Contara

Process management for a service business that defies templates.

Where Contara was stuck

Contara is a Shopify e-commerce agency offering custom development, CRO, and retention marketing for consumer goods brands. Conor had tried every project management tool — Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Linear, Jira. All were "okay or good, but never great." The core problem: his work is a process, not a project. Generic PM tools forced Contara's unique workflows into rigid templates that created more friction than they solved.

What we built

We designed a process-first operating system for Contara — not a project template. Every engagement moves through defined stages with linear progression (sent to client → client responded → approved → deployed), Slack emoji reactions automatically create Airtable tasks, and the whole system serves as Contara's business source of truth. Unlike traditional PM tools, our system adapts to how Contara actually works rather than forcing Contara to adapt to it.

What happened next

Conor got significant founder stress reduction and bandwidth back. The Slack-to-Airtable emoji automation became a favorite feature — every message in client channels can be logged as a task with a single emoji click. Contara's tech stack consolidated, reducing subscription costs. And the shift from "project management" to "process management" became a mindset change that reshaped how Conor thinks about scaling his business.