Why We Built Intake

Every professional who works with clients has the same problem: getting documents and information from people is painful. We built Intake to fix that.

The Problem We Kept Seeing

Talk to any accountant, loan officer, immigration attorney, or bookkeeper and you'll hear the same story. They send an email asking for documents. The client responds with one out of five. A week later, another follow-up. Then a text. Then a phone call. Eventually the documents trickle in, scattered across email attachments, Google Drive links, text messages, and sometimes even fax.

The work itself isn't hard. The chasing is what kills your time. One CPA we spoke with estimated she spent 30% of tax season just following up on missing documents. Not reviewing them, not preparing returns; just asking people to send things they already knew they needed to send.

Why Existing Tools Didn't Cut It

There are plenty of document management tools, client portals, and file-sharing services. But they all have the same problem: they require your clients to do too much. Create an account. Download an app. Learn a new interface. Navigate a folder structure.

Your clients aren't tech workers. They're homebuyers, small business owners, visa applicants, and families trying to get their taxes done. Every extra step you add is a step where they stop and never come back.

We wanted something where you send a link, the client clicks it, and they can immediately start uploading documents and filling out forms. No account. No password. No friction.

What We Believe Good Software Looks Like

We have strong opinions about how tools should work. Modern software should do one thing and do it well. It should be fast. Not "loading spinner" fast, but instant. And it should be simple enough that you never need to read a manual.

We're not trying to replace your CRM, your practice management system, or your accounting software. You already have tools you like. Intake does one thing: it gets documents and information from your clients into your hands, quickly and painlessly. That's it.

We also believe your data is your data. You should be able to pull it out whenever you want, in whatever format you need, into whatever system you use. That's why Intake is API-first. Every feature we build has a REST API endpoint and real-time webhooks. Connect Intake to your CRM, your file storage, Zapier, Make.com, whatever you need. Your data shouldn't be locked inside our product.

What We Built

Intake is a client intake and document collection tool built for professionals. Here's how it works:

1. You create a request, combining a custom intake form and a document checklist in one link.
2. Your client clicks the link and sees exactly what's needed. They fill out the form and upload their documents. No account required.
3. Our AI automatically classifies each document, matching it to your checklist items with over 95% accuracy. You preview everything in-browser without downloading a single file.

We built it for the industries where this problem is worst: tax and accounting, mortgage and lending, immigration law, and bookkeeping. But the pattern is the same anywhere you need to collect documents and information from people who'd rather not deal with it.

What's Next

We're just getting started. Intake already handles custom forms with built-in validation, document checklists, AI classification, in-browser preview, and a full API with webhooks so you can pipe data anywhere.

We're building this in public and shipping fast. If you work with clients and you're tired of chasing documents, give Intake a try. It's free for up to 3 clients, and you can be up and running in about two minutes.

We'd love to hear what you think.