Inside Tech — Tool Library

This isn't a sponsored list. It's a reference built directly from the posts I've written on Inside Tech — the tools I've covered, debated, recommended, or used myself while building Ask Seve and Money Magician. The context is the editorial. Everything here links back to a real conversation about why these tools exist and who they're for.

Stage one

Ideation & Strategic Thinking

Before a single line of code. Tools and frameworks for shaping the idea, understanding the market, and making the decision to build at all.

From: "Envisioning AI's Impact: Using The Futures Wheel For Product Roadmaps" & "Build Or Buy Your Payment Solution" & "Are You Struggling To Actually Implement AI?"

The Futures WheelFree / Framework

Strategic foresight

A visual brainstorming method to map first-, second- and third-order consequences of a product decision. Developed by Jerome Glenn (1971). Ideal for roadmapping AI integration into your product before committing engineering time.

Speculative FuturesFramework

Scenario planning

A foresight approach that explores plausible, probable, and preferable futures. Pair with the Futures Wheel to stress-test your roadmap against scenarios you haven't planned for.

Build vs Buy FrameworkFramework

Financial decision-making

A four-step decision loop: assume you need it → cost to build → compare purchase options → pursue or defer. Forces long-term thinking over convenience. Applies to every major tool purchase, not just payments.

AI Integration FrameworkFree / Framework

AI implementation strategy

A three-stage framework for deciding how deeply to integrate AI into a new or existing product. Evaluates each stage — Input, Throughput, and Output — across two dimensions: LLM intensity vs database dependency, and updated infrastructure demands. Helps founders and PMs make deliberate integration decisions rather than defaulting to maximum AI use everywhere. Read on Substack →

NotionFreemium

Workspace / docs / CRM

More powerful than most founders realise at the ideation stage. Use it for competitor research, business model documentation, and building a lightweight CRM — especially when augmented with AI. One of two core platforms in the AI-native lean stack.

Stage two

Building the Product

From MVP to working software. This is where the no-code vs low-code vs code debate matters most — and where AI has changed the calculus entirely.

From: "What Is No-Code Or Low-Code" & "Build, Ship → Launched" & "The Silent Revolution"

LovablePaid

AI-native app builder

The platform used to build Ask Seve. An AI coding agent that generates full-stack applications from prompts. Best for founders who want to ship fast without a technical co-founder. Integrates with Supabase, OpenAI APIs, and GitHub. Open-source export available.

Claude CodePaid (API)

AI coding agent / CLI

Anthropic's command-line coding agent. Works alongside Lovable or as a standalone tool for more complex custom development. Used extensively for agentic coding workflows, MCP server integrations, and iterating on infrastructure without a dev team.

BubbleFreemium

No-code platform

Full no-code platform for web apps. No programming knowledge required. Strong for internal tools, client portals, and marketplaces. Best for non-technical founders building something with complex user flows. Slower to scale than code-based solutions.

AdaloFreemium

No-code mobile apps

No-code builder focused on native mobile apps. Good for MVPs targeting iOS/Android without a mobile developer. More constrained than Bubble but faster for simple consumer app concepts.

GlideFreemium

No-code (data-driven apps)

Turns spreadsheet data into apps — historically built on Google Sheets or Airtable. The fastest way to prototype a data-driven product for field service tools, directories, and internal dashboards. Note: the platform is actively rebuilding ("Next Generation of Glide") — verify current capabilities before committing.

OutSystemsEnterprise

Low-code (enterprise)

Low-code platform aimed at professional developers and enterprise teams. Strong for complex workflow automation and legacy system integration. Overkill for early-stage; relevant when you're delivering custom solutions to larger clients. Now pivoting heavily to agentic AI development — worth watching if that's your roadmap.

Google GeminiPaid (API)

AI / LLM integration

The core intelligence layer powering Money Magician. Google's frontier model family — used for financial reasoning, multi-currency analysis, and AI-native features across the product. Strong multimodal capabilities and long context windows make it well-suited for document-heavy financial workflows.

OpenAI APIPaid (usage)

AI / LLM integration

The AI backbone behind Ask Seve's conversational intelligence. Used to power natural language features, recommendation engines, and conversational interfaces in software products. Pair with structured data from your app to create AI-native experiences.

Google Maps APIPaid (usage)

Location / mapping

Integrated in Ask Seve for destination intelligence. Essential for any product touching travel, logistics, local discovery, or geography. Pricing scales with usage — important to architect your caching strategy early.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)Open standard

AI integration protocol

Anthropic's open protocol for connecting AI models to external tools and data sources. Changes the competitive equation completely — a simple Notion database + Claude via MCP can replace a $1,200/month HubSpot plan. The infrastructure layer of the AI-native era.

Claude Capabilities DashboardOpen source

Claude Code skill / personal dashboard

A single-file HTML dashboard that maps every agent, skill, hook, and MCP server in your Claude Code setup. Includes a /dashboard-refresh skill to keep it up to date as your configuration grows. Built and open-sourced by Inside Tech. View on GitHub →

claude-domain-memoryOpen source

Claude Code skill / knowledge system

A lightweight knowledge accumulation system for Claude Code. Captures API quirks, confirmed patterns, and working rules as you build — stored in structured domain files that load automatically at session start. Includes a /knowledge-update skill. Built and open-sourced by Inside Tech. View on GitHub →

Stage three

Payments, Infrastructure & Legal

The part most founders underestimate. Own and control everything essential to your value proposition. Buy everything else.

From: "Build Or Buy Your Payment Solution" & "The Silent Revolution"

StripePaid (% per txn)

Payments / subscriptions

The default choice for developer-led products. Superior documentation, global reach, and subscription management. Used in both Ask Seve and Money Magician. Preferred over Shopify Payments for its flexibility and API quality. Check transaction fees carefully — they compound at scale.

Wise APIPaid

Multi-currency / transfers

Critical infrastructure for any fintech or multi-currency product. Powers real-exchange-rate transfers across currencies. Core to Money Magician's multi-currency financial management. Far cheaper than traditional banking rails for international freelancers and businesses.

GustoPaid

Payroll / HR

Best-in-class payroll tool for small businesses. The preferred alternative to QuickBooks payroll add-ons. Part of the modern best-of-breed finance stack — payroll handled by a specialist, accounting kept separate.

MercuryFreemium

Business banking

Modern fintech banking designed for startups and digital businesses. Better developer APIs, faster onboarding, and no legacy bank friction. Strong choice for early-stage founders who want a clean, API-friendly business account without enterprise overhead.

CloudflareFreemium

CDN / security / infrastructure

Core infrastructure layer for any product deployed on the web. Handles DNS, DDoS protection, CDN, and SSL out of the box. Cloudflare Workers gives you serverless compute at the edge — used as part of the ANDRS infrastructure stack. The free tier covers most early-stage needs; paid plans add R2 storage, advanced security rules, and analytics.

Cloudflare UptimeOpen source

Uptime monitoring / infrastructure

An open-source uptime monitoring tool built on Cloudflare infrastructure. Tracks availability of your endpoints and surfaces downtime without a third-party monitoring subscription. Built and open-sourced by ANDRS. View project →

SupabaseOpen source / Freemium

Backend / database

Open-source Firebase alternative. Postgres database with auth, storage, and real-time subscriptions built in. Used as backend infrastructure for Lovable-built apps. Gives you ownership of your data — unlike managed Firebase where migration is painful.

GitHubFreemium

Version control / source

Non-negotiable. Your code lives here. Every IP you own should be in repositories under your company name, not a contractor's account. A lesson learned the hard way — migrating code out of a supplier's environment late in development is expensive and painful.

Stage four

Shipping & Publishing

Getting your product and your story in front of people. The lean publishing stack that replaces bloated marketing platforms.

From: "The Silent Revolution" & "Build, Ship → Launched"

SubstackFreemium

Newsletter / publishing

The platform you're reading this on. Replaced Mailchimp for email marketing — no subscriber caps, no artificial feature tiers, built-in audience growth tools and monetisation. A core platform in the AI-native lean stack. Where Inside Tech lives.

Notion (public pages)Freemium

Websites / landing pages

Notion's public pages replace a standalone website for early-stage products. No hosting cost, no CMS overhead. Pair with a custom domain. Used as the content and website layer alongside Substack — together they replace WordPress, Mailchimp, and a CMS.

Lovable (web publishing)Paid

Website / landing page builder

Also used for the ANDRS website redesign — building directly in Lovable rather than a WordPress/Salient setup. AI-native design agent that creates production-grade sites from prompts. Much faster iteration than traditional CMS workflows.

BufferFreemium

Social media scheduling

Used for scheduling Inside Tech and Money Magician social content across platforms. Works well for multi-channel content batching. Pair with a Notion content calendar for a full lightweight content operation without a marketing platform subscription.

WebflowPaid

Visual website builder

Designer-grade no-code website builder. Mentioned in the context of HubSpot replacement — companies using HubSpot for lead capture but switching Webflow for website management. More visual control than Notion, more flexibility than Squarespace.

LinkedIn (organic)Free platform

B2B distribution

Primary distribution channel for Money Magician's content and ANDRS consultancy. Used for build-in-public posts, thought leadership, and reaching freelancers and modern business owners. Most effective when tied to a consistent publishing cadence from Notion/Substack.

Stage five

Operations, CRM & the Lean AI Stack

Running the business day-to-day. The tools that handle what used to require a whole operations team — now done by one founder with the right stack and AI as the connective tissue.

From: "The Silent Revolution" & internal tooling across our products

Notion (CRM + ops)Freemium

CRM / project ops / databases

When augmented by Claude via MCP, Notion replaces dedicated CRM platforms at a fraction of the cost. Customer data, project tracking, task velocity, and team documentation — all in one environment. Its structured database model also makes it a natural handoff layer between AI agents — passing context from one agent to the next without bespoke integration. The lean stack backbone for both Ask Seve and Money Magician.

LinearFreemium

Issue tracking / dev ops

Best-in-class issue tracker for software teams. Preferred over Jira for its speed and clean UX. Mentioned as the modern pairing with Notion for documentation — "Notion for docs + Linear for issue tracking." Particularly relevant once you have a dev team.

ZapierPaid

Automation / integration

Used to wire together the Notion → LinkedIn automated content workflow and MCP server integrations. The glue between tools that don't have native connections. Used with restraint — every Zapier automation adds a dependency. But for content and notification workflows, invaluable.

IntercomPaid

Customer support / messaging

Mentioned as the specialist alternative to HubSpot's customer service hub. Best-in-class for in-app messaging and customer lifecycle communication once your user base grows.

AirtableFreemium

Database / lightweight CRM

Flexible database tool. Referenced as a Salesforce alternative when paired with AI-powered automation. Less opinionated than Notion, more structured than a spreadsheet. Good middle ground for teams coming from Excel who need more relational power.

ClickUpFreemium

Project management

All-in-one project management alternative to Asana or Monday. Works well for non-engineering teams or agencies managing multiple client projects. Referenced as: "Slack for communication + ClickUp for project management."

KlaviyoPaid

Email marketing (ecommerce)

Referenced in the Shopify ecosystem context — many Shopify merchants use Klaviyo instead of Shopify Email for sophisticated audience segmentation. Best for ecommerce products that need advanced behavioural email flows. Overkill for content publishers (use Substack).

Money MagicianFreemium

AI-native financial management

Built specifically for what legacy accounting software fails at: multi-currency management, multiple revenue streams, and AI-powered financial intelligence for freelancers, creators, and modern businesses. An MCP server integration is available for connecting directly with Claude.

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The meta-framework

The Lean AI-Native Stack

Across all five stages, one principle has held: fewer platforms, deeper integration, AI as the connective tissue between them.

Core publishing

Notion + Substack

Replaced: WordPress, Mailchimp, a standalone CMS. Two platforms, natural integration, AI-extensible. Combined monthly cost under €50 vs €200–500 for the legacy stack.

Core development

Lovable + Claude Code

Replaced: a technical co-founder or dev agency for MVP-stage products. One founder, two AI tools, one launched product. Ask Seve was built this way.

Core finance

Stripe + Money Magician + Wise

Replaced: full-service accounting platforms, manual bank reconciliation. Purpose-built tools for each job: payments, intelligence, and cross-border money movement.

Core intelligence

Claude (via MCP) + Notion

Replaced: HubSpot CRM, dedicated analytics tools, content operations platforms. AI as a custom layer on top of simple data — not as a bolt-on to legacy software.

How to use this library

The rule that holds across all five stages

Every tool here appeared in a real context — not a product comparison table. The best stack for your business depends on your stage, your technical ability, and what you're trying to own. Own and control everything essential to your value proposition. Buy or rent everything else — and do so with the knowledge that those decisions are reversible faster than ever before.

Every tool you need to build a software business — sorted by stage

The rule that holds across all five stages