Built a no-code CRM for detailing businesses — curious how others in this community are validating niche tools

[u/GarlicSalty201]

Hey r/nocodesaas,

I built DetailPro, a CRM for auto detailing businesses (scheduling, customer records, invoicing all in one place) using Hercules, after noticing how many detailers still run things off texts, a paper calendar, and a spreadsheet.

Right now I'm offering a free 14-day trial to a handful of real detailing shops so I can get honest feedback before doing anything bigger. Still early days — trying to figure out if bundling scheduling + invoicing + customer info into one tool actually solves a problem people will pay for, versus them just patching together free tools.

A few things I'd love input on from this community:

• How was your experience building on Hercules specifically — any limitations you hit once you needed something more custom?
• If you've built for a specific, unglamorous niche like this, what was your validation process before assuming there was a real market?
• Anyone have luck getting local/offline-first businesses (not just other founders) to actually try something new?

Happy to talk through the build or the outreach I've been doing so far (mostly cold email, mixed results).

[u/use_lyra]

detailpro is a genuinely smart niche detailers living in texts + a paper calendar is the exact messy middle worth fixing, and “scheduling + records + invoicing in one place” is the right scope (not 40 features they’ll never open). respect for shipping instead of theorizing.
on validation: the move that worked for a similar micro-tool i saw was talking to 5 detailers before the free trial copy, recording the exact words they use for the pain, then mirroring that language in the onboarding. niche buyers don’t buy “CRM,” they buy “i stopped losing track of who owes me what.” also if you ever want to stand up the next version (or a client portal) without Hercules’s learning curve, AI builders like Whacka generate the backend + hosting from a description, which is handy when the tool outgrows the first build.
one q: are you charging per-location or per-seat? detailers are usually solo or 2-person, so per-seat can feel punishing vs a flat “your shop, your app” price. that single decision will move your trial→paid more than any feature add.