Glim · your office, in your texts
Glim is an office helper that lives in your texts. With an office manager, it takes the chasing off their plate. Without one, it covers the phones and the follow-ups. Your number stays your number: no app to open, no laptop. Anything big waits for your YES.
From $299/mo + $750 setupCancel any monthYour number stays yoursAlerts go to Steven, never to your customers
Built for the trades first
The first shops are trades, so this is the day we built it on. Same plans for any small business. These are the real texts from our demo shop, Northside Comfort HVAC (fictional names and numbers), exactly as Glim writes them.
Today's jobs by tech, the addresses, what's owed and who needs a call. (Shortened here.)
Morning Rob. Tue Oct 20, 6 jobs: Marco 8:00 Whitfield, 130 Quarry Rd (boiler, no heat) … Owed: $5,149, 4 past due. Quotes out: 4, $13,990. Text PAUSE anytime.
3 days past due, a second at 10 days. Once it's marked paid, the reminders stop.
Hi Priya, it's Northside Comfort's office. Friendly reminder: invoice #1024 for $289 (furnace tune-up) was due Oct 17. Pay here: pay.northside-comfort.test/1024 or reply with any question. Reply STOP to opt out.
3 days after it went out, one more at 7 days. A yes goes to whoever books your jobs.
Hi Luis, it's Northside Comfort's office. Checking in on the $640 quote for the condenser fan motor replacement. Any questions, or want to get it on the schedule? Reply STOP to opt out.
Quotes over $5,000 and the firm invoice reminder at 21 days come to you first.
Tom Whitaker, $9,800 quote for full system replacement (furnace + AC), sent 4 days ago, no reply. OK to send this check-in? "Hi Tom, it's Northside Comfort's office. Checking in on the $9,800 quote for the full system replacement (furnace + AC). Any questions, or want to get it on the schedule? Reply STOP to opt out." Reply YES to send, NO to skip.
You're on a roof. The caller hears back, and you get told what it's about.
Hi, this is Rob's assistant at Northside Comfort. Rob's on a job and will call you back by 2. What's it about? Reply STOP to opt out.
Every text comes from a written template you see at setup, in your company's name. It never makes up a price or an amount.
You're the boss
Glim asks one question at a time, by text. Answer YES or NO from your phone. Your office manager can answer from theirs too.
Glim plans and prices
Three plans, the same for every small business. Office Helper works next to the person who runs your office; Full Assistant covers the phone when there's nobody to answer it.
Works alongside your office manager.
$299/mo
+ $750 setup, one time
Runs the office tasks for you.
$499/mo
+ $1,500 setup, one time
Covers the phone when nobody else can.
$799/mo
+ $2,500 setup, one time
What happens if it breaks
Everything breaks sometimes. Here's how Glim is built so that, at worst, a text goes out a few minutes late.
The parts that send texts (the schedule, the reminders, STOP handling, quiet hours, approvals) are plain scheduled code on a cloud server, not on my laptop. They keep running when I'm in class or asleep.
Every message starts as a written template. The AI may tidy the wording but can't add or change a number. If it fails or is slow, the plain template goes out.
A failed text retries at 1, 5 and 15 minutes and can't double-text anyone. If it still fails, the alert goes to me, never to your customer, and you never see an error message.
Text PAUSE or STOP and nothing goes to customers until you say RESUME.
On timing: the phone carriers have to approve business texting before texts to your customers start, usually 2 to 3 weeks. Your own texts with Glim (the 7:00 text, approvals, PAUSE) work from day one.
Who keeps it running
sh. industries is a one-person company, and I won't pretend otherwise. I set up every shop myself, and I'm the one who gets the alert. What makes that safe is the design above: the texts run on plain code on a cloud server, monitoring watches it and pages me, and you can PAUSE it with one word.
I study cybersecurity at WPI. Before that I spent three years working for an HVAC company, so I know what a day looks like when the phone rings on a roof and the quote you sent Thursday never got a second call.
Who else uses it? No shop runs on it yet. You'd be one of the first, and I'd set yours up personally.
How it's set up
Compared with the usual options
Competitor figures are what each company publishes, as collected in our research notes (Oct 2026); prices change, so check the source before quoting.
| What | Glim | Usual options |
|---|---|---|
| Price, published | Yes: Office Helper $299/mo + $750 setup, Office $499/mo + $1,500 setup, Full Assistant $799/mo + $2,500 setup | Small-business AI setups run about $4,500 up to $10,000–$15,000; retainers $500–$8,000/mo (consultant pricing guides). |
| Per-seat fees | None: one flat monthly price for the whole business | Managed IT typically charges per user (about $110–$185 a user a month, MSP pricing guides); some AI services price per user per month too. |
| Usage bill | Texting, calls and AI wording included up to the plan limits; anything over at our cost, itemized | Agencies split: some absorb AI usage costs into the retainer, some bill at cost, some mark them up (Digiday; vendor blogs). |
Sources: Glim comparison: setup and retainer ranges from small-business AI consulting guides, MSP per-user pricing guides and Digiday's reporting on agency usage pricing, collected in our 16 Oct 2026 research notes.
Meet the founder
I'm Steven Hainley, and I am the company. I study cybersecurity at WPI, and before that I spent three years working for an HVAC company. I built Glim to take the routine work off my own desk: finding leads, drafting outreach, scoring clips, writing the morning brief. That's so my hours go to the part you pay for: which calls and quotes matter to your shop, which moment makes the clip, what good looks like.
When you work with sh. industries, you deal with me: I set up every business myself and I watch every clip before it's delivered.
FAQ
No. With one, Glim takes the chasing off their plate so they can run the office. Without one, it covers the phones and the follow-ups, and Full Assistant also answers your overflow line live. Same plans and prices either way. What it doesn't do: the parts of office work that need a person, like ordering parts or walking a client through a site.
Every message is a written template we set up together, in your company's name, and you see each one before it's switched on. The AI may tidy the wording but can't add or change a number; if it fails, the plain template goes out. It never makes up a price or an amount.
Not yet. Today Glim works from QuickBooks Online or a spreadsheet import (your office's sheet, Google Sheets or Excel). Use one of the others? Ask me; it isn't connected yet, and I'll tell you straight what works.
The parts that send texts are plain scheduled code on a cloud server, not my laptop. A failed text retries, and if it still fails the alert comes to me, never to your customer. You can text PAUSE any time. More in What happens if it breaks.
You pay the setup fee when your first workflow is running on your phone (usually the 7:00 text), not before, and your first month starts that day. Texts to your customers start once the carriers approve business texting, usually 2 to 3 weeks; your own texts with Glim work from day one.
No. Flat monthly price, no per-seat fees, cancel any month. Studio Monthly pauses or cancels any time.
No shop runs on Glim for the office yet. You'd be one of the first, and I'd set yours up personally. sh. industries itself runs on Glim every day.
Studio founding pack: a full refund within 7 days of delivery if it isn't worth $99 to you; any pack more than 24 hours late is free. Glim: the setup fee is charged only once your first workflow is running, and you can cancel any month.
