Positioning · Stillwater Studio · Vol. 03

A smaller, slower bookkeeping app for sole practitioners.

For the solo lawyer, designer, or therapist who books fewer than 80 invoices a year and spends most evenings hand-keying them into the same five categories.

The three things it does well

One screen, not nine.

Invoices, expenses, and the year-to-date P&L live on a single page. No "modules", no left-nav, no quarterly setup wizard to dismiss.

Categories you actually use.

Pick six. The app refuses a seventh. Re-categorizing an entry takes two keystrokes; the year reconciles itself as you go.

A real CSV at the end.

Tax season ships your accountant a flat file in the schema their software already imports. No "Pro tier" required; the export is the product.

What this isn't.

  • ×A QuickBooks replacement. If you run payroll or carry inventory, this isn't for you — and we'll tell you so on the first screen.
  • ×An AI-powered anything. Categorization is a five-second decision, not a model output. We refuse to dress it up.
  • ×A platform. There is no marketplace, no integrations directory, and no plans for either. One job, done plainly.

The competition isn't another SaaS — it's a notebook and a shoebox. Beating those means looking less like software, not more.

M. Halberstadt, founding designer
Next step · Closed beta · September

Open invitations for twenty sole practitioners this fall.

Apply for the beta stillwater.studio · hello@stillwater.studio
Stillwater Ledger One sheet · printed on ivory