Practical software help for small businesses
OpenSauce helps small service businesses work out which software changes are worth making. Bring one recurring problem, like following up on quotes or putting together a weekly report.
Get a written report and a review: which option fits, what it costs, and how to put it into practice. The assessment is $495. Implementation is quoted separately.
Start with a free 15-minute conversation. Opens your email app.
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Who follows up?
Give every open quote an owner and a next follow-up date. Try it before buying another system.
A real sample of the deliverable.
Fictional business, not a client result.
Start with your apps
Choose the tools you use and what you’d like to add. Compare alternatives and estimated hosting costs, with the unknowns kept visible.
Explore on your own, or bring your comparison to a free 15-minute fit check. A researched assessment is an optional next step at $495.
What you take away
The $495 assessment includes a discovery interview, a report about your workflow, and a 20-minute review. Here's what goes into the report.
Example business: a six-person property-maintenance firm. Quote updates are scattered across email and a spreadsheet.
Give every open quote an owner and a next follow-up date. Review due actions each morning for a two-week trial.
| Option | Cost and responsibility |
|---|---|
| Improve the existing sheet | No extra software spend if current access is sufficient. A coordinator keeps it up to date. |
| Move to a shared customer-management tool | Hosting and maintenance need a quote and a named operator. |
| Build a custom quote tool | Cost not yet quoted. Consider a build only if the trial reveals a specific unmet need. |
Assign one coordinator. Add the open quotes and next actions. Measure time spent finding updates, then review the trial before changing systems.
Shortened from the linked sample. Fictional business and planning assumptions, not a client result or an implementation quote.
01 / Start with the work
You don't need a technical brief. A recurring job, the tools you use, and a few examples are a good place to start.
Updates are scattered across email and a spreadsheet. Finding the status means asking around.
Where each quote is tracked, who owns the next action, and whether your existing tools can make that visible.
See this example worked through PDFEach week starts with exports from different tools. Someone has to reconcile the numbers before the report is useful.
Where the numbers come from, which checks need a person, and whether a repeatable import or a small custom tool would earn its upkeep.
Illustrative scenario, not a promised outcome.An enquiry comes in through a form. The details get copied into a contact list, then copied again when the job starts.
Which system should hold the original record, how the tools can share it, and what needs to happen when an entry is incomplete or changes.
Illustrative scenario, not a promised outcome.A colleague takes over, but the files and decisions are scattered across messages. Work waits while someone fills in the gaps.
What the next person needs, where that information belongs, and whether a shared view or a change to the handoff is enough.
Illustrative scenario, not a promised outcome.02 / A plan before a project
A written report for one recurring problem, prepared after discovery and reviewed with you. Keep it and use the implementation outline with your team or another provider.
Start with a free 15-minute conversation. Opens your email app.
What you're getting
After payment, walk us through the job and the tools involved, including the exceptions that make it difficult.
Compare up to three researched options. The report covers setup and recurring costs, limitations, ownership, maintenance responsibilities, and estimated benefits with their assumptions.
An implementation outline and a conversation about the findings. Put it to work independently or ask for a separate implementation quote.
Delivered within five business days after discovery and receipt of the required information.
Implementation, hosting, and ongoing support are quoted separately.
If OpenSauce can't deliver the agreed assessment scope, the assessment fee is refunded.
03 / The right tool for the job
The answer might already exist. It might need a small custom addition. The assessment works out which approach earns its cost.
Find a tool that fits, including open-source projects. Understand the setup, hosting, and maintenance before taking it on.
Define a focused custom tool around the way your business works, with a clear scope and an account of its ongoing costs.
Connect the systems you already use, or combine an existing product with a custom addition. Keep the parts that are doing their job.
Sometimes the recommendation is to use your current software differently. That's a useful answer, too.
Selected work
Field-photo capture for 106 Group. Subscription cleanup at Credit Builder Card. Company tools at Project Win. Connected event operations for Vayu Labs. Four examples of choosing and adapting software to the job.
Examples include our founder's earlier client work and work within businesses he helps operate. Each case explains the relationship and the evidence behind it.
A person behind the recommendation
OpenSauce grew out of a practical idea: useful software should be accessible to people who don't have a software team.
You'll work directly with Ian. He leads the conversations and reviews every recommendation, including what it will take to keep a proposed solution running.
AI can help with research and drafting. We ask for your consent before recording a call or processing customer material with AI.
Contact OpenSauceA few practical details
Owner-led service businesses, generally with 2 to 20 people and no dedicated software team. A recurring problem with intake, follow-ups, reporting, or coordination is a good place to start. The free fit check helps establish whether an assessment would be useful.
No. Bring the problem and the tools you're using. A specific app or GitHub link is welcome if you already have one in mind, but you don't need to understand the code. The assessment will consider whether it fits.
The $495 covers discovery, the written assessment, an implementation outline, and the review. Software setup, custom development, hosting, and ongoing support are separate costs. Any implementation needs an agreed proposal. You can also take the outline to your own team or another provider.
The assessment explains ownership and maintenance for each recommendation. For a later implementation, the proposal will specify client-owned accounts and data, revocable access, exports, backups, and a recovery path. Any open-source software remains subject to its license.
A description of the workflow and the tools involved is enough to begin. Please leave out passwords, access tokens, and private customer records. Permission to reply is separate from consent to record a call or process customer material with AI. Read the enquiry privacy notice.
Start with a conversation
A free 15-minute fit check.
No need to choose the software first.
Opens your email app. No payment is needed for the fit check.