We Almost Paid $30/User/Month Until We Built This in 1 Week (Custom Time-Off App)

UX for AI

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We were wasting several hours a month on time-off requests. So we built an app for it.
Every time someone needed a day off, it was the same dance:
+ Send a message to the team
+ Create a calendar invite
+ Update the project manager
+ Hope nobody forgot
For a small team where every hour counts, this was ridiculous.
So my colleague Jarek built us a custom time-off management system using Figma Make and Supabase.
The result?
✓ Completely automated approval workflow
✓ Auto-syncs with Google Calendar
✓ Posts directly to our ClickUp channels
✓ Cost: $0
Here's what really hit me though...
We were ready to upgrade our project management tool, add $10-20/user/month, just to get this ONE feature.
Instead, we spent a week building exactly what we needed.
The bigger lesson:
Once you build your first internal tool, you start seeing opportunities everywhere. "Should we upgrade for that feature?" becomes "Could we build that ourselves?"
This isn't just about saving money on subscriptions. It's about:
👉 Moving faster (no vendor research, no procurement)
👉 Staying flexible (switch tools anytime without losing functionality)
👉 Keeping control (your data, your rules, your customization)
This mindset shift is massive.
What's one subscription you're paying for that you could probably build yourself?

Interested in joining the podcast? DM Behrad on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/behradmirafshar/
This podcast is made by Bonanza Studios, Germany’s Premier Digital Design Studio:
https://www.bonanza-studios.com/