The operating system for independent businesses

Run your whole business on course.

Vela is the operating system for independent businesses. It keeps your leads, clients, projects, money, and follow-ups in one calm place, and always points you to the next move that matters.

Free to start · No card required · Set up in minutes
Next move
Invoice $4,140 of unbilled time
23.5 hrs ready across 2 clients
Revenue · June+18%
$14,250
Payment received
INV-0041 · $7,800
Monday · June 1
Good morning, Maya.
Tidewater invoice is 12 days overdue
INV-0039 · $3,200. Send a reminder.
Remind
Revenue
$14.2k
Outstanding
$9.8k
Projects
4
Unbilled
$4.1k

Built for the businesses that run on relationships

DesignersConsultantsDevelopersAgenciesCreativesService businesses
The cost of scattered tools

Running a business shouldn't feel like steering blind.

Spreadsheets here, invoices there, follow-ups living in your head. The work gets done, but money slips through the cracks and you never quite know what deserves your attention next.

Unbilled hours vanish

Billable time logged across notebooks and apps never makes it onto an invoice. That's revenue you earned and never collected.

Invoices go unpaid

No system to chase overdue payments, so they sit, quietly hurting your cash flow while you're busy doing the work.

Client context is everywhere

Emails, notes, files, and history scattered across ten places. Every project starts by hunting for what you already knew.

No clear next step

You open five tabs each morning and still aren't sure what actually moves the business forward today.

One guided flow

From first lead to paid, and back again.

Vela connects every stage of your business into one momentum loop. Nothing falls through the cracks, and every step quietly sets up the next.

Lead
Client
Project
Time
Invoice
Payment
Receipt
Review
One operating system

A business that tells you what it needs.

Every part of your business in one connected place, from the first lead to the final receipt. Each tool feeds the next, so nothing has to be re-entered, chased, or held in your head.

Leads
Clients
Projects
Tasks
Time
Invoices
Payments
Receipts
Tax summary
Reports
Automations
Goals
Weekly Review
Ideas Vault
Next-action engine

Always know your next move.

Vela watches across every part of your business and surfaces the few things that will actually move it forward today, ranked by impact. You open Vela and simply do the next thing.

  • Overdue payments flagged before they hurt your cash flow
  • Unbilled work surfaced and ready to send in a click
  • Proposals, follow-ups, and reviews that need a nudge
Today in Vela
Send overdue reminder
Tidewater · $3,200
Remind →
Invoice unbilled time
$4,140 · 23.5 hrs
Create →
Follow up on proposal
Veridian · sent 5 days ago
Open →
Money & documents

Money you can actually trust.

Logged time becomes an invoice. Invoices become payments. Payments become receipts, and a clean tax summary keeps adding itself up in the background. One ledger you can genuinely trust.

  • Invoices, payments, receipts, and tax in one ledger
  • Filter by Draft, Sent, Overdue, or Paid at a glance
  • Send, remind, and mark paid without switching tools
Paid YTD
$74.1k
Overdue
$3.2k
INV-0044
Harbor & Co
Draft
INV-0042
Lumen Health
Sent
INV-0041
Sable & Stone
Paid
Relationship hub

Every relationship, remembered.

Far more than a contact list. Every client carries their full story: projects, history, lifetime value, what is owed, what is unbilled, and the one move that relationship needs next.

  • Projects, documents, and activity on one timeline
  • A recommended next action for every relationship
  • Turn a paid project into a testimonial request
HC
Harbor & Co
Harbor Coffee Roasters
Active
Next: invoice 9.5h of unbilled design time
Lifetime
$18,600
Unpaid
$0
Unbilled
9.5h
Connected work

Projects that stay in sync.

Scope a project once and everything stays connected to it. Tasks track what is overdue, due today, and coming up. Hours roll into budget and billing on their own, so the work and the money never drift apart.

  • Tasks grouped by overdue, due today, and upcoming
  • Budget and hours tracked against every project
  • Smart automations chase the follow-ups for you
Brand Identity System
On track
Budget
$6.4k / 12k
Hours
41 / 80h
Present logo directions
Overdue
Build type scale and tokens
Due today
Shaped around you

Mold Vela to how you work.

The important work runs the same way for everyone. How your workspace looks and lays out is yours to shape, with curated themes and layouts instead of fiddly drag-and-drop.

Vela Gold · Default
Premium dark & champagne
Vela Navy
Deep navy command center
Ivory Light
Calm, bright daytime hub
Minimal Dark
Quiet monochrome focus
Dashboard templates
Command Center · Default
Next action first, then metrics
Metrics First
Lead with the numbers
Workflow First
The pipeline up top

Clients, projects, and tasks each offer the same curated choice of layouts, so the whole workspace fits the way you think, without ever feeling cluttered.

Loved by independents

Built for the way you actually work.

"I stopped losing unbilled hours the week I switched. Vela basically found me an extra few thousand dollars I'd been leaving on the table."

MC
Maya Chen
Brand designer · Northwind

"Every morning it tells me the three things that matter. I'm not drowning in tabs anymore. I just do the next thing."

DO
Daniel Okafor
Studio owner

"It finally feels like one calm system instead of five noisy apps. And it looks like something I'm proud to put my brand on."

RC
Renata Cruz
Consultant · Sable & Stone
Simple pricing

Start free. Grow when you're ready.

Free
$0/ month
For getting your business in order.
  • Up to 3 clients
  • Unlimited projects, tasks & invoices
  • Full core workflow · one workspace
Start free
MOST POPULAR
Premium
$18/ month
For growing studios that bill regularly.
  • Unlimited clients & projects
  • Invoice branding & templates
  • Automations & reminders
  • Tax & receipt exports
Start free trial
Pro
$39/ month
For multi-client businesses & teams.
  • Everything in Premium
  • Multiple workspaces
  • Team seats & roles
  • Priority support
Choose Pro

Set your course
with Vela.

Bring your whole business under one helm, and always know the next move.

Free to start · No card required