Core
Start here. This is the operating spine: visible work, runtime, approval channel, source control, and deployment.
Tools
What the team runs on.
26 tools across the YDY stack — what each one is, how the team actually uses it, and which agents have access.
How to read the stack
Core first. Tool zoo later.
The full YDY stack has 26 tools because the operating system is already running across real workstreams. If you are copying the model, start with the core spine and add tools only when a lane actually needs them.
Growth
Use once the operating loop works: CRM, outbound, paid channels, and prospect/customer motion.
Research / evidence
Use when recommendations need source-backed confidence instead of unsupported analysis.
Creative / content
Use after the brief is clear and the source material exists. Creative should amplify the lane, not invent it.
Workflow
Workflow.
Multica
The visible control plane every YDY agent works through.
Multica is a workflow tool for AI agents — issues, assignees, due dates, comments, attachments, status, and scheduled autopilots. Every real piece of work in YDY has a Multica issue, and every agent's state of play is visible there. If it's not in Multica, it isn't happening.
How it gets used
- Dan shapes briefs and assigns them to the right specialist agent.
- Zig runs the daily trial-funnel triage as a scheduled autopilot.
- Grant publishes the weekly scorecard back to the parent issue for Dan review.
Composio
Unified tool-calling layer that gives every agent the same toolkit.
Composio is a single command-line interface for hundreds of SaaS tools. YDY uses it as the shared toolkit so any agent can search, fetch, and act inside Notion, Slack, Gmail, and other services with a consistent permissioning model and audit trail.
How it gets used
- Lisa fetches Notion research notes inside an assigned issue.
- Rach searches Slack threads for context before drafting copy.
- Jason queries Notion databases for partner candidates.
Used by
Hermes
The execution layer underneath every agent — schedules, memory, tools, workspace, audit.
Hermes is the runtime the YDY team sits on. It runs scheduled jobs, holds durable agent memory and skills, stores workspace files (research, copy, decks, decisions), and keeps an audit trail of what happens. Multica is the visible workflow; Hermes is the operator/runtime layer underneath that makes it run.
How it gets used
- Bob's email-command-inbox schedule polls Gmail every 30 minutes.
- Lisa stores the research archive and quote bank in the workspace.
- Dan's decision memos and approval packages live in Hermes-backed workspace context alongside the audit log.
Communication
Communication.
Slack
Team comms — agents read inside assigned issues; sends are gated.
Slack is YDY's internal channel layer. Most agents reach Slack through Composio for read/search inside an assigned issue. Dan additionally has a direct Slack app (canvas read/write scopes) for the founder canvas in #dan-defendwise-ceo. Sending, DMs, uploads, and channel changes are explicitly gated.
How it gets used
- Dan creates and edits the weekly canvas in his founder channel.
- Rach pulls thread context before drafting a customer-quote post.
- Jessie reads customer support threads while writing a save-motion email.
Telegram
Approval/clarification pings to the founder when the team needs an answer.
Telegram is the side-channel the operator layer uses to surface only what needs a human decision. Routine work stays silent; approval requests, clarifications, and failure alerts come through here so the founder can respond in seconds.
How it gets used
- Bob routes a Jess-LinkedIn approval request to the founder.
- Cron failures surface as a Telegram nudge with the issue link.
- Time-sensitive clarifications from Dan reach Jono directly.
Used by
Gmail
A guarded command inbox for explicit founder task emails.
Gmail is the founder's inbox. The operator layer polls it on a tight cron, looking for explicit task emails — narrow, parseable requests that can be acted on without forcing the founder to retype them in chat. Everything else is left alone.
How it gets used
- Bob's email-command-inbox watches for tagged task emails from Jono.
- Customer-success replies flow back into Attio via Jessie's logging.
- Founder-side correspondence with partners is referenced (not mutated) in partner briefs.
Used by
Customer and sales
Customer and sales.
Attio
Modern CRM — pipeline state, customer history, and source attribution.
Attio is the CRM of record for Defendwise. Every open opportunity has a named next step, owner, and date in Attio, and every customer touch-point lands there within 4 hours. Zig owns pipeline hygiene; Jessie owns the customer view; Grant pulls attribution and velocity reports for the scorecard.
How it gets used
- Zig keeps the trial-first funnel honest — no stale fields, no fake stages.
- Jessie logs every customer call, ticket, and save-motion email.
- Grant pulls pipeline-stage transitions and source attribution for the weekly scorecard.
Granola
Call-note capture for customer conversations.
Granola records and structures notes from customer calls so the team has a faithful record of what the customer actually said. Used by Customer Success when writing case studies, save-motion emails, and retention plans.
How it gets used
- Jessie pulls full call history when drafting a save-motion plan.
- Case-study drafting starts from Granola notes, not memory.
- Champion-change signals get tagged from quarterly check-in calls.
Used by
Smartlead
Cold outbound platform — sends are strictly gated.
Smartlead is one of two cold-email platforms wired for outbound. By default, Zig audits, plans, and retro-reviews cold sequences here, but launching, sending, or scheduling is explicitly gated — Dan/Jono approve each batch over 50.
How it gets used
- Friday cold-sequence retro reports reply rates, deliverability risk, and 500/day readiness.
- Sender warm-up status and suppression-list state get audited weekly.
- Objection patterns from replies feed back into Rach's copy iteration.
Used by
Instantly
Second cold-outbound platform — same hard gates as Smartlead.
Instantly is the parallel cold-email platform. Same posture as Smartlead: read, plan, retro — but no agent can launch, schedule, or send without explicit approval. Used for sender redundancy and platform comparison.
How it gets used
- Zig compares deliverability across Smartlead and Instantly weekly.
- Bounce/complaint thresholds are checked here before any list activation.
- Trial-CTA copy lock-in is verified across both platforms.
Used by
Paid ads
Paid ads.
Google Ads
Search and display ads — campaign build, pacing, conversion-action QA.
Google Ads is the primary paid search and demand channel for Defendwise. Nick owns the platform mechanics — campaign build, audience exclusions, UTMs, conversion actions, destination URLs. Tony owns the strategy that Nick executes against. Grant verifies the tracking before any number is reported.
How it gets used
- Nick builds and QAs MSP-targeted search campaigns from Tony's test brief.
- Pacing snapshots and budget alerts are reviewed daily.
- Grant cross-references conversion actions against Plausible and Attio.
LinkedIn Campaign Manager
LinkedIn paid ads — accessed via direct API helper (not Composio).
LinkedIn Campaign Manager is the paid B2B channel for reaching MSP owners and managing partners. The integration is a direct API helper rather than the shared Composio path, because campaign mutation needs explicit access control.
How it gets used
- Nick builds MSP-decision-maker audiences with strict exclusions.
- Grant pulls spend, CPL, CTR, and engagement weekly into the scorecard.
- Creative refresh QA happens here before any launch.
Reddit Ads
Reddit paid placement — campaigns built paused; launch requires approval.
Reddit is a high-trust MSP community channel and Defendwise treats it carefully. Nick builds Reddit campaigns paused by default; nothing goes live without explicit approval. Grant reads back performance into the scorecard.
How it gets used
- Nick builds r/msp-adjacent audience targeting from Lisa's research.
- Creative is paired with Picasso visuals and Rach copy before pause-state launch.
- Reply moderation and subreddit-fit risk gets read before going active.
Build and deploy
Build and deploy.
GitHub
Source control for the marketing site, experiment wiring, and tooling.
GitHub holds the code for the Defendwise marketing site and YDY tooling. Woz works in branches, previews changes on staging, and never merges without verifying the change loads, the form submits, and the tracking fires.
How it gets used
- Woz wires a new experiment variant in a branch and previews on staging.
- Pre-merge checks: type-check, build, screenshot evidence in the PR.
- Tooling scripts (like the Multica autopilot fetcher) live here.
Used by
Vercel
Hosting and deployment for the Defendwise marketing surfaces.
Vercel runs the Defendwise web surfaces (marketing site, landing pages, embedded forms). Preview deploys per branch make staging verification fast; production promotions go through explicit gates.
How it gets used
- Every branch gets a preview URL for Tony, Rach, and Picasso to verify before merge.
- Production rollbacks are one click if a deploy regresses an experiment.
- Edge functions handle form submissions and tracking pixel proxies.
Used by
Knowledge and research
Knowledge and research.
Notion
Source-of-truth pages and databases — read/write through Composio.
Notion is where source material, specs, decks, and longer-form internal docs live. Most agents read from Notion inside an assigned issue; writes (new pages, new rows) are explicitly delegated. Deletes and schema changes require approval.
How it gets used
- Lisa cross-references quote-bank entries when writing the pattern brief.
- Tony pulls offer/pricing decks before writing the monthly memo.
- Rach reads existing campaign docs to keep voice consistent with prior work.
Web search
Public-web research — competitor moves, community signal, partner candidates.
Generic web search is on every research-leaning agent's toolbelt. Lisa uses it for competitor evidence and r/msp signal; Jason uses it for partner and community research; researchers triangulate confirmed vs inferred vs assumed in every finding.
How it gets used
- Lisa surveys MSP forum threads for pricing-language patterns.
- Jason identifies new AMA and webinar opportunities to map.
- Grant verifies external dataset claims before reporting them as confirmed.
Tavily Search
Agent-native web search for faster evidence collection and source discovery.
Tavily Search is the richer public-web search path for research-heavy agent work. YDY uses it when agents need cleaner source discovery than generic search: competitor evidence, MSP community signal, page/source checks, and fast current-web context inside assigned issues.
How it gets used
- Lisa runs Tavily searches for competitor/source evidence before writing pattern briefs.
- Hus uses Tavily to triangulate SEO and AEO source candidates before making recommendations.
- Jason uses it to find partner/community candidates without turning the task into link-hoarding theatre.
Tavily Deep Research
Structured deep-research runs for bigger research questions and evidence packs.
Tavily Deep Research is the heavier research mode: plan, search, extract, synthesize, and return a source-backed brief. It is used for questions where one search pass is too thin — market scans, competitor evidence packs, SEO/AEO source maps, and bigger founder-ready research handbacks.
How it gets used
- Lisa runs deep research for competitor and MSP-buyer evidence packs.
- Hus uses deep research when an SEO recommendation needs source-backed commercial context.
- Dan routes long-form research questions here instead of asking agents to improvise without sources.
LinkedIn (search + drafts)
MSP-owner prospecting, champion-change watching, and draft posts.
LinkedIn (non-ads) is used for prospecting MSP decision-makers, watching for champion job changes in customer accounts, and drafting Jess/Jono founder-voice posts. Posting happens only after explicit approval; nothing auto-posts.
How it gets used
- Zig searches for MSP-owner prospects matching the ICP.
- Jessie sets champion-change alerts on every primary contact.
- Rach drafts Jess's daily LinkedIn pack — Dan picks the strongest variant.
Supadata
Video/transcript extraction for source-backed content and research workflows.
Supadata is used when agents need transcript/source extraction from video or media-style inputs. It supports research and content work where a source has to be read and quoted rather than vaguely remembered.
How it gets used
- Lisa pulls transcript evidence before turning a source into research signal.
- Rach uses source-backed excerpts when drafting content from video material.
- Dan treats missing/blocked extraction as a source gap, not an excuse to invent.
Analytics and billing
Analytics and billing.
Plausible
Privacy-first site analytics — funnel diagnostics and source attribution.
Plausible tracks marketing-site behaviour without cookies. Grant owns the read; Woz wires the events Grant specs. Every reported number is labelled (Confirmed / Inferred / Assumption / Gap) so the team never declares a winner off broken tracking.
How it gets used
- Grant publishes the weekly scorecard with funnel-stage conversion rates.
- Source attribution gets triangulated against Attio and Google Ads.
- Woz verifies a new tracking event fires in preview before merging.
DataForSEO
SEO data layer — keyword, SERP, rank, and technical-search evidence.
DataForSEO is the SEO evidence layer for DefendWise. Hus uses it for keyword/SERP/rank evidence and technical SEO audits; Grant uses it to support organic-acquisition baselines. Access gaps are labelled as gaps, not quietly converted into fake certainty.
How it gets used
- Hus checks commercial keywords and SERP structure for DefendWise SEO audits.
- Grant folds GSC/DataForSEO evidence into the SEO measurement baseline.
- Dan routes DataForSEO-backed recommendations into Woz, Rach, Lisa, and Jason lanes.
Stripe
Subscription billing — MRR, customer count, churn, expansion.
Stripe is the billing platform for Defendwise. Grant reads MRR, customer count, churn, and expansion from the Stripe dashboard into the weekly scorecard; Jessie watches renewals; nothing is mutated through agents.
How it gets used
- Grant publishes MRR/churn/expansion in the weekly scorecard.
- Trial-to-paid conversion attribution lands here for forecast confidence.
- Jessie flags upcoming renewals on the customer health watch.
Used by
Creative
Creative.
Image generation
AI image generation for ad creative, infographics, and explainers.
Generic image-generation tooling for ad creative, infographics, and explainer visuals. Picasso owns this and operates from structured prompts paired with the doodle-style guide and the Defendwise palette — no 40-word adjective stacks, no shield-padlock-hooded-figure clichés.
How it gets used
- Picasso ships three intentionally different ad directions per brief.
- Infographics for r/msp posts get generated with locked style + palette.
- Image prompts are spec'd reproducibly so other agents can iterate.
Used by
Doodle style guide
Internal style alias resolver — keeps every visual on-brand.
The doodle style guide is a workspace resolver that returns canonical style instructions when an agent's brief references a known style alias. Keeps Picasso's creative consistent across briefs and avoids ad-hoc style drift.
How it gets used
- Picasso runs resolve-image-style.py before generating any visual.
- Rach references the alias in copy briefs so creative is paired predictably.
- Doodle-style assets stay visually unified across campaigns and channels.
Used by