Cepafi
Compliance calendar and tax prep for solo business owners who miss expensive deadlines.
Tagline
Stop paying tax penalties.
Compliance calendar for solo businesses.
Clean deadlines, receipts, and 1099s.
Built for owners who hate tax cleanup.
The compliance calendar built for solo businesses, not enterprise finance teams.
The product is explicitly focused on sole proprietors and single-member LLCs, with deadline tracking for taxes, filings, and renewals that general accounting tools usually bury under bookkeeping features.
A lighter-weight alternative to QuickBooks plus accountant cleanup.
Cepafi is not trying to replace full accounting software; it aims to reduce the administrative mess that drives accountant fees by organizing deadlines, receipts, and contractor reporting before year-end.
Stop paying penalties and cleanup bills for mistakes a calendar should have caught.
The strongest pain in the page is not bookkeeping sophistication but avoidable expense: IRS penalties, annual report lapses, and extra accountant time. Cepafi is positioned as a pain-killer for those recurring avoidable costs.
Primary user
US solo proprietor or single-member LLC owner who runs a service business and manages taxes manually
ICP #1
Freelance designer or consultant running a single-member LLC with 1-5 contractors
Pain
They miss quarterly estimated tax dates, then get hit with penalties they could have avoided with a reminder system.
Why this solves
Cepafi preloads federal and state deadlines, sends two timed reminders, and explains what to do in plain English before the bill is due.
ICP #2
Solo founder of a service business who dreads tax season because receipts live in camera roll, email, and random folders
Pain
They pay their accountant to clean up disorganized expenses and still leave deductions behind.
Why this solves
Cepafi turns receipt chaos into categorized records throughout the year and produces an organized export instead of a last-minute scramble.
ICP #3
Independent business owner with a newly formed LLC who has never managed annual reports, franchise taxes, or registered agent renewals
Pain
They do not know which filings keep the entity in good standing, so reminders get snoozed or ignored and the LLC risks lapsing.
Why this solves
Cepafi tracks entity health items by state and entity type so owners get recurring reminders before a missed filing causes real legal and operational damage.
Strengths
- +The founder story is specific and credible, anchored in real IRS pain, accountant cleanup costs, and an LLC lapse.
- +The page does a strong job naming concrete jobs-to-be-done: deadlines, receipts, 1099s, and entity health.
- +The founding member offer is clear, with a low entry price, locked-in pricing, and a zero-charge trial.
Weaknesses
- −It over-indexes on future roadmap, which weakens confidence because the main product appears not yet built.
- −The value proposition is broad enough to blur into bookkeeping, compliance, and tax prep at once, which risks confusion about the first use case.
- −There is no proof beyond the founder narrative: no screenshots, no product demo, no workflow mockups, no testimonials, and no integrations.
- −The market sizing claim of 33M is thrown in without context or sourcing, which feels like filler rather than evidence.
- −The page leans heavily on fear and founder relatability but does not clearly show the moment-to-moment product experience.
Fix these
- Lead with one wedge use case on the homepage, likely quarterly estimated tax and deadline tracking, then layer receipts and 1099s after that.
- Add product screenshots or a clickable prototype showing the compliance calendar, receipt capture flow, and contractor tracker.
- Rewrite the feature section to separate 'available now' from 'coming next' so visitors know exactly what they can use today.
- Add trust signals specific to the category, such as state coverage examples, sample deadline logic, and an accountant-reviewed tax package output.
- Replace some of the broad founding-member copy with concrete scenarios: 'You paid a contractor $640 in March' or 'Your annual report is due in Delaware on June 1.'
Drop-in replacement copy
Headline
Stop missing expensive deadlines
Compliance, receipts, and 1099s for solo businesses.
Deadline reminders before penalties
Cepafi tracks federal and state business deadlines like estimated taxes, annual reports, franchise tax, and renewals. You get plain-English reminders 30 days and 7 days before they matter.
Receipts organized as you go
Snap a receipt and Cepafi extracts the merchant, amount, date, and category. Expenses are auto-mapped to IRS Schedule C buckets so tax season starts organized, not chaotic.
1099 threshold tracking
Track contractor payments against the $600 reporting threshold and get warned before you cross it. Cepafi also prompts for a W-9 so reporting does not become a last-minute scramble.
Year-end package your accountant can use
Export a clean set of receipts, categorized expenses, and contractor records for your accountant or TurboTax. Less cleanup. Fewer missing deductions. Less panic.
FAQ
Is Cepafi a full accounting app?
No. It is built for compliance tracking, receipt organization, and tax prep cleanup for solo businesses. If you want a giant accounting suite, this is not that.
Who is this for?
US solo proprietors, single-member LLC owners, freelancers, consultants, and small service businesses that manage taxes manually or with an accountant.
What deadlines does it track?
Federal estimated tax dates plus state-specific items like annual reports, franchise tax, registered agent renewals, and business license renewals where supported.
Can it help with 1099s?
Yes. It tracks contractor payments against the $600 threshold and can prompt you to collect a W-9 before you create a reporting problem.
What do I get at tax time?
A year-end export with receipts, categorized expenses, and contractor payment records that you can hand to an accountant or import into TurboTax.
Quarterly taxes miss costs real money. I built Cepafi for solo business owners who keep getting hit by avoidable penalties, late filings, and accountant cleanup bills. It tracks deadlines, receipts, 1099s, and entity renewals in one place.
Your LLC can lapse on one missed filing. Cepafi watches federal and state compliance dates for solo founders: estimated taxes, annual reports, franchise tax, registered agent renewals, and license renewals. No more sticky notes pretending to be a system.
Built the tax app I needed. I kept losing money to two things: missed deadlines and messy receipts. So Cepafi now does the boring part early: reminders, receipt capture, Schedule C categories, and a year-end export that doesn't make your accountant sigh.
Most bookkeeping tools miss deadlines. They store expenses. They don't protect you from quarterly estimates, annual reports, or contractor reporting mistakes. Cepafi is the calendar + cleanup layer for solo businesses that don't want a full accounting suite.
That $75 penalty was preventable. So was the late fee. So was the extra accountant hour. If you run a solo business and your tax system is "I'll remember later," Cepafi is for you.
Receipts in camera roll is not a system. Neither is a folder called "tax stuff final 2". Cepafi turns random receipts into categorized records as you go, so tax season is export time, not archaeology.
Watch a contractor cross $600. Cepafi tracks payments, warns you before the 1099 threshold, and prompts for a W-9 before you create a reporting mess. That tiny alert can save a giant headache later.
30 days before a deadline matters. 7 days before it matters more. Cepafi sends plain-English reminders for estimated taxes, annual reports, and entity renewals before they turn into penalties.
Founders keep asking for this. Not because they love compliance. Because they hate surprise bills, missed filings, and paying accountants to sort chaos they created in March. That pain is real. So is the fix.
Accountants love clean exports. Not because it is fancy. Because it saves them time and saves you money. Cepafi ends the year with receipts, categories, contractor records, and a package you can hand off without panic.
Angle: solo business compliance
I kept seeing the same failure mode in solo businesses: - quarterly taxes missed - annual reports forgotten - receipts scattered across camera roll, email, and desktop folders - accountant fees rising because the cleanup started too late So I built Cepafi. It is not trying to be a giant accounting suite. It is the boring, useful layer that catches deadlines before they cost money and turns messy receipts into a year-end package you can actually use. If you run a single-member LLC or solo service business, the goal is simple: keep the business in good standing, reduce cleanup, and make tax season less stupid. You started a business to do work you love. Not to become a part-time compliance coordinator.
Angle: avoid penalties
The worst tax costs are not always the big ones. A missed deadline. A late state filing. A contractor payment that crosses the 1099 threshold without anyone noticing. Those are the kind of mistakes that feel small in the moment and turn expensive later. Cepafi is built to catch that stuff early for solo founders and single-member LLC owners. It tracks federal and state deadlines, sends reminders before they become urgent, and keeps receipt and contractor records organized while the year is still in progress. The product idea came from a very unsexy truth: most owners do not need more accounting software. They need fewer surprises.
Angle: lighter alternative to bookkeeping
QuickBooks, Wave, FreshBooks, Keeper, Dext. Useful tools, but for a lot of solo businesses they still leave a gap: what deadline is coming up, what entity filing is due, which contractor just crossed $600, and where did that receipt go? That is the gap Cepafi is designed to fill. Less like a full accounting system. More like a compliance calendar and cleanup assistant for the one-person business that is trying to stay sane. I think there is a real market for products that do one painful job well instead of claiming to do everything. That is the direction here.
No visuals for this kit yet.
Tagline
Compliance calendar for solo businesses
Description
Cepafi tracks tax deadlines, entity renewals, receipts, and 1099 thresholds for solo business owners. Get plain-English reminders, cleaner records, and a year-end package your accountant can use fast.
Maker's first comment
I built Cepafi after watching the same pain repeat over and over: missed quarterly taxes, late state filings, receipts living in random places, and year-end cleanup that always took longer than it should have. The weird part is that most of these problems are not hard problems. They are reminder problems, organization problems, and “I’ll do it later” problems. Cepafi started as the tool I wanted for my own solo-business mess. I wanted something lighter than a full accounting suite, but more useful than a calendar reminder with a vague subject line. So the focus is simple: catch the deadline, capture the receipt, track the contractor threshold, and make tax season less ugly. Would love feedback from solo founders, freelancers, and accountants on what would make this genuinely useful in the real world.
Pinned maker comment
Would love feedback on the first-use flow: which matters more on day one — deadline tracking, receipt capture, or contractor threshold alerts?
Meta
Missed taxes are expensive.
Hypothesis: solo business owners will sign up when they see Cepafi as a simple way to avoid penalty fees, late filings, and receipt chaos without learning full bookkeeping. Cepafi tracks deadlines, receipts, 1099 thresholds, and year-end exports.
Google Search
Solo LLC tax reminders
Hypothesis: people searching for LLC annual reports, quarterly estimated tax reminders, and 1099 threshold help are high-intent buyers. Cepafi gives plain-English deadline tracking, receipt capture, and a clean year-end export.
Reddit Promoted
Camera roll is not bookkeeping.
Hypothesis: indie founders and freelancers in compliance pain will engage with a blunt, practical tool that fixes one job: deadline reminders, receipt capture, and contractor threshold tracking for solo businesses.
Subreddits
r/sideproject
Show the ugly before/after of deadline chaos turning into a compliance calendar
Rules: No spam, be transparent, show what you built, keep promotion secondary to story and lessons.
r/indiehackers
Founder story: building the tax compliance tool I needed for my own LLC
Rules: Share progress, metrics, and lessons; avoid pure launch posts without context.
r/microsaas
Narrow wedge: solo business compliance reminders, not full accounting software
Rules: Must be relevant to micro SaaS builders; explain the niche and product decisions.
r/EntrepreneurRideAlong
Ride-along build log: from deadline pain to a paid compliance assistant
Rules: Be honest, show journey, don't drop a naked link without value.
r/freelance
Freelancers missing quarterly taxes and 1099 thresholds
Rules: Keep it helpful, not salesy; share practical tax organization advice and mention the tool only if relevant.
Communities
Post the build story, then reply hard and fast to every comment with specifics about deadlines, receipts, and the first wedge.
Post a concise Show HN with a clear problem statement and a demo; avoid marketing language and answer technical questions.
Share daily mini-lessons from building for solo business owners, then DM engaged freelancers and founders who reply with their tax pain.
Local accountant and bookkeeping groups
Find accountant Facebook groups, Slack groups, and local business communities; ask for feedback on the year-end export and entity reminder logic.
Cold outreach template
Hey {firstName} — saw your {context} and thought of Cepafi. It tracks deadlines, receipts, and 1099 thresholds for solo businesses so tax cleanup doesn't turn into a mess. If you want, I'll send you a quick preview and you can tell me what feels off.
Product Hunt timing
Launch on Tuesday between 9–11am Pacific so you catch the US workday and get 24 hours of active commenting; use the first 2 hours to respond to every comment because this category needs trust fast.
Indie Hackers post ideas
- 01I built a compliance calendar for solo founders because I kept missing tax deadlines
- 02What I learned turning receipt chaos into a year-end tax package for freelancers
- 03Why I chose a narrow wedge: estimated tax reminders before full bookkeeping
Competitor alternatives
Current tone of voice
Direct, empathetic, and slightly confessional, with lines like "You started a business to do work you love. Not to dread tax season." and "That sticky note didn't make it."
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