What is a software audit?
A software audit for startups and solo founders explained. See how a software cost review finds the subscriptions you're wasting money on.
You run a startup or operate as a solo founder. Every month, software charges hit your card quietly. You suspect you're paying for tools nobody opens, but you've never actually checked. A software audit is the first step to stop the leak.
A software audit is simply a list of every subscription you pay for. It shows the cost, who uses it, and what each tool does. For a startup or solo founder, these pile up quickly. You sign up for a free trial and forget to cancel. A team member adds a tool and never tells you. Renewals happen automatically. Before you know it, you have 15 or 20 subscriptions and no clear picture of what's actually used.
Doing a thorough software audit for a small business takes a few hours of focused work. You gather bank statements, login records, and usage data. If you do it yourself, the cost is only your time. Hiring help might run a few hundred dollars, depending on how many tools you have. The more subscriptions, the longer it takes. But the payoff is usually immediate. Most startups find 20 to 30 percent of their software spend goes to things they never use.
This week, block two hours on your calendar. Pull your last three months of bank statements and highlight every software charge. That gives you a raw list. If you want an expert to do the heavy lifting, Scott Gerke at FocusDude can run a Software Cost Review for your startup. He will find overlaps, unused seats, and tools AI can replace. You get a clear report with exactly what to cut and what to keep.
After you clean up your software, you'll have fewer monthly charges. You'll know exactly what each tool does and who uses it. That frees up cash for things that actually grow your business. You'll stop worrying about silent renewals and waste. Your books will be cleaner, and your budget will go further.
What our customers say
"Scott went above and beyond anything we ever could’ve expected. He didn’t just teach our team to use Claude. He opened our eyes to a whole new way of working. He pulled our entire business together, rebuilt our sales process from the ground up, helped us get payroll organized, and got us ready to launch our new sales team. The real difference for us has been Scott. We are going to keep working with him long-term."
"Working with Scott has been amazing! His ability to ingest information, understand it, and then help you understand it is second to none. His work ethic is unlike any I've seen. Scott's forward-thinking mindset is incredibly refreshing and helpful. If you want your website to be found more easily, do yourself a favor and talk to Scott and his team. But don't stop there. Scott has a wealth of knowledge that can help you in so many ways."
"Scott and team just finished a deep dive on our website and it was eye-opening. They found and implemented several key fixes, and actually explained them so we could understand. We've already hired them for another project."
Other things people with a Startups & Solo Founders ask
unused software subscriptions
Pull 12 months of statements and match every software charge to a person who opened it last month. No owner, no renewal. It is usually a four-figure annual save for an afternoon of work.
can ai replace software
Some tools AI replaces outright, some it makes cheaper tiers workable, some you should keep. The test is whether the tool holds your data hostage. A cost review maps which is which for your stack.