Ops & productivity
Flat-Rate Quote-to-Cash for Made-to-Order Shops
Quote-to-cash operations for 5-50 person made-to-order shops: true multi-level BOMs, configure-to-order quotes, flat per-shop pricing with unlimited users.
Founder thesis
Made-to-order shops between 5 and 50 people get squeezed between ERPs built for e-commerce and enterprise tools they cannot trial, and they still pay per seat. The bet: flat per-shop pricing with unlimited users plus real multi-level BOMs and configure-to-order quoting beats the incumbents on the work these shops actually do. Timing is thin but real: Carbon found five paying shops through open source, and Carbon and Odoo both price per user, so the flat model is unclaimed.
What others got wrong
Katana caps the BOM at one subassembly level. A 2023 Hacker News commenter wrote it "only allow[s] one layer of subassembly" while real shops have at least two, which distorts made-to-order work.
Carbon's accounting is wrong, not just incomplete. Its own issue says it books collected sales tax as revenue and overstates a $1,000 sale with $75 shipping and 7% tax by 14%.
Open-source ERP docs are written for developers, not shop staff, so adoption stalls. A user asked for a user manual that explains the concepts so staff can pick it up.
Enterprise ERPs are hard to evaluate before signing a contract, poorly documented, and built without serious API users in mind, per Augno's founder.
What should work
Open-source the core and launch on Hacker News. Carbon's Show HN drew 322 points and 158 comments and ended with 5 operating customers, the only channel here with a demonstrated first-users story, though nothing ties the points to those signups.
Ship a self-serve sandbox and free tier so a shop tests its own process without a sales call. Augno is already using this against enterprise-gated evaluation.
Price flat at $149-$299/month with unlimited seats. Carbon runs roughly $600-$1,500/month for 15 users and Katana starts at $299/month plus $149-$249/month add-ons, so the flat plan undercuts those setups by 50-80%.
Sell integrations into tools shops already run and add vertical landing pages for furniture and food and beverage to catch high-intent searches. Katana's Shopify, Amazon FBA and QuickBooks surface shows the wedge, but no conversion metric is published and its page shows no metals-focused industry page.
What kills it
- Per-seat pricing may annoy shops, but no source shows anyone actually switching for a flat plan.
- Carbon already advertises ERP, MRP, MES and QMS on one schema with API, MCP and source-availability, and it is free to self-host.
- At least four small-manufacturing ERPs launched on Show HN in 2025-2026, and three of them scored 2-5 points, so HN is not a reliable channel.
- Crowded, capital-intensive space with a brand incumbent (Katana) and a per-user incumbent (Odoo); the flat price may not cover support and implementation for this segment.
What users want
5A quote and a work order that agree, without re-keying.
A 15-employee furniture manufacturer wrote he built his own order management system because nothing fit his process.
Multi-level subassemblies, not one flat level.
A 2023 HN commenter said Katana allows only one layer of subassembly while real shops have at least two.
Docs a shop hand can read, not an API reference.
A Carbon user asked for a user manual that explains the concepts so staff can adopt the software.
A way to trial the software against a real process before signing.
Augno's founder said ERPs are hard to evaluate before an enterprise contract and poorly documented.
Accounting that books collected tax as a liability, not revenue.
Carbon's own issue says it counts collected sales tax as revenue and overstates a worked $1,000 sale by 14%.
- Sources
- 13
- Checked
- 12
- Competitors
- 4
- Gaps
- 7
- Page checked
- 12 · 92%
- Snippet only
- 1 · 8%
- Documented
- 9 · 75%
- Interpreted
- 3 · 25%
- complaint5
- pricing4
- market3
- playbook1
Competitors
4Parsed from public pricing blurbs (entry paid tier when available). Max in set: $149/mo.
| Competitor | From | Free tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Katana | $149/mo | Yes | katanamrp.com✓ |
| Carbon | $40/mo | Yes | carbon.ms✓ |
| Odoo | Free | Yes | odoo.com✓ |
| MRPeasy | Unverified | — | mrpeasy.com· |
What customers complain about
7| Gap | Src |
|---|---|
Katana's BOM depth is the complaint: one anonymous 2023 HN commenter said it allows only one layer of subassembly against the two-plus real shops need. The comment predates Katana's 2026 manufacturing routings, and the claim that this breaks costing and work orders is not in the source. | |
Open-source accounting is wrong, not just incomplete: Carbon's own issue says it books sales tax collected from customers as revenue and overstates a $1,000 sale with $75 shipping and 7% tax by 14%. | |
Open-source ERP docs are written for developers, not shop staff, so adoption stalls; a user asked for a manual that explains the concepts so users can adopt it easily. | |
Configure-to-order quoting is not clearly delivered even where advertised; a user asked whether the GitHub README's Configurator and the architecture diagram's CPQ module actually ship in the open-source version. | |
Existing ERPs cannot be trialled without a sales contract, so a small shop cannot test one against its real process; a competitor founder says they are hard to evaluate before an enterprise contract and poorly documented. | |
Small manufacturers build their own systems or fall back to spreadsheets because nothing fits; a 15-employee furniture maker built his own order management system, and another commenter supplemented an awful ERP with Excel and Access. | |
Per-user pricing bills headcount, not value: Carbon is $40-$100/user/month with a 5-user minimum, so a 15-person shop pays roughly $600-$1,500/month, and Odoo charges per paying user. No source shows shops switching for a flat plan. |
Documented Interpreted
How competitors find customers
3| Tactic | Src |
|---|---|
| Open-source the core and launch it on Hacker News; Carbon's Show HN reached 322 points and 158 comments and the founder reported 5 operating customers, though nothing ties the points to those signups. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
| Offer a self-serve sandbox and free tier so shops evaluate against their own process without a sales call, the tactic Augno uses against enterprise-gated evaluation. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
| Ship native integrations into tools shops already run, like Katana's Shopify, Amazon FBA and QuickBooks, and add vertical landing pages for furniture and food and beverage to catch high-intent searches; no conversion metric is published, and Katana's page shows no metals-focused industry page. | katanamrp.com✓ |
Your angle & pricing wedge
| Piece | Claim | Src |
|---|---|---|
| Angle | A quote-to-cash operations system for made-to-order and job shops that models true multi-level BOMs and configure-to-order quoting, runs production, inventory and job costing on one schema so a quote becomes a work order without re-keying, and is priced flat per shop with unlimited floor and office logins plus an API and MCP surface for agents. This is a narrow increment, not a new category: Carbon already advertises ERP, MRP, MES and QMS on one schema with API and MCP and source-availability, Katana and Odoo cover much of the core, and the multi-level-BOM and CPQ depth plus flat pricing are unproven. | |
| Wedge | Bill one flat monthly price per shop with unlimited named users and no per-order, per-location, per-SKU or per-add-on meters, because in a 5-50 person shop the value is the shared production and ledger model, not seat count, and floor and office read-mostly users should not cost money. A flat $149-$299/month unlimited-seat plan undercuts Carbon's roughly $600-$1,500/month for 15 users and Katana's $299/month plus $149-$249/month add-ons by 50-80%; I have not validated that shops will switch, that the flat price covers support and implementation, or that incumbents will not simply re-price. |
How others got traction
3| Move | Why | Src |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon open-sourced a manufacturing ERP (source-available, 2,418 GitHub stars) and launched it on Show HN, reaching 322 points and 158 comments and getting 5 customers to run operations on it | The founder says open source gives integrators "super powers" because they can change the source instead of layering abstractions, and he states the customer count directly; the repo plus a front-page Show HN is the repeatable first-users channel for this niche, but nothing ties the points to those signups. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
| Katana sells a managed cloud inventory and MRP with a free tier, unlimited users and native Shopify, Amazon and QuickBooks integrations, and now vendor-claims 1,500+ businesses | The vendor claims "trusted by 1,500+ businesses" on its pricing page; the e-commerce integration surface plus a free plan is a plausible bottom-up funnel into product businesses, but no conversion metric is published and the figure is unaudited. | katanamrp.com✓ |
| Augno launched a "Stripe-like" manufacturing ERP with a free tier and a sandbox to remove the enterprise sales-evaluation step | The founder calls implementing an ERP at a knitting factory "really painful" because ERPs are hard to evaluate before an enterprise contract and APIs are "bolted on as an afterthought"; a self-serve sandbox fits that pain, but the post drew only 5 points, so Show HN is not a guaranteed channel. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
Market heat
Katana claims on its pricing page that its software is "trusted by 1,500+ businesses" and "The favorite software for +1600 business", unaudited.
Carbon, a source-available manufacturing ERP, shows 2,418 GitHub stars, 349 forks and 137 open issues on its repo.
Carbon's Show HN "I've been building an ERP for manufacturing for the last 3 years" drew 322 points and 158 comments in Aug 2025, and the founder wrote in-thread that 5 customers run operations on it.
More ▾At least four small-manufacturing ERP projects launched on Show HN in 2025-2026: Carbon at 322 points, Augno 5, Bus Core 4, and an unnamed open-source ERP 2.
Augno's founder writes that most manufacturing ERPs are hard to evaluate before an enterprise contract, poorly documented, and not designed with serious API users in mind.
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Revenue signals
3| Signal | Src |
|---|---|
Katana vendor-reports 1,500+ businesses ("trusted by 1,500+ businesses") on its pricing page; self-reported and not independently audited. | katanamrp.com✓ |
Carbon's founder reported 5 customers running operations in Aug 2025; the repo shows 2,418 stars, 349 forks and 137 open issues, which is community scale, not revenue. | news.ycombinator.com✓ |
Category self-serve pricing: Katana Core from $299/month plus $149-$249/month add-ons and $2,000 optional onboarding; Carbon $40-$100/user/month with a 5-user minimum; Odoo per-user from Rs 725/user/month billed yearly. Whether a flat $149-$299/month unlimited-seat plan wins is not proven. | carbon.ms✓ |
Should you build this?
The category monetizes and the pain is documented: Katana vendor-claims 1,500+ businesses at $299/month plus $149-$249/month add-ons and $2,000 onboarding, Carbon sells a source-available manufacturing ERP at $40-$100/user/month with 2,418 GitHub stars, and Odoo charges per user. The pain is partly real and quoted: a 2023 commenter says Katana allows only one layer of subassembly, Carbon's own issue says it books collected sales tax as revenue and overstates a worked sale by 14%, its docs are developer-oriented with no user manual, CPQ availability is publicly questioned, a 15-person furniture maker built his own order system because nothing fit, and a competitor founder says ERPs are hard to evaluate before an enterprise contract. The problems are heavy: a strong open-source entrant already advertises ERP, MRP, MES and QMS on one schema with API, MCP and source-availability, Katana owns the integrations, at least four new entrants appeared on Show HN in 2025-2026, and no source shows shops actually switching for a flat plan. Build it only after recruiting 15 made-to-order shops of 5-50 people on spreadsheets plus QuickBooks, Katana, Carbon or Odoo and requiring each to show a product with two or more BOM levels their tool models awkwardly, their current bill and seat count, and one quote or job-costing incident where a quote and a work order disagreed. The first test: ask for a paid pre-order at a flat $199/month with unlimited users, and kill it if fewer than 5 of 15 pre-pay, fewer than 8 can show a real multi-level BOM or CPQ problem their tool cannot handle, or Carbon or Katana handles the case well enough that the flat price is the only reason left to switch.
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All sources
13| Source | Kind | Status | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| pricing | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| pricing | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| pricing | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| market | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| playbook | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| complaint | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| market | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| market | page checked | 2026-09-18 | |
| pricing | snippet only | 2026-09-18 |