I built a freelance business OS at 15 — here's what I learned in the first month

Koran Thorne — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 21:01:37 +0000

A month ago I shipped Helios — an all-in-one business OS for freelancers that replaces the 5-6 tools most solo operators juggle daily. CRM, proposals, contracts, invoices, time tracking, and client outreach. One platform, one login.
I'm 15, solo, based in Tanzania, and built the whole thing myself.
Here's what the first month actually looked like.
The build
Stack is React + Vite + TypeScript on the frontend (Vercel), Node.js on the backend (Render), Supabase for the database, Stripe for payments, and Resend for emails.
Getting the billing flow right took longer than anything else. Stripe webhooks, price IDs, trial logic, upgrade flows — there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of ways to silently break things. I ran a full Playwright test suite at the end and found 17 critical issues including live secrets committed to the repo. Fixed all of them. Went from 25 to 75 passing tests.
The distribution problem
The product works. The hard part is getting people to see it.
Reddit was my primary channel. Built karma to 90+ over two weeks through genuine commenting. First posts got removed by spam filters. Account got sitewide banned. Two weeks of work gone.
LinkedIn blocked. Twitter inaccessible. Facebook groups full of AI spam. Product Hunt zero traction. Discord full of freelancers marketing to other freelancers, not buying tools.
What I'm doing instead: cold email outreach to freelancers found through Google, Quora answers, Indie Hackers build in public updates, and Show HN.
Sent 60 cold emails today alone.
What I shipped this week
Beyond the core product, I built three free tools that don't require an account:

Rate calculator — input your country, niche, experience and income target, get your recommended hourly rate
Invoice template generator — country-specific tax labels, PDF download
Proposal template — niche selector, generates pre-filled proposal

All at helios.today/tools
Also shipped a referral system — every proposal or invoice a Helios user sends now has a "Powered by Helios" footer with a referral link. Passive distribution built into the product itself.
Current status
Paying users: 0

Tests passing: 75/75

Emails sent today: 60+

Giving up: not an option
If you're a freelancer or know one — helios.today. Free tier, no card needed.
Happy to answer any questions about the stack, the build, or the distribution grind.

DEV Community: Koran Thorne

I built a freelance business OS at 15 — here's what I learned in the first month