Target: $20k+ MRR (≈ $250k ARR), profitable, ≥80% gross margin, ≥70% month-3 retention by month 24 (Sept 2028). At ~15 hrs/week, plan for $5–10k and treat $20k as upside.
Rule: nothing in a later phase starts until the current phase's gate is hit. Gates and pivot rules are in WHAT-TO-DO-AND-AVOID.md. The detail for days 1–90 is in 08-90-day-plan.md.
The calendar drives everything. MTD deadlines are 7 Nov, 7 Feb, 7 May and 7 Aug. Self Assessment peaks in January. The buying windows are Oct–Nov, Feb–Apr and Jun–Jul. The two big demand steps are April 2027 (£30k) and April 2028 (£20k).
Phase 1: Prove the pain (Months 0–3, Oct–Dec 2026) → Gates G1, G2
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Customers | 15 practice calls. A paid design partner. A concierge quarter for 3–5 practices at £99 (the 7 Nov deadline). |
| Product | Thin web v1: CSV import, deadline board, WhatsApp, SMS and email chases, login-free upload with "nothing new", chase log, late list, Drive and OneDrive forwarding. |
| Trust | UK hosting, MFA, audit log, DPA template, ICO registration, Cyber Essentials. |
| Distribution | Free MTD chase kit. First AccountingWEB community post. |
| Pricing | Starter £39, Practice £89, Firm £179 a month. Founding practices locked for 24 months. |
| Exit | Day 60: ≥2 of 3 concierge practices re-book. Day 90: 8 (15 hrs/week) or 15 (full-time) pre-paid for the Feb quarter. |
Phase 2: Win the £30k wave (Months 4–6, Jan–Mar 2027) → Gate G3
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Run the 7 Feb quarter for every practice. Xero Practice Manager client import. PIN on first open for client links. Post-deadline report per practice. |
| Distribution | Xero App Store UK listing. Feb–Apr selling push: webinars on "getting your £30k clients ready", the second AccountingWEB post with anonymised on-time data, and AAT branch talks. Referral: 1 month free per paid referral. |
| Ops | Help centre and onboarding emails, so the deadline-week support spike is self-serve. |
| Metrics | On-time rate per practice against its own previous quarter. Lost-deal reasons by named competitor. |
| Exit | $1k MRR (15 hrs/week) or $2.5k (full-time). App store listing live. ≤30% of lost deals cite a named competitor. |
Phase 3: Differentiate and hold (Months 7–12, Apr–Sept 2027) → Gate G4
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | Chase only what's missing: read-only Xero and QuickBooks checks for bank-feed coverage and uncategorised transactions this quarter, then skip up-to-date clients. File check (document type and date range only, no extraction). Self Assessment year-end request templates. |
| Distribution | Collect 15+ app store reviews. A case study per plan tier, each opening with "X% in on time, up from Y%". |
| Trust | Write the ISO 27001 gap analysis, but don't certify unless 3 deals are lost to it. |
| Ops | A churn-reason survey at every cancellation. Annual-plan push before each deadline. |
| Exit | $3k MRR (15 hrs/week) or $7k (full-time). Logo churn ≤3% a month. 20+ Firm-plan practices on the full-time track. |
Phase 4: Scale what works (Months 13–24, Oct 2027 – Sept 2028) → Gate G5
| Track | Work |
|---|
| Product | QuickBooks Online and FreeAgent client import. Practice dashboard across quarters. Letting-agent requests with client consent, if demand is proven. |
| Distribution | Double down on the single best channel from months 1–12. Prepare the Feb–Apr 2028 push for the £20k wave, which moves existing practices up a band. |
| Partnerships | Talk to one or two UK practice-software vendors without a chaser about a white-label version. |
| Team | First paid help: part-time support in deadline weeks only, not another developer, unless the Xero or QuickBooks checks demand it. |
| Checkpoint | Month 18 (Mar 2028): $5k (15 hrs/week) or $12k (full-time). A miss means putting everything into the best channel. |
| Decision at month 24 | At $20k+ MRR and profitable, the target is hit. Run it, or sell it. Between $4k and $20k, run it profitably; it's low-operations. Below $1.5k, stop, or sell the customer list to a suite. |
| Exit | $20k+ MRR (≈ $250k ARR), profitable (full-time track). $8k MRR (15 hrs/week track). |
Revenue path (illustrative, not a forecast; full-time track)
| Month | Date | Starter | Practice | Firm | Practices | MRR (≈ USD) |
|---|
| 3 | Dec 2026 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 15 | £0.9k ($1.2k, mostly pre-paid annual) |
| 6 | Mar 2027 | 14 | 15 | 3 | 32 | £2.1k ($2.7k) |
| 12 | Sept 2027 | 30 | 42 | 10 | 82 | £5.7k ($7.6k) |
| 18 | Mar 2028 | 45 | 75 | 20 | 140 | £10.2k ($13.6k) |
| 24 | Sept 2028 | 60 | 110 | 30 | 200 | £15.0k ($20k) |
This assumes effective prices of ~£33 / ~£76 / ~£152 after annual discounts, logo churn of ≤3% a month after month 6, band upgrades from the 2027 and 2028 waves, and ≥50% organic or app-store acquisition. Annual pre-payments are counted as monthly revenue spread over 12 months. If churn runs above 5%, or the blended price stays under £50, this path doesn't work. Fix retention and price before growth.
Budget guardrails (bootstrapped)
- Messaging, hosting and tools below 12% of revenue. Caps on SMS in every plan.
- Cyber Essentials in phase 1. ISO 27001 only after $10k MRR, or 3 lost deals that cite it.
- Zero paid acquisition before month 9. After it, only channels with CAC payback under 3 months.
- No exhibition stands before $5k MRR.
- Keep 12 months of personal and business runway at all times.