About
A SaaS studio born inside a working business.
Most software companies start from a pitch deck. Beacon Labs started inside a Canadian travel agency that couldn't find a tool that fit. So we built one — and then realized other companies were stuck in the same place.
The story
In 2026, the team running GOwithHIPPO Travel — a Canadian host travel agency — sat down with their monthly SaaS invoices spread across the table. Six tools, all partial fits, none talking to each other, all charging per-seat fees that scaled with growth in the worst direction possible.
The plan was supposed to be simple: replace a few of the worst-fitting tools with something custom. What got built instead was AgencyOS — a unified platform handling CRM, courses, community, perks, scheduling, and email under one brand, one bill, one login. GOwithHIPPO runs their branded instance internally as "HIPPOhub"; other agencies will run theirs under their own names.
Once it worked for one agency, the obvious question followed: who else is paying for tools that almost-but-don't-quite fit their workflow? Turns out: most B2B companies. So Beacon Labs became the thing that does it on purpose — productized SaaS for verticals we understand, custom builds for the ones we don't yet.
And then there's the AppsAI side
The B2B work is the main course. But the same pattern — "off-the-shelf software almost-fits, then quietly doesn't" — shows up in consumer life too. So a smaller arm of Beacon Labs ships wellness apps under the AppsAI brand: PaceAI for capture-first todos and HydrateAI for hydration tracking that actually fits a real day. Different audience, same operator empathy.
Why we're based in Canada
We're Canadian-rooted on purpose. PIPEDA-aware, GST/HST-handled, multi-currency ready. The travel industry we cut our teeth in straddles Canada and the US, so the platform speaks both languages by default.
What we believe
Four principles that show up in every line of code.
Software should reduce meetings, not generate them.
If a feature creates more Slack threads than it eliminates, we don't ship it.
If it takes a manual every Monday, it's not finished.
The bar for done isn't "it works" — it's "the team forgot it used to be hard."
Honest pricing, plainly stated.
No "talk to sales" pages. No mystery enterprise tiers. The price you see is the price.
Build like an operator, not a vendor.
We run an agency on the software we sell. If it's annoying for us, it's annoying for you.
What's next
More products, more verticals, same approach.
HippoHub is the first product under Beacon Labs. The next ones are in scoping. If you've found this page and want to suggest a vertical we should look at, we're listening.