HQ — Business Plan
01 · Thesis
The trusted person for your personal tech — not your IT department
Wealthy, well-connected, non-technical people have a specific gap: nobody in their circle builds custom AI and automation for how they actually work day-to-day. IT companies run cables, manage switches, and handle help-desk tickets. Internal IT keeps the business running. Neither builds you a morning brief that writes itself, an email that drafts in your voice, or a private local AI that keeps your data off the cloud.
That's our niche. We are personalized tech and AI consulting — one-on-one intake, custom automations, concierge delivery — for people who have better things to do than learn new apps.
What we do
- One-on-one discovery and customized workflow design
- Custom automations built to your day — not a template
- AI agents for email, calendar, comms, research, repetition
- Private AI deployments (local hardware, data stays home)
- Light concierge hardware — NAS, camera, home AI box — installed & maintained
- Ecommerce, 3D, and creative side-projects when they serve the client
What we don't do
- Printer fleets, network switches, ISP negotiation
- Office 365 tenant admin, Active Directory
- Help desk at scale, managed services
- Anything an actual IT company or internal IT team should be doing
- Generic templated work
Where we meet IT
- If a client has internal IT that isn't AI-forward, we collaborate — bring them up to speed, deploy the AI layer, hand them a playbook.
- If a client is scoping a bigger tech deployment, we can help plan it — then hand execution to a real IT partner. That's not our business.
Product in one line. Personalized tech and AI consulting for non-technical wealth. Custom solutions for day-to-day computer pain points. Nothing more, nothing less.
02 · Principals
Curtis
Operator & delivery lead
- Tech architecture, delivery oversight
- Hiring, firing, managing engineers
- Product decisions, client escalations
- Accountable for SLAs & uptime
- Infra, tooling, software spend
Justine
Rainmaker A · client manager
- Client sourcing via her Edmonton and extended network
- Relationship lead for her book
- First line of contact for her clients
- Feedback loop into Curtis
- Client zero & living case study
Josh
Rainmaker B · client manager
- Client sourcing via LobbyIQ & Protaea network
- Relationship lead for his book
- Enterprise-adjacent opportunities
- Strategic advice on corporate/political clients
03 · Target customer
The time-poor operator
- Net worth $5M+
- 40–65, runs a business or carries significant responsibilities
- Does not want to learn new apps — wants outcomes
- Will happily pay $500–2,500/mo to have someone just handle it
- Examples: principals of privately-held businesses, family offices, LobbyIQ clients, Protaea network, senior surgeons / lawyers / consultants
The curious executor
- Tech-adjacent but doesn't want to DIY
- Wants AI in their life without giving data to random SaaS
- Values privacy and bespoke solutions
- Willing to invest $5–20k in hardware for "their own AI"
Not our customer
- Anyone who asks "what's the ROI?"
- Startup founders (they'll DIY)
- Anyone shopping on price
- Anyone who actually needs an IT company — help desk, printer fleets, network overhaul — we refer them out
- Businesses without internal IT who expect us to be their IT department
04 · Service catalog
Four tiers, all organized around personal workflows + custom AI. The retainer (Tier A + B) is the core product. Hardware (Tier C) is concierge-grade home infrastructure. Projects (Tier D) are one-off builds. None of this overlaps with traditional IT work — if a client needs help desk, networking, or Office 365 admin, refer them to an IT partner.
Tier A — "Wow in week one"
- Morning brief — 6am email: overnight inbox summary, today's calendar, top 3 priorities. Passive delivery.
- Smart inbox triage — AI sorts into Respond Today / This Week / FYI / Delete.
- Draft-in-voice for key contacts — spouse, top client, partner. Forward a thread → return a draft.
- Calendar conflict watchdog across personal / work / family / board calendars.
- Birthday & anniversary radar — 2 weeks out with gift suggestions.
- Receipt → expense log — photo to categorized spreadsheet.
Tier B — "Stickiness" (month 2+)
- Follow-up watchdog — "you haven't heard back from Sarah in 6 days."
- Call recording → action items (local Whisper, no cloud leak).
- Travel prep brief auto-compiled before any trip.
- Contact dossier before meetings.
- Family photo auto-organizer — dedupe, face-tag, NAS backup.
Tier C — Hardware (concierge, not fleet-scale)
- Home NAS + Plex — ends "iPhone storage full" forever. Home-use, 1–2 drives.
- Mac mini household AI server — local Whisper, local Ollama, no cloud leak.
- UniFi camera stack with local AI detection — home scale, not multi-building.
- 3090 box for image gen, portrait work, family art projects.
We install it, hand it over, and maintain it. We don't manage their home network, run their wifi, or troubleshoot their printer.
Tier D — Projects (one-off, higher margin)
- Websites — personal landing pages, small business, portfolio ($3–10k)
- Ecommerce — Shopify / eBay / Amazon setup, AI product descriptions, photo cleanup
- 3D design + print — branded giveaways, replacement parts, custom decor
- Custom Python / Flask apps — internal dashboards, workflow tools, data pipelines
Delivery rule. Never stack services on a new client in month one. Pick one Tier A win, ship it, let them brag at dinner. Their friend calls us the next day.
05 · Pricing model
Monthly retainer (core product)
| Tier | Monthly | Automations | Response | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $500 | Up to 3 | 72h | 2h maintenance, 1 tune-up call/mo |
| Standard | $1,000 | Up to 8 | 24h | 4h maintenance, 1 call/mo, hardware advice |
| White-Glove | $2,500 | Unlimited (reasonable) | Same day | 8h maintenance, priority, quarterly strategy, install bundled |
Setup fees (one-time, at signing)
- Starter: $750
- Standard: $1,500
- White-Glove: $3,000
Hardware (cost + markup + install)
- Hardware at cost + 20% markup
- NAS setup: $500 install
- Home AI server: $800 install
- UniFi camera system: $1,200 install
- Full home lab (NAS + AI + cameras): $2,500+
Projects (fixed-bid or hourly)
- Personal / small-business website: $3,000–10,000
- Ecommerce build: $5,000–25,000 depending on platform & SKU count
- 3D print runs: $200–500 setup + per-unit (50–100% markup)
- Custom automation beyond retainer: $150/hr or fixed bid
Referral credit
Any existing client who refers a new signed client gets one month of retainer credited. Self-funding growth loop.
07 · Employee model
Year 1 — solo with contractors
Curtis does all delivery. Contractors as needed (specific 3D print runs, occasional web designer, bookkeeper for taxes).
First FT hire — around $15–20k MRR (≈12 retainer clients)
- Role
- Junior Automation Engineer
- Profile
- Python-strong, curious about Claude/AI, 2–5 yrs experience.
- Comp
- $85–100k CAD base + 10% bonus on retained clients (paid quarterly)
- Structure
- W2 (or T4). Contractor is cheaper but W2 is a trust signal for top-tier clients.
- Workload
- 5–8 retainer clients' ongoing maintenance; Curtis focuses on new onboarding + strategy.
Second hire — around $35k MRR
- Role
- Hardware & on-site tech
- Profile
- Networking, Linux, hardware experience, strong customer-facing.
- Comp
- $75–95k base + 10% on install projects they run
- Focus
- NAS / camera / home-AI installs, on-site troubleshooting of what we installed.
Third hire — around $55k MRR
- Role
- Creative lead (3D + web)
- Profile
- Designer who codes, CAD, Figma, print production.
- Comp
- $75–95k + project revenue share on creative deliverables
- Focus
- 3D design + prints, website design, creative ecommerce work.
Curtis's cut flow
From his 50% per client, Curtis covers: employee salaries, software/infra (Claude API, VPS hosting, subscriptions), tools & hardware capex, and own compensation (residual).
Once net > $20k/mo after expenses, Curtis takes formal salary ($120–180k CAD base) and retains ownership equity.
08 · Operations
Client lifecycle
- Inbound — rainmaker identifies interest, intro call.
- Intake — send intake.schlabs.dev URL + per-client passcode; answers land with Curtis.
- Discovery call — 30–45 min, Curtis leads. Confirm needs, present tier options.
- Contract signed + setup fee paid.
- Onboarding week — initial automations, MCPs, hardware installs if applicable.
- Proof delivered — first automation live, screen-recorded walkthrough.
- Monthly — retainer runs. Tune-up call. New automations within tier.
- Quarterly — strategy review with rainmaker + Curtis.
Tool stack
- Intake:
intake.schlabs.dev - Client files: private GitHub repo per client
- Project tracking: shared Notion or Linear
- Billing: Stripe recurring for retainers, Stripe invoices for one-offs
- Communication: via rainmaker, client's preferred channel
- Time tracking: Toggl (for retainer compliance only)
- Delivery platform:
client-automationscodebase deployed per-client on Hetzner VPS or laptop
SLAs by tier
- Starter: 72h response, monthly tune-up call
- Standard: 24h response, monthly call, on-demand advice
- White-Glove: same-day response, quarterly strategy, priority queue
09 · MRR projections
Conservative (2–3 new clients/mo once proven)
| Month | Clients | Avg MRR/client | Total MRR | Cum. revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | 1 | $500 | $500 | $500 |
| M3 | 4 | $750 | $3,000 | ~$6,000 |
| M6 | 9 | $800 | $7,200 | ~$30,000 |
| M12 | 18 | $900 | $16,200 | ~$100,000 |
| M18 | 28 | $1,000 | $28,000 | ~$230,000 |
| M24 | 40 | $1,100 | $44,000 | ~$400,000 |
Aggressive (4–5 new clients/mo, high referral loop)
| Month | Clients | Avg MRR/client | Total MRR | Cum. revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M6 | 15 | $900 | $13,500 | ~$50,000 |
| M12 | 35 | $1,000 | $35,000 | ~$180,000 |
| M18 | 60 | $1,100 | $66,000 | ~$450,000 |
| M24 | 85 | $1,200 | $102,000 | ~$800,000 |
Assumptions
- Retention: 85%+ annual (concierge services retain hard if quality is consistent)
- Avg retainer grows as clients move up tiers
- One-off projects add 20–40% on top of MRR (not shown)
- Hardware installs are lumpy but high-margin — avg $5k/project, ~5/yr year one
The single biggest lever is referral conversion. Our clientele talks to each other constantly. If Justine's 3 waiting friends become clients & each refers 2 within 6 months, we're in the aggressive scenario by default.
10 · Risks & mitigations
| Risk | Severity | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Client data leak | Critical | API-only, no bulk piping, encrypted at rest, access logs, signed NDAs per client |
| Curtis burnout / bus factor | High | Hire first engineer before Curtis hits 70% utilization. Document everything. |
| Scope-creep into traditional IT | High | Explicit "what we don't do" in contract. Refer to IT partners by name. Decline respectfully when asked to fix a printer. |
| Anthropic API changes | Medium | Abstract LLM calls behind a wrapper. Have Gemini / local Llama as contingency. |
| Pipeline dries up | Medium | Referral program. Ship 2 public case studies. Light inbound (website, SEO). |
| Justine & Josh compete for same client | Low | First-touch rule: first meaningful conversation owns for 90 days. |
| Scope creep within retainer | Medium | Tier definitions explicit. Polite boundary-setting is Curtis's job. |
| Hardware install liability | Medium | General liability insurance. Signed work authorization per install. |
| One bad client story | High | Fire bad clients early. Favor quality over quantity. |
11 · Milestones
- M0 — 2026-04-17 (today): intake.schlabs.dev live, HQ plan drafted, Wednesday session prepped.
- M1 — 2026-04-22 (Wed): Justine intake session; first automation scoped.
- M2 — 2026-05-06: Justine's first automation shipped; screen-recorded walkthrough; written case study.
- M3 — 2026-05-15: Josh + Justine begin formal outreach.
- M4 — 2026-06-01: 3 paying clients signed.
- M5 — 2026-07-15: 5 paying clients, ~$3–4k MRR.
- M6 — 2026-10-01: Entity formed. Stripe recurring live. GL insurance in place.
- M7 — 2027-04-01: $15–20k MRR. First engineer hired.
- M8 — 2027-10-01: $30k+ MRR. $200k+ annual run-rate.
12 · Open questions
Decisions for the three of us before we sign client #2. Leave comments under each section as you think through these.
- Entity structure — LLC, Canadian Inc, or partnership? Single-owner Curtis with profit-share to J&J, or formal 3-way partnership with ownership?
- Firm name — do we brand, or ride on personal names until it emerges? Options: Lantern, Atlas, Meridian, Signal, Schlabs Concierge, or something else.
- Territory / attribution rules — first-touch-wins the cleanest default; 90-day reset if no progress.
- Justine's month 1 — free pilot, or standard pricing? Recommendation: free 30-day pilot, standard after.
- Branding visibility — clients see a 3-person firm, or only "their person"? Recommendation: single-face per client, Curtis visible on technical calls.
- Exclusivity — do J&J commit to this as priority, or parallel other consulting / sales?
- Equity vs revenue share — 50/40/10 per-client is revenue. Equity stakes (if we ever sell) separate? Recommendation: align equity to revenue share (Curtis 50%, J&J 20% each, 10% option pool).
- Marketing posture — visible firm with website & case studies, or strict word-of-mouth? Our clientele values discretion, so "barely a website, referral only" is viable and possibly more prestigious.
Next step. Sit down (the three of us) within two weeks of Justine's session to walk through this doc, hash out the open questions, and sign off on v1.0.