OAC Meetings: Word ships PDFs. They get read there. A Year Crafting the Switch

In Summary:

• Field problem (Construction, US): Word/Excel produce static PDFs that are barely read, heavy to send, difficult to read on mobile.

• Our solution: a platform focused on construction reports (OAC meetings) that gets read (read tracking, web format, AI summaries, follow-ups).

• In 12 months: 19 solutions, 108 features, 1,123 deployments; strong signal: teams are switching from Word/Excel (and specialized tools) to there mid-project, upgrading to paid plans.

19 solutions built, 108 features delivered, 1,123 production deployments

Before we started development on September 15, 2024, we conducted 52 discovery interviews of over an hour each. In parallel, we analyzed 300+ applications (new and installed) and collected lessons from our Finalcad experience through alumni feedback (300+ people).

The result? 50 problems identified and over 200 features envisioned to solve them. The mountain ahead was massive.

After 12 months of systematic development, we've built 19 solutions through 108 delivered features. On average, each feature had 4 iterations of fixes or improvements. We maintained a pace of 4 production deployments per day with 3 developers.

Most importantly, over the past few weeks, we've seen an unprecedented signal (that we never experienced back in our Finalcad days): construction managers are switching from their existing solutions - mostly Word and Excel, but also specialized tools - to there.do mid-project, upgrading to paid plans.

This signal encourages us to make this switch increasingly simple and obvious. Here's the recap of our first year.

The Challenge: 50+ Problems, 200+ Features, Finding the Right Impact

The collective evolution that shapes the path

"Ad augusta per angusta" — to the heights through narrow paths.

Facing this mountain of possibilities, the key question was finding the path to impact. Our successive feedback waves refined our focus:

• Alpha (Sept 15 - Dec 8, 2024): Building foundations with internal feedback and initial exchanges with waitlist subscribers. A PDF technical issue pushed us to make a directional decision on document readers and access without user accounts.

• Beta 1-2 (through March 14, 2025): Freemium launch. Finalcad Alumni feedback, friends and family helped us identify gaps and fix bugs.

• Beta 3-4 (through June 13, 2025): VC feedback, startup peer returns, and paying early adopters helped us iterate on business model, add voice notes, offline mobile functionality, and identify our first ICP: Construction managers at small/medium companies in the US.

• Beta 5 (through August 1, 2025): After an onboarding flow failure, redesign driven by analysis and the reading of Ramli John's new book focused on ICP and first use case: OAC Meeting Reports for Construction Managers.

• Beta 6-7 (through September 15, 2025): Iterations with prospects, users and clients to create/evolve documents via business blocks (meetings, attendance, progress, task tracking) → strong signal +++

Each cycle revealed new problems - particularly in a world where AI challenges interfaces. This collective evolution, through encounters and field feedback, led us from a generalist product to a focus on your reality.

Today: 100% focus on OAC meeting reports for construction managers in the US, until we reach 100 satisfied paying accounts.

Our method: unanimity or nothing

What motivates us: each new cycle (6 weeks + 1 week cooldown), we focus only on what unanimously motivates our entire team. No compromises, no "average" features.

• Vote by each team member from a list of 100 interesting features → reduction to less than 20 that get unanimity

• Review of 20 features with scope discussion and voting on subject size (if XL, we break down or postpone)

• Selection of 10 features where each developer chooses 3-4 subjects that motivate them

Daily tech rituals:

• Monday morning: cycle planning

• Wednesday: Quality Wednesdays (focus on small design improvements)

• Other mornings: 30min daily on yesterday/today's work

Problems Classified Around a 6-Stage Journey

Of the 50 problems identified, we chose to distribute them across a 6-stage journey with their friction zones:

1. Dynamic document preparation - rigid templates

2. Taking notes everywhere - scattered collection

3. Creating beautiful documents - patched-together appearance

4. Creating image galleries - illustration complexity

5. Emailing the document as PDF - tool disruption

6. Ensuring a report gets read - communication black hole

1. Dynamic Document Preparation

The challenge: Prepare a document to guide writing and simplify reading

The problem: Templates are too rigid and slow you down rather than help

Traditional templates create a paradox: designed to accelerate, they end up slowing you down. Each job site is unique, each context specific, but templates impose rigidity that never perfectly matches field reality.

The problem you described to us:

"The problem with a template is that we'll always make it to fit everyone and there's info where people won't necessarily see the utility depending on context and will abandon it."

"I stopped using templates because I'd rather have a report right away than fewer reports and wait to get them."

Solution 1: An accessible digital workbench - The right tool in the right place

Features developed:

1. Organization-level logo addition

2. Header and footer with 3-element insertion

3. Style tab next to document for defining 2 custom colors

4. 6 font sets that apply to the document

5. Custom colors accessible across all blocks

6. Template system: mark, share and import

Impact observed: Consistent documents from editing, less final rework, better reading credibility.

Solution 2: Personalized instructions to give AI the right context

Features developed:

7. Personalized general instructions on industry and role

8. 5 LLM options: Google, Mistral, Claude and ChatGPT

9. Automatic industry selection during account creation

10. LLM choice in prompt bar

Impact observed: More relevant queries, fewer back-and-forth exchanges.

Solution 3: Intelligent assistance to eliminate tedious manipulations

Features developed:

11. Filename synchronized with document title

12. Space bar to launch prompt from anywhere

13. AI block for drag-and-drop notes and reformulation

14. Email suggestions with document content

15. Automatic recipient suggestions

Impact observed: Fewer manipulation frictions, more useful time on substance.

2. Taking Notes Everywhere

The challenge: Note simply and in any situation to collect necessary document data

The problem: Scattered collection, oversights and costly re-entry

Information collection happens on the go, across activities: paper notebook, phone photos, OneNote, emails, SharePoint folders. Without a dedicated professional tool, centralizing becomes a headache and oversights accumulate. Incomplete documents reduce expected impact.

Your daily frustration:

"And my notebook is there to note everything. I have one notebook per construction site, it's simpler for my organization. I always have my notebooks in my backpack."

"I'll spend 15 days building a claim file, because collection is complex. If we recover $300-400K, it's worth it."

Solution 4: Web app that centralizes notes and brings them closer to documents

Features developed:

16. Centralized notes next to documents

17. Automatic note → document conversion with one click

18. Global search across all notes

19. Organization by folders and tags

20. Real-time web ↔ mobile synchronization

Impact observed: Better field coverage, reduced prep time.

Solution 5: Reformulate notes harmonized to my style

Features developed:

21. Dedicated AI block for note reformulation

22. Integrated personal style (industry, role, company)

23. Reformulation options: summary, key points, specific instructions

24. Version history: original note + reformulations accessible

Impact observed: Notes aligned to expected tone, faster document integration.

Solution 6: Share notes for completion to external parties without accounts

Features developed:

25. Note assignment to external person

26. Public link or email sharing for note collection

27. Free text editing or photo gallery without user account

28. Email notifications when note is completed

Impact observed: Reliable asynchronous collection, fewer blind follow-ups.

Solution 7: Dedicated mobile app to couple notes and images with audio, offline

Features developed:

29. Complete offline functionality

30. Organization switching (pro/personal)

31. Multi-account management in free app

32. Note-taking with Markdown support

33. Automatic photo gallery during successive shots

34. Voice notes with enhanced AI synthesis

35. Accessible transcript + original audio recording

36. Intelligent coupling of photos + audio + text notes

Impact observed: Unconstrained capture, greatly accelerated photo→doc chain.

Solution 8: Web extension to collect website and PDF excerpts

Features developed:

37. Free Chrome/Edge extension

38. Organization choice from extension

39. Text highlighting + image → automatic note creation

40. PDF support opened in browser

41. Automatic metadata: description, source, date

42. Images with automatically retrieved captions

Impact observed: Less copy-paste, enhanced traceability.

3. Creating Beautiful Documents

The challenge: A document must be beautiful to encourage reading

The problem: "Patched-together" appearance kills credibility and reading

Content copied and pasted from different sources creates a heterogeneous patchwork: different font sizes, breaking colors, misaligned tables, overflowing images. This unreadable structure discourages reading and forces more meetings to explain what should have been understood through reading.

The patchwork you endured:

"I keep navigating between Outlook OneNote Teams SharePoint, I take lots of screenshots, pieces of PDF, diagrams to integrate into a report."

"A document where there's only text and everything is crammed together, I won't even have the courage to read it."

Solution 9: Build document with predefined and flexible blocks

Features developed:

43. Fixed document title

44. "/" command to call up a block

45. Text highlighting to transform to another block

46. Basic blocks: Paragraph, Title 1/2/3, Bulleted/Numbered/Task lists, Separator, Box

47. Advanced blocks: Table of contents, Columns, Page break, Signature, Image gallery

48. Business blocks: Meeting, Attendance, Quantity, Progress, Task tracking (immediate adoption #Urgent)

49. Smart copy-paste: automatic conversion to there.do blocks

50. Automatic space occupation: full screen width or mobile view

51. Paragraph justification for left/right alignment

Impact observed: Mobile & print readability, fewer returns.

Solution 10: Automatically convert copy-paste into color, typography and there blocks

Features developed:

52. Palette of 11 text colors + 11 highlights

53. 6 font pair choices (title + text)

54. Automatic conversion of colors to closest matches

55. Harmonization of line weights, fonts, and blocks

56. Global application of stylistic choices

Impact observed: End of patchwork, instant consistency.

Solution 11: Page creation, compression and transparent PDF export

Features developed:

57. Intelligent page breaks

58. On-the-fly PDF generation with automatic compression

59. Adaptive format: A4 or US Letter by location

60. Automatic PDF compression for email limit compliance

61. Export optimized for printing and sharing

Impact observed: Clean PDF by default, fewer last-minute workarounds.

4. Creating Image Galleries

The challenge: A document must be illustrated to convince and avoid misunderstandings

The problem: Too many steps to illustrate a Word document, result: we give up

Illustrating a report requires juggling photo taking, transfer, resizing, Word insertion, captioning... This complexity discourages illustration, yet essential for understanding and credibility. Reports without images mean more returns and confusion.

Your illustration needs:

"It's nice when it's a bit illustrated and a bit airy."

"I add photos so it gets read more and better understood."

Solution 12: Create gallery automatically from photo capture

Features developed:

62. Photo + audio coupling for AI-enhanced notes

63. Mobile photo capture → auto gallery creation with caption

64. Image selection via extension → auto gallery with caption

65. Drag-and-drop from note/webpage/computer → auto gallery

66. Smart detection: successive photos = single gallery

Impact observed: More useful images, less handling.

Solution 13: A flexible gallery block

Features developed:

67. Layout options: 1 to 4 photos in width

68. Ratio options: portrait, square or landscape

69. Display choice: fill frames or fit image

70. Optional captions: choice to display or not

71. Download: individual photo or complete gallery

72. Automatic image compression in gallery

73. Responsive adaptation: web or mobile screen format

74. Drag & drop photo reorganization in gallery

Impact observed: Accelerated understanding, reduced returns.

5. Emailing the Report as PDF

The challenge: A document must be sent quickly to reduce contractual risks

The problem: Different tools and re-entries cause oversights and delays

Sending a report requires juggling between Word (PDF export), SharePoint (filing), compression tools, Wetransfer, Outlook... This tool disruption multiplies risks of forgotten attachments, exceeding email limits, sending delays. Yet 25% of variable compensation can depend on meeting deadlines.

Your sending constraints:

"Email is very contractual."

"25% of my variable compensation is on sending reports on time because we have a duty to alert."

Solution 14: Flexible sharing from document

Features developed:

75. Direct email link sharing

76. Scheduled sending programming

77. Public sharing link or limited to authorized emails

78. Signature sharing: editable document until signature

79. Attachment adding before or after sharing

80. Automatic compression for email limit compliance (10MB)

Impact observed: On-time sending, less multi-tool factory.

Solution 15: Recipient and email content suggestions in context

Features developed:

81. Recipient suggestions: emails contained in document

82. Space bar in email for AI: writing that generates interest

83. Specific instructions with automatic document context

84. Document thumbnail generation with reading time estimate

85. Attachment counter in email

86. Sending and follow-up history

Impact observed: Increased opens, saved steps.

6. Ensuring a Report Gets Read

The challenge: An unread report triggers nothing

The problem: Complete black hole after sending, multiplication of catch-up meetings

Once the PDF is sent, it's radio silence. Impossible to know who read, who understood, who acts. This lingering closure forces organizing 1.5-hour meetings to ensure information sharing, 30min dailies to align teams. An unread report triggers no action or decision.

The communication black hole:

"Documents aren't read, efficiency isn't great, that's why we do a 1.5-hour weekly and 30min dailies to ensure we share what's done and to do."

"Reports aren't read even though decisions are notified there because I get called to a meeting 2 weeks later for the same subject where I have to say read the document."

Solution 16: Track document status

Features developed:

87. Document statuses: draft, shared, completed, to sign

88. Tracking tab with status for each recipient

89. Time-stamped history of recipient actions

90. Global dashboard of documents in progress

91. Real-time notifications of recipient actions

Impact observed: Progress visibility, fewer blind follow-ups.

Solution 17: Interactive and flexible document consumption

Features developed:

92. Shared reading time estimate

93. Image gallery: enlargement and navigation

94. PDF format optimized for paper reading

95. Responsive web format for computer or mobile

96. AI short summary under one minute

97. Mobile version: optimized navigation without zoom

98. Collapsible sections for targeted reading

Impact observed: Targeted reading, faster decisions.

Solution 18: Exchange on expectations

Features developed:

99. Comments between recipient and writer next to document

100. Document signature with timestamp

101. Response objectives: information, decision, opinion

102. Multi-level validation workflow

103. Exchange history by document

Impact observed: Fewer "explanatory" meetings, more actionable traces.

Solution 19: Schedule follow-ups

Features developed:

104. Automatic follow-ups for recipients who haven't read

105. Manual targeted follow-ups with personalization

106. Follow-up schedule according to document urgency

107. Follow-up templates by context (urgent, reminder, follow-up)

108. Reading rate tracking by recipient and document type

Impact observed: Shortened observation → action cycle.

Some Lessons from the Year

❌ Bad surprises → useful pivots

Onboarding v1 too web-focused and too long

• We discovered that >50% of creations came from embedded LinkedIn browser (mobile)

• New onboarding: mobile vs web orientation from sign-up; on web: doc → share flow; on mobile: notes flow

✅ Good surprises that encourage us:

Business blocks: Same-day adoption of deployments even without communication (#Urgent)

Email sharing from app (web link + tracking) > "PDF + Outlook": A bet that works and modifies our positioning. We're no longer a "PDF generator" solution but toward a new format, like DocuSign.

SEPA direct debit: Subscription without friction.

The Strong Signal: Switch to There

Our acquisition evolution

Our initial acquisition channel was through LinkedIn and Email multichannel campaigns. Having no experience, we followed recommendations to create 20-step journeys.

But it was the first meetings with prospects that allowed us to pivot from our haphazard conviction messages to free OAC Report audits for Construction Managers.

The audit that changes everything

The audit consists of transforming an OAC Report to there.do format and sending it with a Loom video where we compare both reports. This method allows:

For the prospect: Quickly understand value and have an operational report if they create their account For us: Use our tool in a Construction Manager's situation and thus encounter their difficulties and particular situations, vector for product improvements

The usage that excites us

These increasingly regular exchanges with prospects and clients make us want to use our software every day, including for internal uses. When Antoine developed comments on documents, it was a feature motivated by our internal uses and it allowed us to abandon Notion and Google Docs.

The unprecedented signal

The real turning point came these past few weeks: spontaneous mid-project switching.

Construction managers are abandoning Word, Excel, and their specialized solutions for there.do without waiting for their current projects to end. They're migrating their active processes, adopting our business blocks, and upgrading to paid plans. This behavior – which we never observed with Finalcad – reveals something profound: when friction truly disappears, you don't postpone change anymore.

This signal obsesses us. It validates our approach and pushes us to make each new switch even more obvious.

Conclusion: From Concept to Adoption

This first year marks a turning point: we've moved from strategic thinking to measurable execution.

Our previous thinking laid the conceptual groundwork: how to build beyond bureaucracy, why sovereign AI was necessary, what vibe reporting meant. The digital workbench was our working hypothesis, friction our identified enemy.

A year and 108 features later, these concepts have found their field validation: construction managers switching spontaneously mid-project. This behavior – impossible to achieve with traditional solutions – confirms our reading: eliminating friction isn't declared, it's built, feature by feature.

The reflection → execution → adoption cycle is now accelerating. Each switch feeds our understanding, each improvement facilitates the next switch. We've reached that cruising speed where the product and its users evolve together, naturally.

The coming year will no longer be about proof of concept, but amplification.

Ready to switch? Send us your OAC Report: we'll send back a version ready to go. www.there.do/switch