TradeLedger

Verdict

As described, "a system of record for small trade businesses" reaches $10k MRR by month 24 about 3% of the time. It has no trade, so it has no reason to beat Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan. Picked well, the same idea changes. For small US fire-extinguisher inspection and service contractors, with trade access and ~15 hrs/week, the odds are $1k ~55%, $5k ~27%, $10k ~14% and $20k ~5%. Full-time, they are $1k ~70%, $5k ~44%, $10k ~28% and $20k ~14%. Tier B ($20k+ MRR, profitable, in 24 months) is ~4% at ~15 hrs/week and ~12% full-time. All are judgment estimates; there's no verified base rate for bootstrapped B2B micro-SaaS (01). It is not fundable and doesn't need to be.

The five things that matter

1. The trade is the product. Four trades were scored (02).
   • Fire-extinguisher inspection wins. Every unit carries a legally required service history, the work recurs all year, shops already pay $50–180 per tech a month, and the buyers are listed in public directories.
   • Backflow testing comes second. Buyers are easy to reach, but they are mostly solo testers with a low budget.
   • Pest control is taken. There are 109 products, and GorillaDesk already holds the founder-from-the-trade spot.
   • Party rental is out. Incumbents are rated 4.8–4.9, and the work is seasonal.
2. Domain access is the moat, and its absence is the main risk. Rentman ($15–20M ARR) and ZenMaid (~$250k MRR, self-reported) both began inside the founder's own trade business. A founder with no trade access should multiply every odds figure by ~0.4.
3. The low end isn't empty.
   • FireInspected sells to 1–5 tech extinguisher shops for $49–249/mo.
   • The mid-market (ServiceTrade, Uptick, BuildingReports, Inspect Point) is heavy and priced per tech.
   • So you win on migration done for the shop, a due-date engine that finds billable work, and jurisdiction-ready reports. You don't win on price or on a feature list.
4. The pain has a price tag. Cities charge contractors $15–37 per report through The Compliance Engine. In June 2026 Brycer launched a $5-per-report service to re-key contractors' PDFs (10). People pay to avoid typing, and that's a painkiller.
5. The ceiling is time, not code. Each shop needs a call and a data migration. At ~15 hrs/week, $5–10k MRR is the realistic month-24 range. $20k+ needs full-time, a second product line (hood suppression or sprinkler), or a second country.

Feature sort (headline)

• Table stakes: job list, calendar, customer records, invoices, QuickBooks sync.
• Differentiators:
  • the extinguisher-level asset register with QR or barcode labels;
  • the 6-year and 12-year due-date engine;
  • migration done for the shop (AI-assisted, human-checked);
  • offline-first tech app;
  • deficiency → quote → repair job;
  • AHJ export packs.
• Distractions: full accounting, payroll, a marketing CRM, native mobile apps at launch, "any trade" configurability.
• Liabilities: "guaranteed NFPA compliance" claims, becoming a city-bought portal, unlimited AI import, and direct integrations with portals that have no API.

Most likely cause of death

No trade access. The founder builds a tidy generic app, can't get 10 owners on the phone, and never learns what a tech actually does on site. Early warning: at day 30, fewer than 3 shops are paying for the hands-on service (05).

Next 90 days

Do: secure trade access first. Then sign 5 shops at ≥$99/month for a hands-on "we digitise your records and run your due list" service. Build the thin v1 (asset register, due list, offline inspection, PDF report) only after that. Reach 12 shops (full-time) or 6 shops (~15 hrs/week) on the product by day 90 (08). Stop: designing for "any trade".