Brand Deal Pipeline & Contract Tracker for Influencers

Problem and target customer

Why this exists

Customer problem

Influencers juggle brand deals across DMs, spreadsheets, and email, losing track of negotiation status, deliverable deadlines, and outstanding payments.

Who pays

Solo influencers and small creator teams managing five to fifty active brand partnerships who need a dedicated pipeline instead of repurposing generic CRM or spreadsheet tools.

Business model

Monthly SaaS subscription with usage-based add-ons for high-volume creators managing many concurrent deals.

Editorial note

Influencers managing multiple brand partnerships simultaneously lose visibility into where each deal stands, what deliverables are due, and which payments remain outstanding. A dedicated pipeline tracker replaces the patchwork of spreadsheets, DMs, and calendar reminders with one workspace built around the sponsorship lifecycle.

The MVP focuses on a single primary workflow: moving a brand deal from initial pitch through negotiation, contract, deliverable completion, and payment. By excluding marketplace discovery, e-signature, and team collaboration, the first version ships faster and validates whether influencers will pay for structured deal management alone.

An LLM module is included because the source explicitly lists an LLM API integration and the email template library benefits from context-aware draft generation using stored rate cards and deal details. Calendar sync ensures deadline reminders reach the influencer's existing scheduling workflow rather than requiring them to check a separate app.

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What do you need next?

Evaluate the operating tradeoffs quickly, or inspect how to build the MVP.

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Compare the three operating paths at the default workload before opening the full calculator.

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Review MVP scope, workflow, states, data rules, architecture, and acceptance criteria.

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Evaluation preview

What would it take to run?

Directional infrastructure estimates for the current 1,500 relationship records assumption. Open the full calculator when you are ready to change it.

Open full cost and deployment

ManagedSelected

$25-$135/ month

Managed app hosting, database, backups, and basic observability for the crm workflow.

Lowest operating effort

Lean self-hosted

$8-$98/ month

One small VPS running the app, database, media volume, and backup job.

Lowest baseline cost

More control

$45-$195/ month

Separate app, data, storage, and worker capacity for cleaner operations.

Most separation and control

Build blueprint

Build the first paid use case

Product goal

Who it serves and what it must change

Target user: Solo influencer or small creator team managing five to fifty active brand partnerships
Problem: Brand deals are scattered across DMs, spreadsheets, and email, causing missed deadlines, forgotten follow-ups, and untracked payments
Measurable outcome: User logs at least one deal update per week and reduces missed deliverable deadlines by 50 percent within the first month

MVP scope

What ships now and what waits

Included

Pipeline board with stages: Pitched, Responded, Negotiating, Contracted, Deliverables Due, Paid
Deal record with brand name, contact email, scope, rate, and notes
Deliverable checklist with due dates and calendar export
Payment tracking with amount, status, and monthly summary
Rate card storage per workspace
Email template library with LLM-assisted draft generation
Activity log per deal

Excluded

E-signature and contract document generation
Brand-to-influencer discovery marketplace
Multi-seat team collaboration and role permissions
Social media analytics import
Direct payment collection via processor

UX and user flow

Screens, actions, and states

Pipeline Board

Kanban-style view of all brand deals organized by stage with drag-and-drop advancement

Drag deal card between stagesClick card to open detail drawerFilter by brand or payment status

Deal Detail Drawer

Side panel showing full deal context including deliverables, payments, notes, and activity log

Edit deal scope and rateAdd deliverable with deadlineRecord paymentWrite activity note

Rate Card Panel

Reference view of stored rates per content type for quick access during negotiation

View rate cardEdit ratesCopy rate into deal note

Email Composer

Draft outreach or follow-up emails using templates and LLM generation with deal context

Select templateGenerate LLM draftEdit draftCopy to clipboard

Monthly Summary

Dashboard showing total invoiced, received, and outstanding payments for the current month

View income breakdownFilter by monthExport summary

Primary flow

Open Pipeline Board
Create new deal in Pitched stage
Advance deal through stages as negotiation progresses
Add deliverables with deadlines upon reaching Contracted
Record payment and mark deal Paid

Loading, empty, and error states

Pitched - initial outreach sent
Responded - brand replied, awaiting terms
Negotiating - counter-offers in progress
Contracted - agreement reached, deliverables pending
Deliverables Due - content being produced
Paid - all deliverables complete and payment received

Core entity outline

Entities and business rules

Brand

Represents a company the influencer is negotiating or working with

Fields: id, workspace_id, name, contact_email, notes
Relations: Has many Deals

Deal

Core pipeline record tracking a single sponsorship opportunity through stages

Fields: id, workspace_id, brand_id, stage, scope, rate, currency, created_at
Relations: Belongs to Brand, Has many Deliverables, Has many Payments, Has many ActivityLogs

Deliverable

Individual content item owed under a deal with a specific deadline

Fields: id, deal_id, title, content_type, due_date, status
Relations: Belongs to Deal

Payment

Tracks invoiced amount and receipt status for a deal

Fields: id, deal_id, amount, currency, expected_date, status
Relations: Belongs to Deal

RateCard

Stored pricing reference per content type for the workspace

Fields: id, workspace_id, content_type, rate, currency
Relations: Belongs to Workspace

Business rules

A deal cannot move to Contracted without at least one deliverable defined
A deal cannot be marked Paid while any deliverable status is incomplete
Payment status defaults to Pending and can only be set to Received by user action
Each stage change creates an activity log entry with timestamp and previous stage
Rate card rates are workspace-scoped and do not sync across workspaces

Architecture and data flow

Components, integrations, and controls

Pipeline API

CRUD operations for deals, deliverables, and payments with stage transition validation

Reminder Scheduler

Daily cron job checking deliverable deadlines and overdue payments, triggering notifications

Email Draft Service

Calls LLM API with deal context and template to generate outreach or follow-up drafts

Integrations

OpenAI API for email draft generation from templates and deal context
Calendar API via Make for exporting deliverable deadlines to user calendar
Transactional email via Make for deadline and payment reminder notifications

Data flow

User updates deal stage in Lovable frontend
Frontend calls Pipeline API which validates business rules and writes to Supabase
Stage change triggers Make scenario to send confirmation email if configured
Reminder Scheduler on Railway checks deadlines daily and fires Make reminder scenarios
Email Composer sends deal context to OpenAI API and returns draft to frontend

Failure handling

If LLM API call fails, email composer falls back to raw template without generated content
If Make calendar sync fails, deliverable deadline still stored in database and visible in UI
If transactional email send fails, reminder scheduler retries once after one hour then logs the failure

Security

Row-level security in Supabase isolates workspace data per authenticated user
API endpoints require valid session token from Supabase Auth
LLM API key stored as environment variable on Railway, never exposed to frontend

Rate limits

LLM email generation limited to 20 drafts per workspace per day
Calendar export limited to 50 events per workspace per day via Make
Transactional email limited to 100 sends per workspace per day

Deliverables and acceptance

Definition of done for the MVP

Deliverables

Responsive pipeline board with drag-and-drop stage transitions
Deal detail drawer with deliverables, payments, and activity log
Rate card panel with editable rates per content type
Email composer with LLM draft generation and template selection
Monthly payment summary dashboard
Calendar export for deliverable deadlines via Make
Daily reminder scheduler deployed on Railway

Acceptance criteria

User can create a deal, advance it through all six stages, and the activity log records each transition with timestamp
Adding a deliverable with a due date exports an event to the user's calendar within five minutes via Make
Recording a payment as Received updates the monthly summary total and the deal cannot be marked Paid if any deliverable is incomplete
Selecting an email template and clicking generate produces an LLM draft that includes the brand name and deal scope within ten seconds
Daily reminder scheduler identifies a deliverable due within 48 hours and sends a transactional email notification to the deal owner

Recommended stack

Enough technology for the first version

Frontend

Lovable

Rapid card-based UI with pastel-themed pipeline board and mobile-friendly responsive layout for on-the-go deal updates.

Backend

Supabase

Relational database for brands, deals, deliverables, and payments with row-level security for per-workspace isolation.

Automation glue

Make

Bounded integration for calendar sync and transactional email triggers when deal stages change or deadlines approach.

Hosting

Railway

Deploys the backend API and scheduled jobs for deadline reminders and payment follow-up notifications.

LLM

OpenAI API

Generates pitch and follow-up email drafts using deal context and stored rate card data.

Why this is sufficient

Lovable accelerates the card-based pipeline UI with the specified lavender and mint pastel aesthetic. Supabase provides the relational schema needed for interconnected deal, deliverable, and payment records. Make handles only the glue between stage changes and external calendar or email services. Railway hosts scheduled reminder jobs. OpenAI powers the email drafting feature explicitly listed in the source integrations.

Not required for the MVP

Object storage for media assetsPayment processor integration for direct collectionMulti-tenant team management with granular roles

Next stepTurn the blueprint into an execution plan

Copy the build prompt, model the operating cost, and choose where to deploy.

Build and ship

Execution

Build, price, and deploy the MVP

Once the blueprint is clear, use the prompt, cost model, and deployment options to start building.

Build prompt

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Open the prompt pack whenever you are ready to take this blueprint into your builder.

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Cost calculator

Model the MVP operating cost

A technical run-cost estimate for the first production version. Team, acquisition, payment fees, and business COGS are excluded.

Estimated monthly total$25-$135

$13-$68 per 750 relationship records

Relationship records updated / month1,500 relationship records

Selected pathEasiest

Pricing checkedAug 2, 2026

Cost breakdown

$25-$135 per month

Low and high values allow for usage variance and plan headroom.

Managed infrastructure

Managed app hosting, database, backups, and basic observability for the crm workflow.

50K relationship records included, then $8-$20 per 100K relationship records

$25-$65

Transactional email

Transactional email is implied by the source workflow or feature list.

3K relationship records included

Payment processor

Payment processor is implied by the source workflow or feature list.

100 included, then $0-$5 per 100 relationship records

$0-$70

Included

Application hosting
Relational database
Basic backups
source assets and publishable variants state
Transactional email
Payment processor

Not included

Paid acquisition
Founder or team time
Tax or legal review
Custom enterprise procurement

Pricing basis

The estimate combines the selected infrastructure path, required operating modules, selected optional modules, and usage above included monthly allowances. Taxes and regional uplifts are excluded.

Managed app baseline Resend pricing Stripe pricing

Deployment options

Pick the operational tradeoff

Choose based on operating preference, not only the headline price.

EasiestRecommended

Railway

Fast Docker deployment for the app, database, worker, and preview workflow without managing a VPS.

$15-90/month before usage-heavy add-ons

Good fit

Fast setup
Low starting cost
Good preview workflow

Limitation

Usage billing needs active monitoring as traffic and jobs grow.

Open Railway

Cheapest

Vultr

Run the app, worker, and database on one small Vultr VPS with Docker Compose and explicit backups.

$8-60/month before managed add-ons

Good fit

Predictable baseline
Portable setup
Room for workers

Limitation

You own patching, backups, monitoring, and incident response.

Deploy on Vultr View the lean VPS guide

More control

DigitalOcean

Separate application, worker, data, storage, and backup responsibilities as the workload grows.

$10-120/month before managed add-ons

Good fit

Cloud VPS control
Global regions
Room for workers

Limitation

You own server setup, patching, backups, and operational monitoring.

Explore DigitalOcean View the separated cloud guide

Start building

Prototype, automate, then deploy

Recommended route

01Vibe-coding builderBuild the pipeline board and deal cards

Create a responsive card-based pipeline UI with lavender and mint pastel accents, drag-and-drop stage columns, and a deal detail drawer showing deliverables, payments, and activity log.

Open Lovable 02AutomationWire calendar sync and email triggers

Configure bounded Make scenarios to export deliverable deadlines to the user's calendar and send transactional email reminders when a deal stage changes or a payment due date passes.

Open Make 03DeployDeploy scheduled reminder jobs

Host a lightweight cron service on Railway that checks upcoming deliverable deadlines and overdue payments daily, triggering Make scenarios or direct email sends.

Open Railway

Brand Deal Pipeline & Contract Tracker for Influencers

Is this worth validating?

Build this if

Avoid this if

Validate first

Why this exists

Customer problem

Who pays

Business model

What do you need next?

What would it take to run?

Build the first paid use case

Who it serves and what it must change

What ships now and what waits

Included

Excluded

Screens, actions, and states

Primary flow

Loading, empty, and error states

Entities and business rules

Business rules

Components, integrations, and controls

Integrations

Data flow

Failure handling

Security

Rate limits

Definition of done for the MVP

Deliverables

Acceptance criteria

Enough technology for the first version

Lovable

Supabase

Make

Railway

OpenAI API

Why this is sufficient

Not required for the MVP

Build, price, and deploy the MVP

Copy this into a builder

Your build prompt is ready

Model the MVP operating cost

Usage assumptions

$25-$135 per month

Included

Not included

Pricing basis

Pick the operational tradeoff

Railway

Good fit

Limitation

Vultr

Good fit

Limitation

DigitalOcean

Good fit

Limitation

Prototype, automate, then deploy

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