We run an agency. We build software products for clients. We're good at it. But for years, the way we ran the business was a mess.
We used Harvest for time tracking. Forecast for scheduling. DocuSign for agreements. Spreadsheets for everything else. None of it talked to each other. We had data in four places and no source of truth.
Every week, we'd burn hours reconciling things that should have been connected from the start. Did the hours logged match the schedule? Did the invoice reflect what was actually worked? Is this client profitable, or are we just busy? Simple questions that were inexplicably hard to answer.
We hated it. So we built something better.
Introducing Tidy
Tidy is an all-in-one agency management app — time tracking, scheduling, invoicing, agreements, client portals, and profitability tracking in a single tool. One place where your data actually connects: agreement signed → hours assigned → time logged → invoice sent → client sees their balance.
It's the tool we wanted to exist when we started Thunk, and it didn't.
Why an agency is building a SaaS product
We've spent years helping clients launch and relaunch products. We know what it takes to ship something real.
But we also know what it's like to be the agency in the relationship. The one juggling five client engagements while trying to figure out if you have capacity for a sixth. The one who finds out a project went over budget after it already happened. The one chasing down a late invoice while the client claims they never received it.
Most agency tools are built by software companies. Tidy is built by agency owners. We built it because we couldn't stand using the alternatives, and we figured other agencies felt the same way.
The principles behind it
At Thunk, we have strong opinions about how agencies should run. We wrote them down in The Zero Risk Agency Manifesto. The short version:
Hours and money. That's it. Project-based billing is a bet someone loses. Time and materials means nobody's guessing, nobody's cutting corners, and the client sees exactly what they're paying for.
Transparency makes reconciliation unnecessary. If clients can see their hours, invoices, and project status all the time, you stop spending afternoons answering questions about where things stand.
Make everything uncomfortably explicit. Scope, decisions, what "done" looks like. We are explicit so that assumptions are exposed, and we can build real things that are actually useful.
Every feature in Tidy traces back to one of these principles. The client portal exists because transparency kills ambiguity. The assignment-based time tracking exists because hours logged without context are meaningless. The profitability dashboard exists because you can't fix what you can't see.
What it actually does
Scheduling and time tracking that talk to each other. Hours are always logged in the context of an assigned schedule. You know when you're ahead or behind. You get alerts when reality drifts from the plan. No more "wait, who's working on that?"
Invoicing tied to real time sheet data. Generate invoices from timesheets. Collect payments through Stripe. No more copying numbers between apps and hoping you didn't mess it up.
A client portal that actually works. Every client gets a branded portal — invoices, payments, agreements, and automated weekly check-ins. Magic link access, no passwords. Your client never has to ask "where's my invoice?" again.
Profitability you can see. Revenue vs. labor cost per client. Custom balance alerts. Trends over time. You'll know which clients are profitable and which ones are quietly eating your margins.
Built-in e-signatures. Cancel DocuSign. Agreements live in Tidy, tied to the same clients and engagements as everything else.
An AI that talks to your data. Ask it which client is most profitable, whether you have capacity for a new project, or who's behind on their hours this week. It sees what you can see, and it works in Tidy or via Slack.
We use it every day
This isn't a side project, and it's going to get years of support. We run Thunk on Tidy. Every timesheet, every invoice, every client agreement goes through it. When something is annoying, we fix it the same week. When a feature is missing, we feel it before anyone else does.
That's the advantage of building a tool for yourself.
Try it
Tidy has a free plan — no credit card, no trial expiration. If you're running a small agency on Harvest, Bonsai, or a pile of spreadsheets, give it a look. We think you'll like it.
