Morning on site, afternoon with the client, evening writing quotes. That's the reality for 90% of sign makers. I know — it was my reality for 20 years.

The moment I'd had enough

It was a Tuesday evening in November 2024. I was sitting at 9 PM in my office at K-Werbetechnik in Homburg, Germany, typing the third quote of the day into Excel. Window frosting for a bakery. 4 windows, frosted film, vinyl lettering for opening hours. Nothing special — a job I could price in my sleep.

Still took me 40 minutes. Look up material prices at the distributor. Calculate hourly rate. Factor in travel. Format the PDF. Insert customer's logo. Send.

Next morning, the reply: "Thanks for the quote. Unfortunately too expensive."

No argument. No question. Just too expensive. 40 minutes of work for nothing. And the worst part: I didn't have a single argument for why my price was fair. Because I didn't know myself.

The problem isn't the price — it's the justification

In 20 years of sign making, I've written thousands of quotes. Every single one had the same fundamental problem: I price based on experience and gut feeling. The customer sees a number. If it's higher than expected, they say "too expensive" — and I've got nothing.

No sign maker I know can tell their client: "This price is in the mid-market range. The regional index for our area is 0.95. Material costs for 3M Crystal frosted film are currently X per square metre at the distributor." Not because they couldn't — but because nobody has that data at hand.

What I tried

I tried everything on the market. shopVOX — American, built for the US market. $199/month plus $29/user. No local accounting integrations for Europe.

Printavo — built for textile printers in the US. Doesn't know frosted film, vehicle wrapping, or channel letters.

Generic project management tools — Trello, Monday.com, Asana. Great for tech companies. Useless for quoting a storefront installation.

Excel — yes, Excel. Like 90% of the industry. 45 minutes per quote. No versioning. No CRM. No job costing.

Not a single solution was built for my reality. So I built it myself.

What makes PlotonIQ different

PlotonIQ has 9 AI modules. No competitor has one. That's not marketing speak — it's a fact. I've analysed every competitor: shopVOX, Printavo, Ordant, Cyrious, HERO, Folix. Zero AI features. Zero voice recognition. Zero photo measurement. Zero price justification.

1. AI quotes in 30 seconds

Instead of 45 minutes in Excel, describe what the client needs in free text or voice: "3 windows frosted film 3M Crystal, 1 entrance door opening hours white vinyl, installation Thursday." The AI creates a complete quote with line items, pricing and — the crucial part — a written justification per position.

2. AI measurement from photos

Photograph the storefront. Click a window. The AI detects the surface as a polygon — not a rectangle. Bay windows, arches, triangles: everything. Enter one reference measurement (door height 2.10m) and all other surfaces are calculated automatically. No competitor worldwide has this.

3. Audio-first workflow

Sign makers work with their hands. Typing on a phone on site isn't an option. So you dictate. Record a voice memo, attach photos, the AI transcribes and generates quote positions. From the car park to a finished quote before you start the engine.

4. 144+ accounting integrations

Bi-directional sync. Contacts, quotes, invoices flow automatically into your accounting software. sevDesk, DATEV, Lexoffice in Germany. Fortnox in Sweden. Exact Online in the Netherlands. QuickBooks, Xero worldwide. 144 providers — no double entry.

5. 17 languages

Your Polish installer sees the app in Polish. Your Turkish apprentice in Turkish. Arabic with RTL support. Not just the UI — AI-generated quotes and PDFs too.

Who PlotonIQ is built for

PlotonIQ is for businesses like mine. 1 to 50 employees. Signs, window graphics, vehicle wraps, channel letters, large format, exhibition. Sign makers who want to do the craft — not the paperwork.

14 days free

No credit card. No sales call. Your first AI job runs in 5 minutes. If it doesn't fit, delete the account and you've lost nothing. If it does, you've gained 4 hours a day.

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