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Case study · Studio study
A multi-tenant SaaS from empty org to billed workspace.
Studio study with a working title. Not a named-client claim.
Overview
Kepler is a full-loop product study: onboarding, workspaces, billing states, an app shell, and an assistant that can only act inside the tenant. It is how we think about the first year of a SaaS.
The challenge
SaaS dies in the seams: invites, unpaid invoices, the user who is an admin in one org and a guest in another, the empty workspace that looks like a bug. Also: an 'AI feature' that can see another customer.
Objectives
Tenant isolation you can test
Billing as a first-class state, not a banner
Onboarding that creates a real object, not a tour
An assistant with a tool allowlist
Strategy
Workspace is the root noun. Every row has an org_id. The assistant is a thin planner over the same APIs the UI uses — no extra door into the database.
Discovery
We wrote the lifecycle of a customer in one page: trial, conversion, expansion, churn, resurrection. Screens that did not serve that page were cut.
UX
An app shell with a quiet nav, command palette for power users, and settings that do not feel like a different product. Empty states create the first project in one step.
Design
Product-neutral, slightly editorial. Enough character to not look like a dashboard template; not so much that a finance buyer flinches.
Engineering
Next.js app router, Postgres with RLS or equivalent discipline, Stripe billing, background jobs for mail and invoices, LLM tools scoped by session org.
Architecture
App
Authenticated product.
Technology
Frontend
Backend
AI
Payments
Infra
Implementation
Result
Time-to-first-object
Placeholder
Tenant tests
CI-enforced
Assistant scope
Allowlisted
Replace with measured results after a client engagement.
Voice
“Replace with a founder quote about onboarding and the first billed workspace — not a vanity MRR number.”
Start
Tell us what you are trying to ship. We will come back with questions, a shape, and whether we are the right studio for it.