Automate the process before you build the platform.
A surprising amount of “we need software” is really “these five systems should stop making a human copy the same information around”. We start there. If an n8n workflow, webhook or small integration removes the friction, that is often the right product.
Useful plumbing, not automation theatre.
Cross-system workflows
Move data, validate it, enrich it, route it and record the result without somebody becoming a biological integration layer.
AI-assisted operations
Use a model where judgement or text understanding helps, with deterministic steps and human approvals around it.
Recurring checks and reports
Pull data on a schedule, compare with the previous state and only bother a human when something deserves attention.
Operational workflows
Onboarding, invoice routing, document acceptance, reminders, hand-offs and other work held together by memory.
Use the smallest reliable thing.
If a workflow can solve it cleanly, we do not invent a SaaS. If the workflow starts growing its own permissions, state, user interface and domain rules, that is the signal to turn the right part into an application.