer, not adding features.
Day 30 (30 Oct 2026)
~15 hrs/week
3 practices paying £99 for the concierge 7 Nov quarter
Full-time
5 practices paying
If you miss it
Switch segment once: from Xero practices to AAT bookkeepers, or the other way. Missing twice means stop.
Day 60 (29 Nov 2026): kill test
~15 hrs/week
≥2 of 3 concierge practices re-book for the Feb quarter, and on-time records improved ≥15 points against their Aug quarter
Full-time
≥4 of 5 re-book
If you miss it
If practices say "Content Snare or our suite already does this", stop. The wedge has no room.
Day 90 (29 Dec 2026)
~15 hrs/week
v1 live. 8 practices pre-paid for the 7 Feb quarter. Cyber Essentials done.
Full-time
15 practices pre-paid
If you miss it
Cut to one client type (landlords only or sole traders only) and one channel (WhatsApp or email).
Month 6 (Mar 2027)
~15 hrs/week
$1k MRR during the £30k-wave window. Xero App Store listing live.
Full-time
$2.5k MRR
If you miss it
Pivot A: landlord-only, sold to letting-agent-heavy practices. Pivot B: white-label chaser sold to one practice-management suite without it.
Month 12 (Sept 2027)
~15 hrs/week
$3k MRR, logo churn ≤3% a month
Full-time
$7k MRR, churn ≤3%, 20+ Firm-plan practices
If you miss it
Stop adding features. Fix onboarding and the post-deadline churn.
Month 18 (Mar 2028)
~15 hrs/week
$5k MRR going into the £20k wave
Full-time
$12k MRR
If you miss it
Put everything into the single best channel (app store or community).
Month 24 (Sept 2028)
~15 hrs/week
$8k MRR
Full-time
$20k MRR, profitable: target hit
If you miss it
Above $4k: keep running it profitably; it is low-operations. Below $1.5k: stop, or sell the customer list to a suite.
Do
1.Build only the quarterly MTD chase loop: client list, deadline board, chase schedule, no-login upload link, "nothing new" tap, chase log.
Target: Every user can say it in one line: "It gets my MTD clients' records in before the deadline without me chasing."
Why: The generic portal is Content Snare's product. The quarterly MTD loop is a narrower, louder job: "MTD didn't add tax work. It added the chasing" (AccountingWEB headline, Aug 2026).
2.Sell to UK practices with 20–300 MTD IT clients and no practice-management suite that already chases: sole practitioners, 1–10 staff firms, AAT-licensed bookkeepers, mostly on Xero or QuickBooks.
Target: ≥70% of paying practices say "email and spreadsheet" was their method at signup
Why: Karbon Business, TaxDome and BrightManager already include automated chasers (research/10). Their customers aren't yours.
3.Make the client side phone-first and login-free: a link by WhatsApp, SMS or email. Snap a photo or upload a PDF. Answer 3–5 questions. Or tap "nothing new" or "my software is up to date".
Target: ≥60% of chased clients respond within 7 days of the first message. Median client time under 2 minutes.
Why: The late clients are the "carrier bag of receipts" clients. A portal login is where they drop off.
4.Price per MTD client band, not per request or per user. Starter £39 (50 clients), Practice £89 (200), Firm £179 (500). Annual = 2 months free. Founding practices keep their price for 24 months.
Target: ≥50% of new practices on annual by month 9. Blended ≥£70.
Why: Content Snare prices by active requests (20 / 50 / 100 / 200+) (research/10). A practice with 150 quarterly clients lands on Pro ($119) or Custom ($215+). Per-client pricing is simpler and cheaper at volume.
5.Run a concierge quarter first. Run the 7 Nov 2026 deadline by hand for 3–5 practices (Tally form, WhatsApp Business app, a Google Sheet board), for £99 each.
Target: 3 paying by day 30. ≥2 re-book for the 7 Feb quarter.
Why: It proves they'll pay, tells you which messages work, and gives you before-and-after numbers for the pitch.
6.Show the money outcome on one screen: % of clients in by deadline minus 14 days, chases per client, staff hours saved, and a late-records list the practice can bill against its own late-records fee.
Target: Every case study opens with "X% in on time, up from Y%"
Why: It turns "nice tool" into "pays for itself in one quarter".
7.Sell in the buying windows only: Oct–Nov, Feb–Apr (the £30k wave, the big one), and Jun–Jul. Never in January (Self Assessment peak, deadline 31 Jan).
Target: 60% of year-1 signups in Feb–Apr 2027
Why: Practices won't evaluate tools in the fortnight before a deadline or in January. Plan launches around the calendar.
8.List on the Xero App Store (UK) with Xero Practice Manager client import by month 4. Add QuickBooks Online and FreeAgent client-list import by month 12.
Target: Listed by month 5. 25 reviews at ≥4.8 by month 18.
Why: Content Snare has 73 reviews at 4.95 there (verified). App stores are the best-evidenced channel for one developer (catalog, Part A).
9.Publish free, useful MTD kits: client letter pack, WhatsApp and SMS chase templates, a "late records fee" policy template, a quarterly checklist per client type (landlord, sole trader, both). Post in the AccountingWEB community and on LinkedIn.
Target: 1,000 practice email sign-ups by month 9
Why: Vendors already use AccountingWEB community posts (Glasscubes did, Sept 2026). Practices search for exactly these templates before each deadline.
10.Build UK trust rails in v1: UK hosting, files forwarded to practice storage and deleted after 30 days, MFA, an audit log, a DPA template, ICO registration, Cyber Essentials by day 90. ISO 27001 only after $10k MRR or 3 lost deals that cite it.
Target: One-page security summary live by day 60. Zero incidents.
Why: The catalog flags ISO or SOC 2 as expected. Content Snare has ISO 27001. Small practices mostly ask for GDPR and UK hosting first (unverified; test in calls).
11.Chase only what's missing (from month 6). With the practice's access, read each client's Xero or QuickBooks for "bank feed current to 5 Oct?" and "uncategorised transactions this quarter", and skip clients who are already up to date.
Target: ≥25% fewer chases sent per quarter than a blanket chase
Why: Nobody in the verified set does this. Content Snare and BrightManager chase on a schedule. It's the one differentiator that gets better with data.
12.Keep operations near zero. CSV or XPM import, prebuilt templates, no custom forms builder, a help centre, and support by email in UK hours only.
Target: Support ≤3 hrs a week at $5k MRR
Why: It has to fit your hours per week. The workload spikes 4 times a year. Design for it.
Avoid
1."Document collection portal for any professional" (the idea as described)
Why: That is Content Snare's positioning, backed by 9 years, ISO 27001 and an award. You'd be a late clone.
2.Lawyers, mortgage brokers or immigration consultants before $10k MRR
Why: Each has a bundled incumbent: Docketwise includes document requests and questionnaires ($80–120/user/mo, verified), Acre gives UK brokers a client portal with uploads and missing-item checks (trade press). Each is a new product.
3.A general forms builder, onboarding flows, approvals or e-signature
Why: That's competing with Content Snare on its strengths. One quarterly job, done better.
4.Practice-management features: tasks, time, billing, proposals
Why: Karbon, TaxDome, BrightManager and Socket (Xero's 2026 UK Practice App of the Year, a proposals tool) own them. Integrate; don't rebuild.
5.Extracting transactions from statements, or doing bookkeeping
Why: That's StatementKit's and Dext's territory in this portfolio. DocChase checks what was sent and which dates it covers, then hands the file to the practice.
6.Filing MTD updates or becoming HMRC-recognised MTD software
Why: Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and free bridging tools already file. Recognition adds HMRC process and liability for no extra revenue.
7.Charging the end client (Glasscubes' "affordable for clients" model)
Why: It puts you in the practice's fee conversation and makes sign-up a two-sided sale. The practice pays, full stop.
8.Keeping client files long-term, or being "the storage"
Why: Bank statements of third parties. Retention is liability. Forward and delete.
9.AML and ID verification
Why: A regulated check with specialist vendors. Out of scope; say so in the product.
10.SOC 2 before UK revenue
Why: It's a US standard and costs more than year-1 revenue. UK buyers ask for GDPR, UK hosting and Cyber Essentials first.
11.US tax season or Indian CAs as a second market before $10k MRR
Why: US is TaxDome and Karbon territory; India has 6+ local CA suites with WhatsApp reminders and a ~₹10,000-a-year price ceiling (research/10).
12.Unlimited SMS in any plan
Why: One large practice can turn messaging into your biggest cost. Cap it, and sell bundles.
13.Paid ads before month 9, and launches in January or deadline weeks
Why: Nobody buys then. Content, the app store and referrals first.
14.Adding features when a checkpoint fails
Why: A miss means wrong practice size, wrong channel or wrong window. Change that.