ShiftPulse – Shift availability & scheduling helper

Collect staff availability via one link and auto-generate conflict-free shift schedules

Problem

Small teams with rotating shifts (cafes, retail, clinics, on-call crews) collect availability through scattered group chats, spreadsheets, or verbal confirmations. Managers chase people for answers and manually stitch schedules together, then re-message everyone when a last-minute swap happens. The core pain people keep describing is making availability easy for staff and eliminating back-and-forth for managers.

Solution

Staff open one persistent link or mini-app each week and tick the slots they can work. Managers see a heatmap of availability on a calendar, generate a draft schedule that meets minimum staffing, and export an image to the group chat. Staff can request swaps, and the system detects conflicts and notifies the right people.

Users

Managers of 10–50 person shift-based teams: bubble tea chains, community clinics, small security or logistics dispatch crews

MVP

Availability collection page with no sign-up required; manager calendar with conflict hints; one-click schedule image export; swap request and approval flow; WeChat/email notifications

Revenue

Team-size based subscription: free under 5 people, $5/mo for 20, $14/mo for 50; annual discount.

Why now

Small-team digital tools are mainstream but shift scheduling is still manual; low-code and AI let a solo dev ship multi-platform MVPs in weeks. Overseas tools are pricey and don't integrate with WeChat/DingTalk, leaving a clear localization gap.