Case study # Small client asks, turned into paid work Updated July 15, 2026 Software Development Brand Strategy Website Design Zephy turns a client's smallest requests into confirmed, paid tasks, with as little friction as possible. We built it for ourselves, then built it properly: a fully bespoke product, top to bottom and branded end to end. [See the Site ](https://gozephy.com) ![Zephy brand hero, with the airship mark and a paid-task card](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/0b4cf32e297149e15eed3749404b287d80356d0e-3200x1800.png?rect=0,0,3200,1624&fit=max&auto=format) Detail ## Where it started Zephy began as our own problem. After we wrapped a flat-rate project, the small asks kept coming: a quick edit here, a follow-up there. We wanted to stay responsive, but those tasks were awkward to price, annoying to administer, and easy to leave unpaid. We were quietly underserving the clients we cared about most. So we set out to turn any small request into a confirmed, paid task, with as little friction as possible. The client asks, the scope and price are confirmed, payment clears, the work happens, and the money lands. ![The path from Webflow and Zapier, to Airtable, to Bubble, to a bespoke build](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/8e88d493639b98ff3c62e7fd04299bedf4ff06d4-2200x1760.png?rect=0,0,2200,1578&fit=max&auto=format) Field note ## Four builds to get it right We didn't get the tool right on the first try. We got it right on the fourth. The first version wired Webflow forms to Zapier automations: a useful proof, but fragile and painful to maintain. We moved it into Airtable, alongside our project management, which sharpened the process but bent a billing product to fit a database. A no-code rebuild in Bubble came next, workable for a while, then increasingly costly and hard to manage at scale. Each version taught us what the product actually needed to do. Once we understood it, we stopped renting other people's tools and built our own. Detail ## Built bespoke, top to bottom This is a product that we built entirely from scratch, with no CMS or no-code platform underneath. Just a data model shaped around how the business really runs, and a stack we own end to end: - A custom FastAPI backend on PostgreSQL, with Redis and Celery running jobs, reminders and invoicing - Multi-tenant Stripe, so every freelancer connects their own account and gets paid directly - A Next.js app, a marketing site, and a Chrome extension that turns an email into a task without leaving Gmail - Integrations for Xero, Slack and outbound webhooks, plus branded transactional email - Priority-based pricing, tax handling, receipts and payouts, modelled in the schema itself ![Zephy dashboard, a task list with a tabular money column and status pills](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/e3c1a7207ae4d4bae98d5b8eea86b08c26da11ee-2560x1920.png?rect=0,0,2560,1743&fit=max&auto=format) ![A task payment summary showing base rate, priority multiplier, fees and net take-home](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/44c7c400bad3713ddfdcb427dddb90e23979a9c6-2560x1920.png?rect=0,0,2560,1737&fit=max&auto=format) ![The Chrome extension turning a Gmail thread into a priced task](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/d4365b805b893496190f564b4bf0ae6c86511b03-2560x1920.png?rect=0,0,2560,1748&fit=max&auto=format) ![A branded receipt email sent from the freelancer's own domain](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/bc9f03ea54f7c4827842e7686d21729446cea53d-2560x1920.png?rect=0,0,2560,1744&fit=max&auto=format) Detail ## One system, every surface Alongside the build, we ran a full branding exercise. Zephy takes its name from zephyr, a light wind, carried by an airship that lifts the small stuff off your plate. We tested palettes until one felt unmistakably warm and calm, then turned it into a design system: marigold, royal indigo and warm cream, drawn from a single set of tokens. That system renders consistently across every surface, the marketing site, the app, the Chrome extension and the emails clients receive. In an age where AI makes generic design cheap, this is how we differentiate: cohesive, brand-forward systems that make a product feel like itself everywhere you meet it. ![The Zephy design system: colour scale, type specimen and components](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/59314e09319f7607d2792d77bac9120852da103a-2560x1640.png?rect=0,0,2560,1454&fit=max&auto=format) ![The Zephy airship and wordmark lockup](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/68895d2d9b92a968e661fc0b0613704db1737c17-2560x1640.png?rect=0,0,2560,1463&fit=max&auto=format) ![A client-facing confirm-and-pay page running on the freelancer's own brand and domain](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/4b6fe7aebe64c57c93d294d93d1b3af5c73be747-2200x1960.png?rect=0,0,2200,1774&fit=max&auto=format) Field note ## White-label from day one Most platforms treat white-labeling as an enterprise upgrade. In Zephy it's the default. Every workspace can run on its own subdomain, with its own logo, colours and email domain, from the very first task. The freelancer's clients only ever see the freelancer's brand. Zephy stays completely invisible, doing the work in the background while someone else's business takes the credit. Measured outcomes ## The numbers Still early, still in beta, and already proving the model. processed through the platform so far 01$100Ks more revenue, as clients pay for faster turnarounds 02+40% to get paid, not the usual thirty-plus 03Days no tiers and no per-seat pricing, a single flat rate 04One fee Detail ## A product with its own runway Zephy now runs as its own company, a sibling to Paper Crane under our Aviary banner, the model we use to grow ventures that can stand on their own. It's live in paid beta, with a first group of freelancers using it in production, getting paid faster and earning more for work they were already doing. It's the clearest example yet of how we work: taking a real problem all the way from idea to incorporated software, brand and design system included. In closing ## Lift the small stuff From an internal fix to a fully bespoke product, Zephy is Paper Crane building software the way we build everything else: carefully, cohesively, and entirely our own. ![The Zephy airship climbing, marked live in paid beta](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/bdcfc37be36872413bd71c1fcbbe90b556ee2d1e-2560x1640.png?rect=0,0,2560,1459&fit=max&auto=format) ## MORE PROJECTS [ ![The ISAIC angular mark in white and yellow with teal band](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/d20c72c7a88a1ac9c653f679a6a80a04c7a2de16-3200x2000.png) Website DesignBrandCreative ### ISAIC As a global leader in AI and supercomputing, the University of Alberta created a learning supercomputing hub that would benefit both students as well as the private sector. The University of Alberta enlisted Paper Crane’s help to create a brand and website for their new supercomputing hub. Explore ](https://www.papercrane.ca/case-studies/isaic) [ ![ELIXR VR headset glyph on a holographic pastel gradient](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/5a448d358ecef3aad3168c7cefdd360b5f5b2e1c-3200x2000.png) Website DesignDigital InfrastructureMarketing+1 ### ELIXR ELIXR Simulations is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption and production of virtual and augmented reality technologies in Alberta. Once they operationalized, they needed a website that properly reflected their new brand and services to gain more attention from their target audiences. Explore ](https://www.papercrane.ca/case-studies/elixr-simulations) [ ![Tilt Five AR glasses glyph on orange with hex motif](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/d1f69807107bb7c4f7f2e987ac806d20221033ff-3200x2000.png) Website DesignMarketingStrategy+2 ### Tilt Five After tripling their Kickstarter goals, Tilt Five was ready to step up their creativity through their website and advertising. They needed to create a craze for building on their platform and spark excitement with users about the games available and the experience. Explore ](https://www.papercrane.ca/case-studies/tilt-five) [See all projects](https://www.papercrane.ca/case-studies) --- Source: https://www.papercrane.ca/case-studies/zephy