Cipta — Automation Stack

A bootstrapped, founder-operated stack that scales to ~$200Krevenuewithoutengineeringhires.Totalmonthlycostatstart:\ast \ast <$80/mo**. Total cost at 50 workshops/month: <$300/mo.

Principle: don’t build, glue. Cipta is a workshops business, not a software company. Pay for tools that are battle-tested. Use Make.com (or n8n if you ever go self-hosted) as the glue.

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Stack at a glance

Layer	Tool	$/mo (start)	Why
Website	Whatever ciptalabs.com is on (assume Webflow/Squarespace/WP)	existing	Don’t rewrite. Replace copy.
Forms	Tally	Free	Beautiful, no-code, native Airtable sync
Booking	Cal.com	Free / $12	Discovery calls + group bookings
CRM + ops DB	Airtable	Free / $20	Single source of truth
Payments	Stripe Payment Links + Invoicing	1.7%+30¢ AU per txn	School invoicing built-in
Email — transactional & sequences	Loops	$49 (or free <1k)	Cleanest sequence builder
Email — 1:1	Gmail (existing)	—	adamdawud@gmail.com → forward to ops@ciptalabs.com later
Files & media	Google Drive (Workspace)	$7.70/mo	One folder per workshop, consent forms tracked
Automation glue	Make.com	Free / $10.59	5 scenarios cover 80%
Calendar	Google Calendar	included with Workspace	Cal.com syncs
Comms — internal	Slack (later)	Free	Skip until 2nd person joins
Docs & decks	Google Docs + Canva	$0+$14.99/mo	Pitch decks live in Canva
Social scheduling	Buffer	Free / $6	One-click cross-post
Analytics	Plausible	$9	Privacy-friendly, lighter than GA4

Starter total: ~$50/mo.\ast \ast Atscale\ast \ast :$280/mo.

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Airtable schema — the brain

One Airtable base: Cipta Operations. Eight tables.

Table 1 — Schools

Field	Type	Notes
School name	Single line
Sector	Single select	Public · Independent · Catholic · Islamic · IB · International
Suburb	Single line
LGA	Single select	Brisbane · Logan · Ipswich · Gold Coast · Sunshine Coast · Other
Year levels	Multi-select	P · 1 · 2 · … · 12
Cultural composition note	Long text	”30% Indo/Malay families” etc.
Decision-maker	Linked → Contacts
Status	Single select	Cold · Outreached · Discovery booked · Pilot booked · Active · Dormant
Lifetime workshops	Rollup	from Workshop Bookings
Lifetime revenue	Rollup	from Workshop Bookings
Last contact date	Date
Source	Single select	Cold · Referral · Inbound web · Festival · Karawatha · Other
Notes	Long text

Table 2 — Contacts

Field	Type	Notes
Name	Single line
Role	Single select	Principal · Deputy · HoC · STEM coord · D&I lead · Parent · Centre coord · Other
Email	Email
Phone	Phone
Linked org	Linked → Schools or Venues
Email opt-in	Checkbox
Last contacted	Date
Notes	Long text

Table 3 — Venues (non-school partners)

Same shape as Schools but for Karawatha, libraries, councils, festivals, mosques, community centres.

Table 4 — Workshops Catalog

Field	Type	Notes
Workshop name	Single line	”Lantern Circuits”
Cultural anchor	Single line	”Eid / Vesak / Diwali / Lunar NY”
Engineering concept	Single line	”Closed circuits”
Duration (min)	Number	60 / 90 / 120
Min age	Number
Max age	Number
Price per student	Currency
Materials cost per student	Currency
Margin %	Formula	(price - materials) / price
Curriculum mapping	Long text	Verified by
Lesson plan link	URL	Google Doc
Hero photo	Attachment
Status	Single select	Draft · Tested · Live · Retired

Table 5 — Workshop Bookings

Field	Type	Notes
Booking ID	Auto-number
Date	Date
Workshop	Linked → Workshops Catalog
Client	Linked → Schools or Venues
Contact	Linked → Contacts
Students	Number
Total fee	Currency
Materials cost	Currency
Profit	Formula
Status	Single select	Booked · Invoiced · Paid · Delivered · Reviewed · Refunded
Stripe payment link	URL
Risk assessment doc	URL
Consent forms returned	Number
Photos folder	URL
Post-workshop survey link	URL
Review collected	Checkbox
Notes	Long text

Table 6 — Attendees (privacy-aware)

Field	Type	Notes
Workshop booking	Linked
First name	Single line
Year level	Number
Photo consent	Single select	Yes-internal · Yes-public · No
Allergies	Long text	(handle with care)
Took home artefact	Checkbox

Privacy note: Don’t collect more than you need. Surnames + dates of birth are not necessary for delivery. Collect photo consent every time. Delete attendee records 12 months post-workshop unless required for retention reasons.

Table 7 — Kits & Materials

Field	Type	Notes
Kit SKU	Single line	”LANTERN-90-30” (workshop-duration-students)
Workshop	Linked
Items list	Long text
Per-kit cost	Currency
Stock on hand	Number
Reorder threshold	Number
Supplier	Single line

Table 8 — Outreach Sequences

Track cold school outreach.

Field	Type	Notes
Contact	Linked
Sequence	Single select	Cold-school-v1 · Karawatha-followup · Festival-org · Re-engage
Step	Number	1 / 2 / 3
Sent date	Date
Replied	Checkbox
Disposition	Single select	Reply · Bounce · Unsubscribe · No reply

Suggested views

• Schools: by status, by LGA, dormant >90 days
• Workshop Bookings: This month, Unpaid, To deliver, To collect review
• Contacts: To re-engage (last contacted >60 days), Hot leads (replied this week)

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Make.com scenarios — the muscle

Scenario 1 — New lead from website form

• Trigger: Tally form submission (Schools page or Parents page).
• Actions:
  1. Create/find Contact in Airtable.
  2. Create/find School/Venue.
  3. Set Status = “Cold” or “Inbound web”.
  4. Send Slack/email ping to founder.
  5. Send auto-reply email from Loops (“Thanks, you’ll hear from Adam within 1 business day”).

Scenario 2 — Discovery call booked

• Trigger: Cal.com booking webhook.
• Actions:
  1. Update Contact Status = “Discovery booked”.
  2. Add to Google Calendar (already done by Cal.com).
  3. Send a prep email 24 hours before with a 1-page Cipta intro PDF.
  4. After call: prompt founder to log discovery notes into Airtable.

Scenario 3 — Workshop booked → invoice → prep

• Trigger: Airtable Workshop Booking status = “Booked”.
• Actions:
  1. Generate Stripe Payment Link (or Stripe Invoice for schools).
  2. Email payment link to contact.
  3. Create Google Drive folder structure for that workshop (/Workshops/{date}-{client}/).
  4. Generate consent forms PDF with workshop details merged.
  5. Add 3-day-before reminder to Calendar.

Scenario 4 — Workshop delivered → followup

• Trigger: Airtable Workshop Booking status = “Delivered”.
• Actions:
  1. 24h after: email photo album link + post-workshop survey to contact.
  2. 7 days after: email a Google review request (or Trustpilot/equivalent).
  3. 60 days after: re-engage email — “It’s term X, here’s what’s on the calendar.”
  4. Update lifetime stats on School record (auto via rollup).

Scenario 5 — Stock low

• Trigger: Airtable Kits & Materials stock-on-hand < reorder threshold.
• Action: Email founder a daily digest at 7am of low-stock items.

These five cover the entire customer lifecycle. Build #1 and #3 first.

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Email sequences (built in Loops)

Cold-school-v1 (3 emails, sent 4 days apart)

• Email 1: “Subject: A 90-minute workshop where Year 5s build a working lantern.” — short, picture, 1 CTA.
• Email 2: “Subject: Mapped to D&T and Intercultural Understanding (one-pager attached).” — adds curriculum proof.
• Email 3: “Subject: Last note — happy to do a free pilot at {{school}}.” — soft close.

Post-workshop-followup (4 emails over 60 days)

• Day 1: thank you + photos.
• Day 7: review request.
• Day 30: testimonial swap (offer to be quoted on Cipta site in exchange for a quote in their newsletter).
• Day 60: re-engage with new workshop slots.

Parent-mailing-list (monthly)

• Upcoming public workshops + holiday programs + Robotik enrolments.

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Implementation order (the next two weekends)

Weekend 1 — Foundation

1. Buy domain email (adam@ciptalabs.com) on Google Workspace ($7.70/mo).
2. Set up Airtable base with the 8 tables above.
3. Spin up Cal.com — one event type: “Cipta — Discovery call (20 min)”.
4. Tally form → Airtable for Schools and Parents. Embed on ciptalabs.com.
5. Stripe account opened, KYC pending.

Weekend 2 — Glue

1. Make.com account, build Scenarios 1 and 3.
2. Loops account, build cold-school-v1 sequence.
3. Buffer account, schedule first 14 days of social posts.
4. Plausible analytics on ciptalabs.com.
5. Google Drive folder structure: /Workshops, /Decks, /Brand, /Photos-by-workshop, /Consent.

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When NOT to automate

• First 5 workshops — handwrite the post-workshop email. Founder voice = retention. Automate at workshop 10+.
• First 10 schools — call them. No sequence will replace a phone call from the founder for the first 10 deals.
• Discovery calls — never automate. Cipta is a relationship product.

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What this stack lets you NOT think about

• “Did I send the parent-prep email?” → automated at booking-3-days.
• “Did I ask for the review?” → automated at delivered+7d.
• “Did I follow up that lead?” → Airtable view shows you in 3 seconds.
• “Where are the photos from that Carindale workshop?” → Drive folder linked from the booking record.
• “Did this school pay?” → Airtable status field, synced from Stripe.

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Production checklist

• Register Google Workspace + adam@ciptalabs.com.
• Create the Airtable base. Use the schema above as your table headers — copy/paste literally.
• Connect Cal.com.
• Connect Tally to Airtable, embed forms on /schools and /parents.
• Open Stripe account; complete AU KYC (have ABN + bank ready).
• Create Loops account; import cold-school-v1 sequence.
• Set up Make.com Scenarios 1 and 3.
• Test the entire pipeline end-to-end with a fake booking before going live.