Opportunities › Integration and automation for legacy ERP systems › Proposed app
Tillerline
Reliable automation and cloud links for green-screen ERP systems, no rewrite needed
- Score
- 48
- confidence 56
- Evidence
- 8
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 3
- named in sources
- First version
- 45 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop app
- PWA: runs in the browser, installs on Mac and Windows
- Market since
- 2003
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop app: Operations teams configure automation workflows, monitor dashboards and run history, and debug failed tasks at their desks during work hours. Sample screens on a computer, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Workflows
1 needs attention96%
About this appAI proposal
Tillerline connects text-based ERP terminals to modern tools. Record a task once, such as entering an order or posting an invoice, and it runs as a monitored workflow instead of a SendKeys script on an old Windows machine.
It is built for wholesale, distribution and manufacturing teams of 50 to 500 people whose ERP is decades old and not being replaced. Every step checks what the screen shows before it types, retries safely, and stops with a clear message when something looks wrong.
Unlike general RPA suites, it is designed around terminal screens and around moving old VBA and macro scripts onto something your team can read, test and change.
- Tagline
- Keep the ERP you have. Stop typing into it by hand.
- Voice
- PlainSteadyPractical
- Why this name
- A tiller steers a boat steadily without replacing it. The name suggests guiding an existing system, and the line is the steady flow of work.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Record a terminal task
Walk through a screen sequence once. Tillerline turns it into named steps with fields you can map to data.
No member yet
Screen checks before every keystroke
Each step waits for the expected screen text. If the screen differs, the run pauses instead of typing into the wrong field.
No member yet
Safe retries and holds
Failed runs land in a queue showing the screen at failure. Fix and resume, or skip, without duplicate entries.
No member yet
Cloud connectors
Pull orders from email, spreadsheets, webhooks or EDI files and push results back to modern tools.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F5C4DForest Ink · primary#F4F1EAPaper · surface#1F2A2ECharcoal · text#D9822BAmber · accent#3A6EA5Signal Blue · data
Typography
Aa
Tillerline
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Keep the ERP you have. Stop typing into it by hand.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices. These tiers, by workflow and run volume, are a starting point to test with real customers.
Starter
$199 a month
- Up to 5 workflows
- 5,000 runs a month
- Email alerts
- Run history for 30 days
Team
$599 a month
- Up to 25 workflows
- 50,000 runs a month
- Approval steps
- Script import assistant
- Run history for 1 year
Migration help
Contact us
- We move your old scripts
- Setup for your ERP screens
- Training for your staff
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- No loop in the product. It reaches customers through direct sales, content and community posts. Workflows run behind the scenes, so users of the ERP do not see Tillerline.
- Do they become customers?
- Exposure is minimal. Test whether posts and guides about script migration bring in inbound requests from ERP admins who can pay.
- First customers
- Wholesale distributors with 50 to 200 staff on one legacy ERP family, reached through the person who maintains their old order-entry scripts.
- Where to reach them
- Developer and ops forums: Share a guide on replacing SendKeys and VBA scripts with checked, retryable workflows, and invite readers to a pilot.
- Distribution trade groups: Offer a talk and a free script review for members running the same ERP.
- Independent ERP consultants: Offer a referral fee to consultants who maintain these systems and are asked for integrations.
- First milestone
- Five paying distributors on one ERP, each running a live order-entry workflow for 30 days.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedHacker News post received 320 points and 309 comments
- Public claimFamilies and smaller businesses continue to run legacy TUI ERP systems from the 1990s for core operations including customer management, ordering, invoicing, and financials, and have not migrated to modern systems.
- Public claimBusinesses rely on brittle custom automation scripts written decades ago to manage their workflow, and these scripts continue to function but are difficult to maintain and error-prone.
- Public claimLegacy ERP systems are valued for their efficiency once users become expert in them, but training new users is painful, which limits adoption of better automation and practices.
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Terminal connector agentLightweight on-premise agent (Python, telnet/SSH)A small agent inside the customer network opens telnet or SSH sessions to the ERP, since the cloud cannot reach it.
- This app · Job queueDurable queue with retriesRuns need ordering, retries and holds so a failure never causes duplicate entries.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalEach ERP has its own screens, timing and quirks. Reliable recording and screen checks may need per-system tuning, which slows onboarding.
- CommercialBuyers may have little budget or IT staff, and may prefer a one-off consultant script over a subscription.
- RegulatoryThe ERP vendor's licence may restrict automated access to the system. This needs checking before selling.
- DataThe agent handles customer and financial data inside customer networks. Security reviews and access control add work and trust demands.
- PlatformSome systems have unusual terminals or no remote access, so the on-premise agent may not work for them.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.