Sidecar, built and run for you
Sidecar is a custom AI agent that Shimmer Labs builds and runs for your small business, handling one recurring job like membership changes, lead follow-up, document parsing, or proposals. Builds start at $1,000, half up front and half at go-live, running costs from $250 a month, live in a week and fully autonomous by week four. Cancel anytime.
Wearing every hat in your business.
Wearing only the ones you're great at.
You didn't start your business to do paperwork.
You're a plumber. Or a massage therapist. Or a personal trainer. You got into this because you're great at what you do, not because you love screening job applicants, posting on Instagram, or chasing invoices.
But here you are. Half your week eaten by admin that has nothing to do with your craft. The tasks you procrastinate on pile up. The work you actually love gets squeezed into whatever's left.
What a Sidecar agent does
You stay in the driver's seat. You do the work. Everything else, the boring stuff, the repetitive stuff, the stuff you keep meaning to get to, rides in the sidecar.
- Membership operations, cancellations, freezes, and modifications against platforms with no API (shipped for Sweat Yoga)
- Creator outreach, finds prospects, drafts personalized messages, you approve in Slack before send (shipped for Supabase)
- Document parsing, pulling the right numbers off contracts and invoices, with the accuracy actually measured (shipped on Paidly)
- Scheduling, monthly shift drafts for hourly teams that respect your rules (hour caps, availability, fairness) (shipped for Sweat Yoga)
- Photo-to-database paperwork, snap a photo of a handwritten job sheet, Spanish included, and the day's work lands in the customer database (shipped for a Stillwater landscaper)
- Lead-to-SMS, inbound leads triaged and responded to without you watching the inbox
Smaller wins we've shipped too: receipts snapped into the bookkeeper's hands, hundreds of social comments boiled down to the few that need answering, and yard-sign photos turned into tomorrow's call list.
Coming next: hiring, proposals. We build a sidecar for one job at a time. Think of it as a tireless intern. Runs on a schedule, always with you calling the shots.
Who It's For
Small businesses with 1 to 50 people:
- Plumbers, electricians, general contractors
- Massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga studios
- Barbers, nail salons, house cleaners
- Landscapers, pet groomers, tutors, and more
If you're great at your craft but drowning in the stuff that isn't your craft, Sidecar gives you your time back.
In the trades? We wrote pages in your language: landscapers, plumbers and HVAC, roofers.
What Sidecar saves you: 15 hours a week at Supabase
That's the number we returned to Sarah Gold's creator-outreach desk at Supabase. 5x output, 100+ creators shipped, 15 hours per week returned, over months, not quarters. The right question isn't "how much does an employee cost." It's what you would do with that time back.
Rather learn to drive this stuff yourself, with us in the passenger seat? That's the AI Concierge, priced by team size from $1,000/mo. Not sure which? The Operations Assessment scopes it first.
Want a deeper read before booking a call? Grab the free guide: AI Agents for Small Business →.
What should you automate first?
Enter your website. We read it and pick the three tasks most worth getting off your plate, each with a prompt you can run this week, a version we build together, and a hands-off option. Free, 15 seconds, no signup.
How the scan works
Enter your website URL
We read your site and find the tasks eating your week
You get three tasks, each with a do-it-yourself prompt, a build-it-together plan, and a hands-off option
Or start with what a typical shop in your trade should automate first:
What Changes
What Sidecar Handles
What That Frees You To Do
What's Included
Free Snapshot
Office hours, a 30-minute call, or the scanner. We find the tasks eating your week and figure out which one is a Sidecar. If it is several, the Operations Assessment scopes and prices the build.
Agent Setup
We build and configure your AI agents, connect them to your existing tools, and train them on your workflows.
Live in a Week
Your agent ships into production in week one, handling real work with you watching. Two weeks of supervised tuning. Fully autonomous by week four.
Ongoing Maintenance
We monitor performance, update agents as your business evolves, and handle any issues that come up.
How It Works
Day 0: Free Snapshot
Tell us what eats your time. We figure out what to automate and whether Sidecar is the right fit, or whether the Operations Assessment should scope it first.
Week 1: MVP live, handling real work with supervision
We build, connect to your existing tools, and ship the first version into production. Anna at Sweat Yoga had her membership-ops sidecar handling real customer requests in week one.
Weeks 2-3: Tuning against your real data
You review everything the agent does. We catch the weird situations, fine-tune responses, and adjust to how your business actually behaves.
Week 4: Fully autonomous
No supervision needed. Agent runs, we monitor and maintain, you get a weekly summary. Anna ran this exact timeline.
Technology Stack
Claude as the default. We pick the right model per job: Gemini for high-volume document parsing (Paidly), Claude for long-context judgment work. When the vendor's API doesn't exist, we build browser automation against the UI instead (Sweat Yoga).
Is Sidecar Right For You?
✓ Great Fit
✗ Not The Right Fit
Common Questions
What does "AI agent" actually mean?
Software that does a specific job for you, like screening resumes or posting to Instagram, without you having to click buttons. You set the rules, the agent does the work.
Will it make mistakes?
Sometimes. That's why we do a 2-week supervised rollout. Your agents run with our team watching, and we catch the weird situations before they go fully autonomous.
How much does it cost?
Builds start at $1,000 and get scoped to the job, so you know your number before we start. You pay half up front and half when it goes live. Running it starts at $250 a month, and we do that math with you so it lands at a fraction of what those hours cost you today. There's a small usage cost (usually $20-$100/month) that we cover while we're building and testing, then hand over to you once it's live. Cancel anytime. No contracts.
What if I hate it?
Cancel anytime. No contracts, no cancellation fees. If it's not saving you time, you shouldn't be paying for it.
How long until it's running?
Live in a week, autonomous in a month. Most clients see their first agent handling real work with supervision in week one, tuning against real data in weeks two and three, and running fully autonomously by week four.
Do I need to be technical?
No. If you can send an email, you can use Sidecar. We handle all the setup and training.
Start with a free Snapshot.
Office hours at WorkIT, a 30-minute call, or the scanner. Three questions: what do you dread, what do you procrastinate, what would you do with the time back. You leave with one page, the five tasks eating your week, and the first move. The math happens in front of you, with your numbers.
If it's one thing, we start on it. If it's several, the Operations Assessment comes next: a day in your business and a written 90-day plan, $1,500, half credited to your first month of the AI Concierge. When a process is too big to build together, Sidecar builds and runs it for you.
Get Your Free SnapshotWe have capacity for 5 new Sidecar partners per month. Builds from $1,000, half up front, half when it goes live. From $250/mo to run.
Start with a free Snapshot
Tell us what's eating your time. We'll tell you which tasks Sidecar can handle and what it looks like for your business. No pitch, no pressure.