How it all started

Hi, I’m Sige — a software developer with a deep, irrational fear of phone calls.

Okay, maybe not irrational.

But let’s be honest: calling someone to schedule an appointment is a weird kind of torture.
You dial the number, hope you’re not interrupting lunch, and then get greeted by someone who sounds like they’re in the middle of three other things — because they probably are.

I hate it. And if I can’t book an appointment online, I’m probably not booking it at all.

I was lucky — the company servicing my central heating boiler actually had online booking.
No phone call, no hold music. Just pick a time and go….

The flaws of traditional appointment scheduling

…pick a time and go… so I can pick any time I want?

The perfectionist in me couldn’t let it go.

Not the kind that alphabetizes their spice rack
(LOL, just kidding, I sort them by color 😉)

But the kind that wants systems to make sense. The kind that sees a “Pick your time” button and immediately thinks, But how do you know that time actually works?

• What about the appointment before or after mine?

• What if there’s a lot of traffic on the road that day?

• What if the technician needs extra time for a complex job, or if they finish early?

Do companies just… wing it?

That couldn’t be right. At least, it shouldn’t be.

The idea

And right there… that’s where the idea of building TimeFlow got born. But of course, I didn’t jump straight into building. First, I had to validate whether this was really a pain point — or just me overanalyzing a booking page. So I reached out to my friend Arne, who would later become my co-founder.

Luckily, Arne immediately saw the same potential I did.

Together, we decided to go straight to the source. So we reached out to the company I had booked my appointment with. We basically asked: How do you currently handle scheduling and routing between jobs?

Their response?

We already tried different tools. However, not one of them takes driving time and distances between appointment into account. We are growing fast, and lose a lot of time and money because of this.

I got goosebumps.

But one answer isn’t enough to build a SaaS on, so we kept going.
We cold-emailed other service companies, hoping to validate the problem further.

Let’s just say: cold emailing? Not the best strategy.

We got a total of 3 responses — out of just 30 emails.
Later, we learned that that’s actually not bad at all for cold outreach.

But still, even those few replies told a clear story: This wasn’t just a small issue.
It was time being wasted.
All because the tools being used were never built to handle the real-life messiness of field service work.

Was this it?
Was this idea the SaaS I’d always dreamed of building?
A real problem, hiding in plain sight.
With a software solution that could actually make a difference.

That’s when Arne and I sat down and made the decision:
It was time to stop just talking and start building.

The lean startup methodology

A few years ago, I read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries (recommended!), and it stuck with me.

Since then, I’ve been trying to apply its principles wherever I can.
Because too often, I’ve seen time and money get wasted while teams obsess over every little detail.

Pixel-perfect designs. Endless architecture discussions.
Weeks spent tweaking features no one asked for.

And in the end?
The client doesn’t give a single fuck.

What they care about is whether it works, whether it solves their problem.

We’re not trying to impress investors with slide decks
or ship a glossy version 1.0 packed with features no one needs.
We’re trying to learn, fast.

So six months later the MVP was ready… but still way too fancy 🤷‍♂️.

What’s next?

Taking The Lean Startup principles to heart, we’re now at the point where it’s time to stop building in isolation and start putting TimeFlow in the hands of real users.

We’ve stripped the product back to what matters most.
It’s not perfect. It’s not fully automated.
But it solves a real problem — and that’s what we care about.

Now, it’s time to find those first businesses who are willing to try something new.
The ones who are tired of losing time between jobs.
Who are still manually scheduling in spreadsheets, outdated tools, or worse — in their heads.
The ones who feel the pain every day, and are willing to test a better way.

We don’t need hundreds of users… yet…
We just need a few good ones, willing to give honest feedback and break things.

If that’s you — or you know someone who might be a fit — let’s talk.

We’re not here to sell a system.
(Okay fine — we are, eventually. We do need to keep the servers running. And, you know… eat 🍔)

But we’re really here to build something with the people who actually need it.

This is where it gets real.
And honestly?
We’ve never been more excited.

What to expect from our blog?

To be brutally honest:
I’ve read that it’s a good idea to build in public.
You know — to get more exposure, create momentum, and show people what you’re working on.

And since that’s exactly what we need right now, we’re doing just that.

But it’s not just about exposure.
It’s about accountability. About documenting the journey.
About sharing not only what works, but what doesn’t.
The false starts. The overbuilt MVPs. The quiet wins.

Because somewhere out there, someone else is facing the same struggles as we are. And that’s exactly why we want to share what we’re learning along the way.

This blog is for them.
And it’s for us.
To track our own progress. To stay honest.
To remind ourselves why we’re building TimeFlow in the first place.

But it’s also for our future clients.

We’re not just building software, we’re building trust.
And that starts with transparency. We want you to see how we think, how we work, and how seriously we take the problems you deal with every day.

It’s not about flashy pitches or polished marketing.
It’s about two software developers chasing a dream and trying to make life a little easier for the people out there doing the real work.

So if you’re a service company and any of this sounds familiar, we’d love to hear from you.
And honestly, if you’re anyone who’s curious, building something, or just has thoughts to share, we’d love to hear from you too.

Stick around.
It’s going to be messy.
It’s going to be honest.
It might even be helpful.
Or — who knows — just fun to read in 40 years with our grandchildren.

And if it all goes wrong?*
Well… at least we’ll have gained a whole lot of experience along the way.*

Sige from TimeFlow

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