Studio by JS&C

Overview

Studio is Jonathon Simpson & Co.’s internal CRM and operations platform — built because no off-the-shelf tool fit the way a two-person technical agency actually works. It replaces a tangle of spreadsheets, Notion pages, and manual email tracking with a single, purpose-built workspace.

The Problem It Solves

As the agency grew from side project to paying clients, tracking leads, projects, invoices, and profit per client across multiple tools became friction. We needed something that understood our workflow — not a generic CRM shaped around a sales team.

Features (V1)

• Client & lead pipeline — stages from prospect to delivered, with per-client earnings and cost tracking
• Invoice and proposal automation — generate and send documents without leaving the platform
• GitHub integration — linked repos and open issues per project
• Shared task board — Notion-style, real-time for both founders
• Notes per project — persistent context so nothing lives only in someone’s head
• AI assistance layer — powered by DeepSeek API for drafting emails, proposals, and audit reports

Technical Build

• Next.js with shadcn/ui for a fast, accessible, desktop-optimised interface
• TypeScript throughout
• Designed for internal use only — no auth complexity, optimised for speed of use over scalability
• Deployed privately; not a public SaaS product

Why It’s a Case Study

Building your own tools is a signal. It shows we understand the operational problems that small agencies and businesses face — and that we have the conviction to solve them properly rather than tolerate broken processes. Studio is the prototype for a class of internal tools we build for clients.

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Outcome: Replaced a tangle of spreadsheets and Notion pages with a single, purpose-built operations platform that tracks the full agency pipeline from lead to invoice, serving as the prototype for the internal tools we build for clients.