Tom and his brother built Avenue, a website-embed widget that lets trades businesses (electricians, mechanics, plumbers) display services visually and accept bookings or inquiries directly on their site and through Google My Business, now generating roughly 85,000 AUD per month (~$50K USD) about a year after launch.
What Avenue is and who it serves
Avenue is a lightweight widget that sits on a trades business’s website and presents all services in a visual, guided flow that can end in a purchase or an inquiry.
It also integrates with Google Reservations via the business’s Google My Business profile, so customers can book from search results as well.
The backend automations — SMS confirmations, AI voice follow-ups, and unified lead routing — differentiate it from generic booking widgets.
Customers are primarily local service businesses that historically relied on phone calls and emails to capture demand.
Revenue and traction
Stripe dashboard shows growth from 597 AUD in August 2023 to 63,000 AUD in August 2024; current run rate is ~85,000 AUD/month.
The business is still reinvesting heavily; growth has been steady rather than explosive.
All revenue is subscription-based SaaS; no one-time setup fees mentioned.
Founder background
Tom left school early (freshman year equivalent) and took a $4/hour job, which sparked an obsession with business models and leverage.
He gravitated to software because it lets you “make money while you’re sleeping” after doing the work once.
Before Avenue, he ran a marketing agency for 10 years that retained 70+ clients paying for website hosting, providing a cash flow cushion.
Finding the idea
The insight came from personal frustration: “I have money, I want to buy from a service business — why do I have to call them?”
Tom had no coding or design experience but believed a team could build the solution; he decided to start and iterate until something clicked.
The initial hypothesis was simply that a visual, embedded inquiry-to-purchase flow would convert better than phone/email.
Building the product: timeline, team, and funding
February 2023: a developer friend built an MVP proving the embed concept could work.
Once the layout came alive, Tom went all-in pre-revenue: hired a lead designer, a head backend developer, and a frontend developer.
Zero revenue at that point — “on paper, terrible idea” — but the team gave confidence to sell larger contracts.
Funding came entirely from the agency’s recurring hosting income; Tom lived off that cash while funneling the rest into payroll.
Growth strategy: door-to-door sales with iPads
First 10+ customers came from literally walking into every open business on the street (music studios, repair shops, any trade).
Early demos on iPhones caused confusion (“is this an app?”); switching to iPads let prospects see the widget in their own branding on a “website-like” screen.
Printed brochures explained the product simply: “You can’t get sales outside of hours. This fixes that.”
In-person demos built trust fast; prospects could see the problem and solution together, and a real human answered objections on the spot.
Small early clients created social proof (“I’ve seen you guys everywhere”) that opened doors to larger trades companies.
No paid ads, no cold email, no content marketing — just shoe-leather sales for the first 6–9 months.
Why trades became the beachhead
The team didn’t pre-select trades; they knocked on every door and trades responded best.
Tradespeople give direct, unfiltered feedback (“this won’t pay for itself”) and only buy when ROI is tangible.
That forced the product to stay grounded in measurable outcomes (more booked jobs, fewer missed calls) rather than hype.
The niche revealed itself through action; Avenue then adapted the widget to trade-specific workflows (emergency calls, quote requests, Google integration).
Advice for founders considering door-to-door
It’s intimidating to show something you’ve poured effort into, but harsh feedback is exactly what you need.
Even businesses that reject you often refer you to the right customer (“this doesn’t work for me, but my mate the electrician needs it”).
The playbook: show the problem visually, explain the fix in plain language, ask for the sale on the spot.
Tech stack and key costs (monthly)
AWS hosting: ~150 AUD (core infrastructure)
Slack: ~120 AUD
Google Workspace: ~130 AUD
Vapi (AI voice credits): ~500 AUD
Twilio (SMS): ~4,000 AUD (major variable cost tied to usage)
Lusha (lead data): small but precise
Claude (AI coding/ops): daily driver for the team
Product demo walkthrough
On a client site, a “Book Online with Google” button opens the branded Avenue form.
Customer taps through service options; if they exit, they’re returned to the client’s website where the same widget is also embedded natively.
All leads — Google, website, SMS — funnel into one dashboard for the business.
The flow eliminates the “call, wait, leave voicemail, wait for callback” loop entirely.
Founder’s core advice: sell before you build
Customers don’t care how much effort went into the product; they care whether it solves their problem.
If you can describe the problem, name a price, and the prospect is ready to hand over cash, you’ve validated the idea.
Commitment (even a deposit or letter of intent) before writing code de-risks everything else.
Host’s reflections on the episode
Door-to-door is an underused channel in an increasingly online world; many local businesses aren’t on TikTok or Twitter but have real budgets and urgent problems.
The widget concept isn’t novel — booking buttons exist everywhere — but applying it to a specific, underserved niche (trades) with deep automation made it work.
The real “secret sauce” is solving a concrete, expensive problem: missed revenue from unanswered inquiries.
