Proofavo
Artwork approval for freelancers and print shops
Solo founder here, building Proofavo (https://proofavo.com) as a side project — an artwork approval tool for freelancers, small studios and print shops.
It exists because of one specific failure mode I kept seeing: a proof goes out as an email attachment, feedback comes back in three replies and a phone call, someone approves "the file" — and the wrong version gets printed. The reprint comes out of the shop's margin.
The existing tools (Filestage, Ziflow & co.) solve this for agencies, at $129–$329/month, priced per seat. Meanwhile the person who actually approves the artwork — the customer — refuses to make an account for it.
So Proofavo does a deliberately narrow loop: upload artwork, send one review link, the client pins comments and approves on their phone with no account, and the approval locks to the exact file with a SHA-256 fingerprint. Flat workspace price, reviewers never cost a seat.
Status, honestly: in active development, waitlist open. The demo is the real product in a sandbox — both the studio side and the client side, no sign-up: https://proofavo.com/demo
Question for people who've sold into trades (print, signage, wraps): what worked for you to reach owners who are drowning in email approvals but would never search for "proofing software"?
7 Comments
The “client refuses to make an account” constraint is unusually specific. Curious what owners in print and signage currently use when approvals start getting messy.
It came from watching what happens without a tool. The pattern I kept seeing: low-res PDF over email or WhatsApp, client replies with a screenshot they marked up in Preview, or just "looks good" in a text. Then nobody can prove which version that referred to when something goes wrong at press.
The account requirement isn't the core problem, it's the trigger. Every "please register to view" email is a day of delay, and with a client who signs off maybe twice a year, they just won't do it.
But I'm genuinely curious about your side of the question — if you're in print or signage, what does the messy version look like for you? That's the part I'm least sure about.
That context helps — especially the version-control problem behind the account friction. I’d be interested in continuing the conversation around what you’re seeing there. If you’re open to it, what’s the best email to reach you at?
Happy to keep talking here — the thread's more useful to other people that way. I'm still curious about your side: what does the messy version look like in print or signage from where you sit?
Fair question. I’m not directly in print/signage, so I don’t have firsthand workflow experience there. I was mainly interested in how the problem shows up from your side.
No problem — thanks for asking, it made me articulate it better than I had before.
Short version from my side: the tool part was never the hard bit. The hard bit is that the person approving isn't a software user. They sign off two or three times a year, from a phone, between other things. Anything that assumes they'll learn an interface loses to a WhatsApp screenshot.
That's most of what I'm building around.
That’s a useful way to frame it. I’ve enjoyed the exchange — happy to continue it outside IH if you are. What’s the best email to reach you at?