The Challenge
Flowlytics had a compelling idea: a real-time financial analytics platform for mid-market UK businesses. But their MVP was built on fragile, slow infrastructure that couldn't scale beyond 100 concurrent users. Onboarding took 45 minutes per client, and manual reporting consumed 20+ hours of staff time each week.
They needed a complete rebuild — fast, scalable, and smart enough to automate the tasks that were slowing them down.
My Approach
I started with a two-week discovery and architecture phase, auditing the existing codebase, interviewing the team, and mapping out the ideal system design. This upfront investment in planning saved weeks of backtracking later.
Technical Stack
We chose Next.js 14 for the frontend for its server-side rendering capabilities and excellent TypeScript support. The backend was rebuilt with Node.js and a PostgreSQL database, with Redis for caching high-frequency dashboard queries. The entire infrastructure was deployed on AWS with auto-scaling configured from day one.
AI-Powered Automation
The game-changer was integrating OpenAI's API to power an intelligent report generation engine. Instead of analysts manually pulling data and writing reports, the system now generates narrative summaries, anomaly alerts, and trend analyses automatically. This eliminated 80% of the manual reporting work.
Onboarding Optimization
I rebuilt the onboarding flow using a step-by-step wizard pattern with smart defaults and automated data connections. What previously took 45 minutes now takes 18 minutes on average — a 60% reduction that dramatically improved early user retention.
The Results
Within 90 days of launch, Flowlytics grew from 120 to 380 active users — a 3x increase driven by word-of-mouth from a product that actually worked reliably. The platform has maintained 99.9% uptime since launch.
The CEO credited the rebuild as the single biggest factor in their Series A fundraise, which closed three months after launch.
Technologies Used
"Alex is hands down the best developer I've worked with. Our SaaS platform went from concept to launch in 8 weeks, and it's rock solid. The AI automation features alone are worth the entire project cost."