You be the plumber.We shoulder the rest.
Built for more money coming in, less going out, and your evenings back. Start today with your Hero, the assistant that improves you. In December, add your HQ, led by Simon, the system that improves your business. You keep your expertise. We shoulder the rest.
A Texas family company you can call.
Shouldered AI is a Christian-run family company, open to everyone. We start with owners in Austin, Dallas and Houston: plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies and small law firms.
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2 (ESV)
We built Shouldered AI for the owner who is great at the work and worn out by the paperwork.
Our HQ takes the admin off your plate, so you and your people can do the work you were made for. It is built to help your team, not to replace anyone.
You will always know who you are dealing with. Simon and the desks are AI. We are the people behind them, and you can call us at 737-304-4222.
You did not start a business to lie awake over it.
These are the worries small and medium-sized business owners across America report most in the big national surveys, and what Shouldered does about each one.
"Am I going to get paid?"
56% of small businesses are owed money on unpaid invoices, $17,500 on average.
Invoices go out the day the job is done. Late payers get followed up, politely and every time, and you see what cash is coming before you need it.
"Where is the next customer coming from?"
Reaching customers and growing sales is the most common challenge small employers report.
Every lead gets an answer and a follow-up. Quotes, reviews, reminders and outreach keep going while you are on the job.
"Everything costs more."
54% of small businesses name inflation as their biggest challenge.
We cannot change prices. We can show you where the money goes: bills checked, price rises flagged, and the admin done without adding to payroll.
"I can't find good people."
31% of owners have a job open that they cannot fill.
Job posts, first replies, scheduling and paperwork for new hires are handled. The people you have spend their day on the trade, not the admin.
"Taxes, insurance and red tape."
Taxes are the single biggest problem owners name. Health insurance cost has topped the list of long-term problems.
We cannot lower the bill. Your books stay ready, and renewals, filings and licenses are tracked so nothing is missed. The decisions stay with you and your accountant.
"Do I even know my numbers?"
Owners are more likely to report revenue falling than rising.
Ask Simon, the AI who runs your Shouldered HQ and answers for all of it. Revenue, costs, who owes you and what is due this week, in plain language, whenever you want it.
"My customers are waiting on me."
The work comes in while you are on a ladder, in court or with a patient.
Calls, messages and bookings are answered. New customers are set up properly, and nobody is left wondering if you got their message.
"I do the paperwork at night."
The job you trained for ends at five. The business does not.
Scheduling, invoices, payroll prep and follow-ups are done before you sit down. That is the time you get back.
If HQ does not complete at least 40 hours of real admin work a month for you in your first six months (100 hours on Medium), tell us by the end of month five and we refund every dollar you paid for the plan.
Figures: Intuit QuickBooks late payments report, 2025; Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey, 2026 report; U.S. Chamber and MetLife Small Business Index, Q3 2026; NFIB small business survey, January 2026; NFIB Problems and Priorities, 2024.
Good for the owner. Good for the team.
Shouldered is built to help your people, not to replace them. The business grows, and the people in it get better at their work. Both sides come out ahead.
For the owner: grow faster, sleep better
More work done and money in sooner, so the business grows without the admin growing every time it does.
Double the jobs without doubling the paperwork. Your next hire is for the trade, not for the admin.
The worries that kept you up at night are somebody's job now.
For the team: a helper, not a replacement
Everyone gets a Hero, an assistant that takes the paperwork off their plate and helps with the work in front of them.
They learn AI by using it every day, on real work. That skill goes with them for the rest of their working life.
More to show for the week, with less of the grind. They can walk in and say, "Look what I got done."
Think of a good personal trainer: there every day, showing the next step, and expecting you to show up. Nobody coasts, and nobody is left behind.
The common worry about AI is being left behind by it. On Shouldered your people learn it as they work, with help at every step.
Four wheels, always. With HQ, the business keeps running smoothly even on the day someone is out, like a car that still drives if a wheel comes off. But we keep all four wheels on. Shouldered is not here to replace your people or get anyone fired. As you grow, you hire fewer new people, not fewer of the people you have. Some owners use the time to grow, some for a shorter week. That is your call.
Pick your trade. See how it works for you.
Every trade has a card, like a record in a jukebox. Flip through, pick yours, and it opens: what keeps you up at night, how you start, and how you grow. In the community you carry the same card, and the template for your trade grows from everyone who holds it.
At standard prices, paid for the year: $750 a month for a small HQ, $1,875 for a medium one, $25 a seat for the Hero. Illustrations of how a plan grows, not promised results.
From one truck to twenty.
Take a plumbing company. The owner's evenings go to scheduling, invoices and callbacks. Hand those over, and the time goes into the next truck.
1
You do the plumbing and all of the paperwork.
5
The paperwork grows faster than the crew.
10
With HQ running the admin, growing is a hiring decision.
20
The same system carries it. Nothing gets rebuilt.
An illustration of the goal, not a promised result.
Most AI sits in a corner until someone calls it.
Shouldered HQ comes to work. Simon and seven Heroes, one at each desk, start the day's work without being asked. And it is one system, so you never pay per Hero.
It starts the work
Each Hero works its desk every day. You do not have to prompt it.
It covers everything
Every desk, end to end, in one connected system.
It is onboarded like a hire
A role, training on your company, the right access and a review.
Seven desks. One HQ.
Every AI worker at Shouldered is a Hero. Simon runs HQ, and under him seven Heroes each run a desk. Your Hero helps you. HQ runs the company. Simon and the seven desks are AI, and a person at your company approves what matters.
Simon, at HQ
Runs HQ and answers for all seven desks. The one you talk to. Simon directs the seven, passes work between desks and answers for all of them, and brings you only the decisions that need a person. He keeps your company's brain: goals, scoreboard, strategy, SOPs, flowcharts, playbooks and every decision. And he runs the technology like a CTO: IT, AI, apps and integrations, data, security and access, with every plan checked before it runs.
Lydia, Sales Desk
Sales and giving. Leads, quotes, proposals, bids, pricing and offers, renewals, partnerships, referrals, investors, donations, grants and donor care
Silas, Marketing Desk
Marketing and outreach. Brand, website, content, social, email, ads, events, press and community
Tabitha, Service Desk
Customer service and support. Inbox, phone, chat, bookings, onboarding, follow-ups, reviews, complaints and warranty claims, feedback and member care
Matthew, Finance Desk
Finance and accounting. Books, invoicing, payments and refunds, collections, bills, expenses, payroll, cash flow, budgets, banking and loans, tax prep and reports
Nehemiah, Operations Desk
Operations and admin. Scheduling, jobs and dispatch, projects, orders and deliveries, vendors, purchasing, inventory, equipment and vehicles, quality, safety, facilities and travel
Barnabas, People Desk
HR and people. Hiring, onboarding, contractors, pay and benefits, reviews, training, culture, volunteers, the handbook and HR compliance
Deborah, Legal Desk
Legal and compliance. Contracts, filings, licenses, trademarks and IP, policies, privacy, insurance, risk, disputes and corporate records
Like the seven chosen in Acts 6, "whom we will appoint to this duty" (ESV), so the leaders could give themselves to what only they could do.
Your know-how stays yours. Every process, flowchart and lesson your team learns is written down in your own system, kept current, and protected as your IP. Nothing is in someone's head.
Safe by design: each Hero has only the tools its desk needs and its own limited identity, every plan is checked before it runs, and a person approves what matters.
Legal, tax and financial work is prepared and tracked. Decisions stay with you and your licensed advisers.
Hire people who can learn. The desks do the specialist work.
You no longer need a specialist for every job title. Hire people who are competent, helpful and teachable, and let them work with the seven desks. If you can use a spreadsheet, you can do this. If you can be an assistant, you can run a desk with a Hero.
Your seats are yours to set. The Shouldered Way gives every company an org chart and seats, and here is what we suggest as you grow. Illustrations, not rules.
You do the trade. Your Hero helps you, and HQ runs the seven desks. One lawyer, one plumber, one founder.
Add one all-round assistant who works with the desks: approves, follows up, keeps things moving. Two to four lawyers, or a few trucks.
One or two all-round people over the desks, and team leads in the trade. Simon gives the owner one weekly brief.
A manager for each area, still working with the same seven desks. Built with you, on the same system.
One hour of HQ. Here is what gets done.
HQ only counts time while it is working. In one of those hours, across every desk at once, it can:
Get you paid
Send today's invoices and follow up every one that is late.
Win the next job
Answer every new lead, send the quote and book the follow-up.
Keep customers happy
Reply to the inbox and the voicemail, and confirm tomorrow's jobs.
Keep the books straight
Match the bank feed, file the receipts and flag the bills coming due.
Keep you visible
Post the week's updates and ask every customer for an honest review.
Handle the hiring
Draft the job post, answer the applicants and schedule the interviews.
Stay out of trouble
Check the licenses, renewals and filings coming up this month.
Tell you where you stand
Hand Simon the numbers, so you can ask anything, any time.
A plumber with one truck needs about an hour a day of HQ. Eighty hours a month covers three or four trucks.
Why we charge by the hour, not by the person
You could hire an assistant overseas. Or seven of them, one for each desk, each with a different expertise, each needed at a different time of day, and some for only five minutes. HQ is all seven at once, organized as one system, at whatever scale you need. You pay only for the minutes it actually works. That is why we charge by the hour.
Illustrations of a typical month, not a promise. Your own hours depend on your company.
Start small or go big. It is the same system, whether you are a plumber or a firm with five hundred clients.
Two kinds of company run on Shouldered. Companies that run their own HQ, and companies whose clients can run on it too. All at standard prices.
A plumber
What keeps you up: getting paid, and the paperwork at night.
Start: one truck, one Hero seat and the Small HQ. About an hour a day: quotes out, invoices followed up, tomorrow confirmed. $750 a month, plus $1,000 onboarding once.
Grow: five trucks is about five hours a day, $1,125 to $1,875. Twenty trucks is custom. Nothing gets rebuilt; growing is a hiring decision.
A realtor
What keeps you up: leads going cold while you are at a showing, and the closing paperwork.
Start: one seat, Small. Every lead answered in minutes, showings booked, every file tracked to closing. $750 a month.
Grow: a team of ten agents is ten seats and Medium. Every agent has a Hero; the brokerage has one HQ.
A pastor
What keeps you up: the admin that eats the week you meant to spend with people.
Start: one seat, Small. Giving recorded, volunteers scheduled, the newsletter out, the inbox answered. $750 a month. And for every business that joins, we give Shouldered to a church.
Grow: a church with staff and a school is Medium. The same system, at any size.
Your firm runs on it first. Then each client can have an HQ of its own from $750 a month (Founding price: $500, first 50 companies only). Your clients pay Shouldered's public price. You earn 20% of their plan fees for 24 months, and you bill your own services separately. Buy 10, get the 11th free.
A law firm
What keeps you up: billable hours lost to admin, and clients waiting on you.
Start: one seat and Small run a solo practice: intake, billing, filings tracked, the inbox answered. Ten lawyers is Medium. $750 a month.
Then your clients: each one an HQ of its own at $750 a month. Buy 10, get the 11th free. Hire lawyers, not admin.
A marketing agency
What keeps you up: forty clients, forty inboxes, and reporting day.
Start: the agency first. Seats for your team and Medium: proposals, invoices, scheduling and the monthly reports, done.
Then your clients: each client's HQ handles their inbox, reviews, follow-ups and reports at $750 a month. Your clients pay Shouldered's public price. You earn 20% of their plan fees for 24 months, and you bill your own services separately.
A seed fund
What keeps you up: a first-time founder who needs an extra pair of eyes, and finding out at the board meeting.
Start: the fund first. Your own HQ for deal flow, investor updates and the books.
Then your companies: forty at $500,000 each, as one group deal, where every 11th company is free: about $700 a month per company, under two percent of the check a year. Every founder has an HQ and some accountability, and you see the same three numbers across all forty. An accelerator of four hundred is custom.
Illustrations of how a plan grows, at standard prices, not promised results. For groups, buy 10 and get the 11th free. Let's talk.
It does not happen overnight, and we will not pretend it does.
7 days
Try it. Explore a working environment set up for your trade.
30 days
Set up. Simon and all seven desks go live, with us at your side. A trade we already have a template for, such as plumbing or law, can go live sooner.
Months 2 and 3
It learns you: your data, your processes, your clients. This is when results can start to show.
By month 6
The goal: a well-oiled machine that runs as if it had been with you for years.
How you start, step by step.
You start with your Hero, then you bring in HQ. Every step is laid out, so nothing is left to guess.
Before you buy
- Find usA post, a page or a friendA lesson on social, a page for your trade, a link from someone you trust, a church or an event.
- LearnRead, then joinAI Business University, our free article library for your trade. Then Telegram, the weekly show, a workshop in your city. Ask anything.
- TryGet your Hero$25 a month, no contract. Your own assistant, today.
- DecideBring in HQOn your own, with a Shouldered lead, or at an HQ Weekend. Pick your plan.
After you sign up
- Day 1Your Hero is set upMail, calendar, to-dos and contacts connected. A short walkthrough.
- Week 1HQ kickoffOne 1-hour onboarding call: technical setup first, then your business. The person who sold you HQ joins the call. We connect your tools, set your approval rules and fill in the questionnaire for your trade.
- Days 1 to 30The desks go liveSimon and the seven desks start, one by one, with your approval rules in place.
- Months 2 and 3It learns youYour processes, your clients, your voice. This is when results can start to show.
- Day 60 and month 6Your honest reviewSimon asks for your honest review. Good or bad, we want the truth. Reviews never earn money or discounts.
- Month 6The guaranteeAt least 40 hours of real admin work a month (100 on Medium), or every dollar of the plan back. Tell us by the end of month five.
- Your HeroA personal assistant for every seat.
- HQSimon and the seven desks, set up for your trade.
- The Shouldered WayYour goals, scoreboard, weekly meeting and seats, ready to use.
- Your coachSimon walks you through the Shouldered Way, step by step.
- Your suggested org chartWho to hire next, by size, and how they work with the desks.
- Your trade templateThe questionnaire and playbooks for plumbers, lawyers and every other trade.
- Approval rulesWhat the desks do on their own, and what waits for you.
- The guaranteeAt least 40 hours of real admin work a month in your first six months, or every dollar of the plan back.
- The communityOwners in your trade, the weekly show and workshops in your city.
Your investment.
First, what the work costs you today. A full-time office manager runs most small businesses about $4,000 to $5,000 a month with taxes and benefits, and goes home at five. Every call nobody answers is a job that goes to someone else.
Business coaching often costs $5,000 to $7,500 for one session day. HQ does the work every month, with a coach running the Shouldered Way and workshops included. Already have a coach? HQ works alongside them.
Your Hero is here to improve the human. Your HQ, led by Simon, is here to improve your business.
Two things that work together. You pay for seats, the people who have a Hero, and hours, the work HQ does. Never per desk, and never per Hero at HQ.
Founding 50: of 50 places left. When they are gone, this price closes.
Month to month. The Hero cancels any time. HQ plans run for at least six months, the same six months as the guarantee.
Paid for the year, up front, by bank transfer. Pay by bank and take 3% off. We take no outside funding, so when you pay ahead you fund the work on your own company, and we pass the saving on. See the Founding 50 terms →
Founding price, for the first 50 companies only. A two-year commitment, paid yearly by bank transfer. Keep renewing and you keep the price. Founding members are first on the weekly webinar, first in the marketplace, and the ones who shape what we build next. When the 50 places are gone, this closes.
For you
Best for one person who wants their evenings back.
$25a seat, a month
One seat. Billed monthly, cancel any time. No onboarding fee.
- Mail, chat, calendar, to-dos and contacts, handled
- Learns how you work and remembers it
- Gets ahead of what you need
- For work, for home and for the family
- Your digital twin. It stops where you stop
For a small business
Best for up to five people: a shop, a practice, a few trucks.
$750a month
5 seats and 80 hours a month. Paid for the year. Onboarding $1,000, paid once.
- Simon and all seven desks, in one system
- Starts the work itself. Nobody has to ask
- About $25 a day, paid for the year
- A Hero seat for everyone on the team
- The six-month guarantee
- Coming December. Join the founding list now
For a growing company
Best for six to twenty people, or a small company with a lot of work.
$1,875a month
20 seats and 200 hours a month. Paid for the year. Onboarding $2,000, paid once.
- Everything in Small
- Four times the seats, two and a half times the hours
- Room to add trucks, clients or staff without changing plan
- The six-month guarantee
- Coming December. Join the founding list now
- Money back guaranteeHQ does the work in your first six months, or you get back what you paid for the plan.
- Your data stays yoursYour records and know-how stay in your own system.
- Cancel your Hero any timeMonth to month. No contract.
- Talk to a personCall 737-304-4222. If we miss you, we call you back.
Larger company, or hundreds of hours a month? Twenty-one people and up, or any company that needs more of either, is built around you. Let's talk.
Enterprise and government. For large companies and public agencies. Custom plans start at $5,000 a month. Pilots are paid. We start SOC 2 Type 1 work in 2027. Texas agencies: we are working toward TX-RAMP.
That date will not move. The Founding 50 pay yearly by bank transfer and keep the Founding price for as long as they renew. Pay yearly by bank transfer and take 3% off. Onboarding is free at Shouldered events. It is one 1-hour call: technical setup with our technical team first, then your business with our team. The person who sold you HQ joins your onboarding call. Paid for the year, you get a named person who checks in every month. Month to month gets standard support.
More seats are $25 each a month (Founding price $20). More hours are $12.50 each, and hours count only while HQ is working, like minutes on a phone plan. A plan stretches either way: one person with a busy company just buys hours, and a big team with a quiet HQ just buys seats.
Do I pay per Hero at HQ?
No. HQ is one system: Simon and seven desks. You pay for the hours it works, not for how many Heroes it has.
What is a seat?
One person with a Hero. You need a Hero to reach HQ, so every plan includes seats. More are $25 each.
What is an hour?
Time HQ spends actually working: sending the invoices, chasing the leads, keeping the books. Not the hours it sits ready. A plumber with one truck uses about an hour a day.
What if it does not work for me?
The Hero is month to month; just cancel. HQ has a six-month guarantee. If HQ does not complete at least 40 hours of real admin work a month for you in your first six months (100 hours on Medium), tell us by the end of month five and we refund every dollar you paid for the plan.
When can I start?
The Hero today. HQ arrives in December; the founding list is open now, and the Hero helps you bring it in when it is ready.
What is not refundable?
The onboarding fee is not refunded. The guarantee refunds every dollar you paid for the plan. It covers HQ only, never coach fees.
Which AI models does HQ use?
Local models are the default and cost very little. Premium models, such as Fable 5.1 or Opus 5.5, are opt-in and billed at a higher hourly rate.
Does it work with EOS®?
Yes. HQ runs the Shouldered Way by default, our own program. It also supports companies that run on EOS®, Scaling Up or OKRs. Already have a coach? HQ works alongside them.
Do reviews earn anything?
No. Simon asks every customer for an honest review at day 60 and at month 6. Reviews never earn money or discounts. Refer a business that signs up and get a month of HQ free. Referrals earn credit. Reviews never do.
Want something built just for you? Tell Simon what you want and build your own app or your own desk. Trying it costs nothing extra. You pay when you put it into production, and our help with it is priced as custom work.
EOS® is a registered trademark of EOS Worldwide, LLC. Shouldered is not affiliated with or endorsed by EOS Worldwide.
If HQ does not complete at least 40 hours of real admin work a month for you in your first six months (100 hours on Medium), tell us by the end of month five and we refund every dollar you paid for the plan.
HQ does the work
At least 40 hours of real admin work a month for you in your first six months, or 100 hours on Medium.
You let it work
Give HQ the access it needs and review its work in good faith. If we see the work being declined or blocked, we tell you in writing so you can fix it.
Tell us by month five
If HQ falls short, tell us by the end of month five and we refund every dollar you paid for the plan.
If HQ does not do the work, we have no business taking your money. Help us help you, and we all win.
The onboarding fee is not refunded. The guarantee asks one thing of you: let HQ do its work. Give it the access it needs and review its work in good faith. If our records show you kept declining or blocking the work HQ set out to do, the guarantee does not apply. If we see that happening, we tell you in writing so you can fix it. The six months start the day HQ goes live for you. The Founding 50 are included. The Hero is month to month, so you simply cancel.
Watch us run on it, live.
Shouldered AI has no outside funding and runs on its own HQ. We show the work as it happens: the good, the bad and the fixes.
The live feed
What our own Heroes at HQ are doing, posted as it happens on X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
The scoreboard
Customers, revenue, hours worked, what shipped and what broke. All of it public.
The daily blog
Written for people and AI agents. Plain language on what an AI agent and a virtual employee really are, free to read, quote and teach from.
Fix what keeps you up at night.
AI Business University: one real problem per article, the missed call, the late invoice, the lead that hired someone else, what AI can fix, and how Shouldered does it for you. For lawyers and for HVAC, plumbing and electrical, with real estate and tech next. Written to be sent to someone in your trade.
Shoulder to Shoulder.
A live video webinar for business owners, and for their AI agents. Every week, founder Joshua Johnson sits shoulder to shoulder with Simon, our AI at headquarters. Together they give the community its update, sit down with an owner from one trade, and take your questions.
The weekly update
What shipped, what broke and where the numbers stand. The same update the community gets, live.
One trade at a time
A lawyer one week, a plumber the next, with the Heroes at HQ doing the real work. Plain language, and nothing to buy.
Town hall
Open questions and answers, from people and from AI agents. Simon looks things up and answers live.
Built while you watch
When the community asks for something, we start building it on air with the Heroes, and aim to have it in your hands within a week.
Watch live on this site, YouTube, X and LinkedIn, or later whenever it suits you. Every episode is transcribed and summarized, so an AI agent can read it too.
Planned for Wednesdays at 11 am San Francisco time (2 pm New York, 8 pm Central Europe). The first live show is Wednesday, October 28.
A Christian-run company, and proud of it.
Our faith is why we stand for ethics and safety. Whoever you are, you get the same honesty and the same care.
Churches get free Hero seats. When a member's business joins, its church gets an HQ, free.
Simon is named for Simon of Cyrene, who stepped in and shouldered the cross for another. Sometimes that is the job: step in and carry it.
The technology comes from the OurWorld group, built over ten years: more than $40M invested, 60+ engineers, running in 20+ countries. Shouldered itself takes no outside funding. It grows with its customers and its community.
Members buy from each other.
Every business on Shouldered can list what it sells and buy from other members, anywhere in the world. It is a storefront built into your HQ, with customers who already share your community.
Sell to the community
List your products and services once. Your HQ handles the orders, the invoices and the follow-up.
Buy from people you trust
Search for Christian-run businesses and churches that have chosen to be listed that way, or for any trade you need.
Pay each other easily
Members pay members inside the system, and every sale lands in both sets of books.
The marketplace opens as the community grows. Join now and you are in it from the first day.
The road ahead. Plans can change.
This is where we are heading. We build in public and listen to the community, so the order and the details may change.
Now
- Your Hero
- The community and the weekly show
- Workshops and meetups in our cities
Next
- HQ: Simon and the seven desks
- HQ Weekend
- Rewards for members who buy from each other
- A program for AI agents who share Shouldered
Later
- A version for families
- Simpler payments between members
- The marketplace
- More trades and more cities
A company you can see into, and a movement you can join.
Every seat on our team is public: find your city lead, message any seat, or take an open one. Or pick a mission: give a Saturday, gift Shouldered to your church, join a weekly meetup, or tell your story.
A Texas family company, built for everyone. A sixth-generation Texan raised in the church and a tech founder whose companies were bought by Sun, Oracle and Western Digital, building AI that families and churches can trust. No money needed to help.
Visit Community HQ See the missions → Read our story → The manifesto → Meet the team →
Pull up a chair with the plumbers.
Owners from every trade are working out, together, how to hand off the admin. Ask questions, watch us build, and tell us what your trade needs. What the community asks for is what we build next. Anyone can request a feature in the community, and we review requests every week. Need something built just for your company? That is a custom build, priced with you.
Telegram
The front door. Talk with us directly, with groups by trade as the community grows.
X
What our Heroes at HQ are doing, posted as it happens.
The weekly episode, the scoreboard and stories from each trade.
Host us in your office.
Fifty people or more, and a reason to care? The show comes to you. Bring your people, your clients, your portfolio or your congregation. Joshua hosts, Simon answers live, and we interview whoever you like. You get the episode and the clips. Apply in the community; we verify every host.
The community links open when shouldered.com goes live.