25 changes shipped across 2 codebases last week. No log the week before... I was at the Australian Open qualifiers. Qualifying week is brutal... people fighting for every match just to make the main draw. And some of the young Australians coming through, 16 and 17 years old, are playing phenomenal tennis.
Back at the desk, it was all Handl.
Handl: what's coming, and when the money lands
One of the problems I've always had running an agency is not knowing what's around the corner. What projects have I got on? What might be coming? When will they start... and when will the money actually hit?
You need to know that to pay your bills. So Handl now goes beyond billing, into the work that hasn't been signed yet.
Pipeline. A board for your sales opportunities, from lead through qualified, proposal sent, negotiating and verbal yes, to won or lost. Drag a deal between stages, and each stage carries a probability. Add milestones, team allocations and the client to an opportunity while you're still quoting it.
When it's won, convert it. Handl creates the client, the project and the milestones for you, and takes you straight to the new project. No typing it all in twice.
Forecast. Projected income over the coming weeks, months or quarters, as bars, a line or a table. Pipeline deals are weighted by how likely they are to close, so a lead doesn't count the same as a verbal yes. Toggle costs and pipeline on or off to see the picture you need.
A client portal for your clients. Your clients get their own space in Handl:
- A dashboard with their projects and recent activity.
- Their invoices, which invoices are paid, and how to pay the rest.
- Project details and where each milestone is up to.
- Their own settings, including saved payment methods and notifications.
- A chat, so they can ask about progress and invoices without emailing you.
Every agency shares differently with its clients. Some clients get everything, some get project updates, some just want the invoices. That's the part we're thinking hardest about as the portal grows.
Also in Handl this week:
- Setup that follows the project type. The project setup checklist now includes assigning a client and activating the project, and the steps change for fixed price, time and materials, retainer and hybrid projects. Assign the client and activate right from the checklist.
- More ways to invoice. Create an ad-hoc invoice, build a time and materials invoice, choose which milestones to bill, and preview the invoice before it goes.
- Card payments setup. Agencies connect their payments account from inside Handl, and can send a client a link to add a card.
- Australian agencies can look up their ABN, and addresses autocomplete as you type.
- A fresh look. The dashboard, sidebar and AI chat panel got a restyle to match the new designs, with suggested prompts to get the agent started.
All of this went into final testing this week, on its way to our early adopters. It's the biggest chunk of Handl yet, and anything that touches invoices and money gets tested properly before it goes anywhere.
→ See how it works: cash flow · client portal · invoice automation → Free: invoice aging and chase tracker → Start a Handl trial
One thing I learned
My test for "is it ready?" is simple. Would I pay for it?
There's an old startup line that if you're not embarrassed by your first release, you launched too late. I can't bring myself to do that anymore. Every product I use has lifted its game, and people expect something that actually does the job from day one.
So before Handl goes out, I put myself in the customer's shoes and ask if I'd open my wallet for it. If I would, it's ready. If I wouldn't... why would anyone else?
After that, customers take over. We won't build everything that's asked for. But if paying users ask for something that fits, and it's more than one of them, it goes on the list.
See you next week.
— Daz
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