THE AI-FIRST FIRM · ISSUE 8 · NOV 6, 2026 · ~6 MIN READ
We replaced an almost $15,000 a year app
You're probably paying for at least 1 app you could build yourself now. We ran a build vs. buy analysis and replaced a tool that cost almost $15,000 a year.
TLDR
→ How to run a build vs buy on your apps
→ Let Claude run the build vs buy on your next renewal
→ Check Connectors every once in a while
You're reading this on the web. The AI-First Firm goes out free every other Friday, and you can have the next one in your inbox.
🔧 Behind the Build: we built our own version of a $15,000 a year app
A few years ago, we started paying for a tax organizer app (an online form where clients send us their info before we prepare their taxes). Clients filled it in, we did their return, and then it all went into YBL TaxPilot, our in-house app for projections and planning once the return was filed.
It worked, and the team behind it was great to work with (no shots fired here). But it was 2 apps, a hand-off in the middle, and almost $15,000 a year.
This year, our AI hire built all the features we needed right into TaxPilot, for considerably less than that, and customized it to exactly how we wanted it. Last week we made it official. From January on, our clients will fill it in and see their own results in 1 place, start to finish, and I LOVE how it all fits together.
I talk a lot about building your own competitive advantages, your own moats, and this is what one looks like in practice. It's ours, and it does exactly what our clients need.
Now the honest part (sighhhh). This doesn't fix the connection to the actual tax prep software, which sadly doesn't play very well in Canada, and I'm jealous of Americans on this one. But I'm really happy we got to this level.
2 apps and a hand-off, down to 1.
If every firm can buy it, it won't set you apart.
What to do with it
Run your own build vs buy on anything that renews in the next 90 days (or whatever window you like). What it costs a year, what you actually use, and whether it's still a whole product or just a feature now.
Ask which of those would set you apart if you owned it. Those are worth building, keep buying the rest.
Keep scrolling to Worth Taking. That's where I give you the prompt that runs the build vs buy for you.
📌 SPONSORED BY FINANCIAL CENTS
Focus is the New Flex
Last issue I said my whole team would be at Financial Cents' WorkflowCon. That's Monday and Tuesday (November 9th and 10th, free, virtual), so here's what we're signing up for:
Chad Davis on the numbers behind LiveCA going from losing $100K a month to a focused, profitable firm.
Jan Haugo building a client dashboard in Claude, live.
Ethan Kross closing Day 1, and he's giving away copies of his book.
The Small & Mighty Awards closing Day 2, with winners revealed live.
I don't know about you, but 2 days on what to stop doing sounds like exactly the right homework for this time of year. And it is FREE people, free! You know that's your favourite price, like me.
📋 Worth Taking #008: let Claude run the build vs buy on your next renewal
WELL before anything renews, give Claude what it costs and what you actually use it for, and let it run the build vs buy with you. The question that matters most is the last one in the prompt, whether owning it would make you any different.
It works on any subscription, your organizer, your client portal, your proposal tool, your scheduling app. Pull last year's invoice (or the renewal email) so the cost is real, then paste this.
The prompt's in the email version. Subscribe and the next one lands in your inbox.
One big warning. Claude will make building sound easier than it is, and it'll sound very confident for the most part. Whether you should build depends on the project, the skills on your team and how much client data it touches. Don't go building a general ledger, but if you're paying good money for an intake form, that's a good place to start. And if you have any questions on this process, I'm one email away :)
💥 What Broke: my AI assistant went blind before Vegas
The week before Intuit Connect, CEO Pilot lost its connection to my Outlook, calendar and Teams, and I found out from my own Saturday morning brief, which opened with "Microsoft 365 is still disconnected, so Outlook, the calendar and Teams are frozen at Tuesday evening, and you head to Vegas tomorrow." By then, nothing had cleared on Friday and 5 things that were due slipped into the next week. Cool cool cool.
Note to self, check connectors every once in a while.
▶️ Now Playing
Yesterday's video, How Our Accounting Firm Uses Claude Projects. Steal It., starts with a week we've all had. Your senior advisor's on a beach and someone else has a Thursday call with a client they've never spoken to.
Watch it for the catch-me-up prompt (steal it word for word) and the 4-step Claude Project build, about 20 minutes the first time, plus which clients it's actually worth doing for, because it's not all of them.
📰 In Other News
When I was at Intuit Connect in Vegas, Intuit showed off Agentic Books Close, which runs more of the monthly close for you, and it's in pilot with about 20 firms right now. US first, so I'm cautiously optimistic it makes it to Canada within the decade.
Calgary sold out in 2 days. All 50 seats at Platform Calgary next Thursday, November 12th, are taken. If you missed it, get on the waitlist, seats do open up! And where should we go next? Tell me at the same link.
I'm glad I didn't spend all that time setting up Grok Bot and Muse, because Claude finally announced its own proactive agent. Claude Duet messages you first, and only when something needs you, like a meeting on your calendar for the wrong day. It still asks before it acts. US only for now, damn it.
💬 Question For You
What's 1 app your firm pays for that you'd build yourself if you could? Hit reply and tell me, I might feature your answer in the next issue.
See you in two weeks.
Mike
PS - So incredible seeing so many friends at Intuit Connect. Not as incredible that I'm catching up on sleep.
Mike Libbey is CEO of YBL, a fully virtual Canadian accounting and VCFO firm. On YouTube (@MikeLibbey) he shows the tools he has built and what running a firm actually takes, and he posts every weekday on LinkedIn. He is quietly building TaxPilot for Canadian tax firms on the side. Reply to any issue, he reads them all.