1. Background & Context
The Company: Probo
Probo is an expert-led compliance platform founded by Antoine Bouchardy (CEO) and Bryan Frimin (CTO). On top of their open source platform, they provide a high-touch service after realizing a fundamental truth: Founders want true on-going compliance support, not just a one-shot service.
By taking the heavy lifting off their customers' plates, Probo grew rapidly. Backed by Y Combinator, they scaled from a handful of users to nearly 70 active clients in just a few months. But this growth created a massive operational bottleneck.
The Challenge: "Slack was the truth, the CRM was a graveyard"
Before Vybe, Probo's operations were fragmented. They managed every customer via shared Slack channels while attempting to use Attio as their CRM.
- The Disconnect: There was no synchronization between their communication layer (Slack) and their database (Attio).
- The Friction: Updating the CRM required manual data entry. Because the team was busy delivering service, the CRM was rarely updated.
- The Consequence: Slack became the only source of truth, but it offered no visibility into the actual status of a customer's compliance journey.
"Our way of prioritizing clients was simple but chaotic: The last person who messaged us was at the top of the pile. We had to read 40 channels in a row just to know where we stood. It was an operational nightmare."
— Antoine Bouchardy, CEO of Probo
The Operational Cost
The lack of a unified view didn't just cause stress; it paralyzed product development.
- Zero Coding for the CTO: To handle the influx of 60+ clients, Bryan (CTO) had to stop coding entirely from April to September. Instead of building features, he was forced to handle Operations and Account Management.
- Internal Standards at Risk: While clients were happy, Antoine felt they were failing their own internal standards. A 24-hour response time felt like "bad service" to them, and they were approaching a breaking point.
Why standard tools didn't work
Probo explored several market solutions, but nothing fit their hybrid "SaaS + Service" model:
- Pylon: Felt too much like a support ticketing system rather than a Customer Success tool.
- Linear + Slack: Attempting to use Linear for customer tracking felt like building a "steam engine": too heavy and complex.
- DIY: They considered building a custom internal tool, but knew it would distract them from their core product.
The Trigger: With the client count hitting 65 and the CTO buried in administrative work, Probo needed a solution that could act as a custom back-office (syncing Google Calendar, Slack, Stripe, Email, Attio and their production database) without forcing them to change how they worked.
2. Building Experience
The CTO's Condition: Security by Design
For Antoine (CEO), the appeal was agility. But for Bryan (CTO), the priority was security. Connecting a no-code tool to production databases is usually a non-starter for technical leaders.
Bryan approved Vybe because of its "Private Enclave" architecture and robust SSH tunneling. Because the app sits behind Probo's own Google Authentication, it creates a secure bubble. Furthermore, the SSH tunneling feature meant Bryan felt comfortable connecting their production database directly to Vybe, something he noted he would never have done with a standard platform.
"If it weren't for the Google Auth integration, it would have been a no-go. I wouldn't have connected production data. But knowing the app lives in a private enclave, where even if a prompt goes wrong, the data remains internal and secure, that gave me the peace of mind to let Antoine build freely."
— Bryan Frimin, CTO of Probo
"Aha" Moments: Shipping Features in Minutes
Probo uses Vybe to iterate constantly. Antoine shared two specific moments where execution speed changed how they solve problems:
1. The Bulk Messaging Upgrade (5 Minutes) Antoine needed to segment client broadcasts using specific business data. He checked his data table, identified the API output fields, and prompted Vybe to add complex filters. Five minutes later, he was sending targeted messages.
2. The Feature Request Loop (4 Minutes) Customers were asking for features during calls, but Probo lacked a tracker. Antoine prompted a new page to log requests and automate a Slack notification to those specific clients once the feature ships. A full-cycle feedback loop, deployed in 4 minutes.
3. Impact & Results
Unblocking the Engineering Team
The most critical ROI wasn't just operational efficiency; it was the total removal of mental load for the CTO.
Before Vybe, Bryan faced a hard choice: either stop building the product to manage operations, or maintain "hacky scripts" to help Antoine manage operations. Vybe removed the need for both.
"Without Vybe, internal tools would have been the 'third wheel' (neglected scripts running locally on my machine that I'd have to fix constantly). Now, Antoine is autonomous. If he needs to automate a Slack message, he builds it. It takes zero energy from me."
— Bryan Frimin, CTO of Probo
The bottleneck cleared almost immediately:
- The Bottleneck (August): The Founding Engineer (Sacha) would wait up to a week for a Pull Request review because the CTO was buried in admin work.
- The Shift (September): Within weeks of deploying the Vybe app, Bryan went from 0% coding time to spending 50-70% of his week back on Tech and Product.
The "Christmas Tree" Effect
The impact is visually obvious. Because Vybe allows Antoine to process client updates and bulk messages so rapidly, the CTO's Slack channels suddenly light up with notifications: a phenomenon the team calls the "Christmas Tree Effect."
"Bryan told me his Slack lights up like a Christmas tree because I'm interacting with dozens of clients in minutes. It's a visual signal that we are moving fast."
Scaling Service Quality, Not Just Headcount
Probo is approaching 100 clients, yet they haven't had to linearly scale their operations team. The app has become the single source of truth, ensuring no client is left behind even as volume doubles.
4. Reflection & Looking Ahead
Defining Vybe: "My Custom internal apps"
When asked how he describes Vybe to other founders, Antoine describes it as the missing piece of infrastructure for a scaling startup.
"It is simply my custom app. It fits my exact needs, I can iterate on it without distracting my engineering team, and the first version was live in just three weeks. It's the tool that lets us run the business without stopping the product."
What's Next: From Reactive to Proactive
So far, Probo has used Vybe to react faster to incoming client needs. The next phase is about anticipation.
- The Goal: Shift from "responding quickly" to "solving problems before the client asks."
- The Plan: Antoine plans to use Vybe's automation features (like cronjobs) to monitor client health and trigger proactive outreach.
- The Focus: The mission remains: "Nail Customer Success completely."
The Ideal Vybe User Profile
Based on their experience, Antoine and Bryan identify two specific profiles that get the most ROI from the platform:
1. The Company Stage: The "Scale-Up Sweet Spot" Startups hitting ~$500k ARR. At this stage, operational complexity explodes. You need a back-office to function, but you cannot afford to divert your engineering talent away from the core product to build internal tools.
2. The Builder: "The Technical Operator" You don't need to be a Senior Software Engineer to build on Vybe, but you need an "engineering mindset."
"The ideal builder is someone who understands the logic of how tools talk to each other, someone who understands APIs at a high level. If you've connected tools before or dabble in low-code, you will fly on this platform."
