Launchpad is a free cost-audit for small and mid-sized businesses. Describe what you do (or paste your website) and you get a ranked stack of AI and automation tools matched to where you actually leak money, each with setup steps and the savings math. This page explains how it works, how we vet and rank tools, and how we stay free.
Most small businesses overpay for work that AI and automation can now do for a fraction of the cost. The blocker is rarely that the tools do not exist; it is that there are thousands of them, the advice online is generic, and no busy owner has time to evaluate it all. So the manual support emails, by-hand invoicing, calendar juggling, and duplicate software spend quietly keep draining time and money. Launchpad turns "which tools should we actually use?" into a 30-second, evidence-based answer.
Every tool in the catalog is added by hand, not scraped. To be listed, a tool has to (1) solve a real, common cost center for an SMB, (2) replace a concrete expense such as labor hours, an agency retainer, or another subscription, and (3) be realistic to set up by a non-technical team. Each entry records what it replaces, its category, a typical price, its setup difficulty, and whether it offers a free plan or trial. We review the catalog weekly and add new tools as the space moves.
The match runs in two layers. First, a deterministic engine scores every tool against your situation (your pain areas, team size, and the keywords in your description) and shows results instantly. Second, an AI layer reads your website, detects tools you already use, prunes and re-ranks the shortlist, and writes a plain-English reason for each pick. If the AI layer is unavailable, the deterministic results still stand, so you always get an answer.
Tools are ranked by fit, never by commission. Savings figures are conservative estimates meant to sanity-check a decision, not guarantees; verify them against your own numbers. When no catalog tool genuinely fits a task, the "automate a task" mode says so and points you to the right approach instead of forcing a match.
Some "Get tool" links are partner links: if you subscribe, the vendor may pay a commission at no extra cost to you. That is the only way the site earns, and it never influences rankings. Recommendations are ordered by fit, and tools without an affiliate program are listed all the same when they are the right answer. The audit is free, needs no signup, and your description and website are analyzed in-session and not stored.
Launchpad is built and maintained by the founder of Launchpad, after watching small teams burn time and money on work that off-the-shelf tools already handle. It is shipped and improved continuously, and feedback genuinely shapes the catalog and the recommendations. Have a tool we should add, or a recommendation that missed? Run an audit and tell us.
Run the free 30-second audit and get a stack matched to where you actually leak money.
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