Episode Summary: Pitch Me – "The $3,000 SaaS Trap Nobody Talks About"
Host: Kayvon Kay
Guest: Ken Cox, Founder of InLink
Date: September 2, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode features entrepreneur Ken Cox, founder of InLink, a SaaS solution combining CRM, AI-powered communications, and a suite of office tools tailored for solopreneurs and small businesses. The host, high-ticket sales expert Kayvon Kay, challenges Ken to break down what sets InLink apart, digging into the issue of fragmented SaaS spending for SMBs. The conversation is a fast-paced, no-fluff exploration of practical challenges—like missed calls, data privacy, and software overload—that small businesses face, and how consolidation with AI-driven tools could be a game-changer in 2025.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Ken Cox’s Journey and Market Focus
- Background: Ken started in enterprise hosting (Hosterian) and shifted to address gaps for Main Street businesses with InLink, inspired by a desire for simple, privacy-focused, affordable tools for mom-and-pop shops (01:27–02:38).
- Privacy Primer: “I’m a big privacy buff. It was important to me to create something... that was affordable and easy to use... and also give you all the privacy and all the bells and whistles of the Fortune 500s.” – Ken Cox (02:13)
2. What Is InLink? Blending CRM and Office Tools
- Target Market: Solopreneurs, SMBs (‘$1M/year types’), but scalable to larger businesses (03:05-03:11).
- Industry Use Cases: From autoglass technicians to gyms, yoga studios, brick-and-mortar and digital businesses. 67+ industry snapshots available for rapid deployment (03:18–03:51).
- Product Rundown: InLink merges CRM (white-labeled Go High Level) with office suite features (like Google Drive and corporate email)—all managed with their own support and privacy guarantees (03:57–05:06).
3. Differentiation: Why Not Just Buy Go High Level?
- Support, Not Just Software: Unlike Go High Level’s direct model, InLink handles end-user support, website help, integrations, and onboarding, focusing on SMB needs rather than agencies (05:54–06:20).
- “One Throat to Choke”: Centralizes support, removing finger-pointing between vendors—a recurring theme in the episode (07:36, 15:52, 22:58, 23:02).
4. SaaS Overload and The $3,000 Trap
- Common SaaS Bloat: Many small businesses juggle multiple disconnected SaaS tools (ActiveCampaign, ClickFunnels, Typeform, Calendly, Zapier, BI tools)—often at combined costs exceeding $3,000/month (06:20–07:12).
- Unified Solution: InLink brings all these functions under one hood, dramatically reducing costs and technical headaches (07:12–07:36).
5. Tech Stack & AI-Driven Service Automation
- Office Suite: Their proprietary InLink Office handles corporate email and files, competing with Google and Amazon for business email but with enhanced privacy and lower cost—“It’ll save a company with… 2,000 emails… about a half million dollars a year over Google or Amazon.” (08:48)
- AI Employee: AI, not humans, now answers business phones, responds to emails, and manages Google/Facebook reviews—trained via ChatGPT and integrated seamlessly (13:07–14:15).
- “Let’s have the front desk person stop being the first to answer the phone and let an AI employee answer… what we see is that generally sales go up a little bit because they’re always getting the right text message.” (11:58)
- Real World Example:
- “Let’s say [you] have Susan at the desk, but she can only do so much… with an AI employee, every lead that calls, gets reached out… you don’t have to worry about weekends or Susan having a bad day.” – Kayvon (14:30–15:37)
6. Pricing and Onboarding
- Entry Pricing: Starts at $97/month for the SoHo package (CRM + office tools + 5 emails).
- Premium AI Package: $500/month includes unlimited AI employees & two one-on-one onboarding sessions (“You come to the Tuesday webinars, you generally get a pretty steep discount.” – 16:09)
- Support Model: Setups and onboarding included; in-depth campaign build-outs are extra. Full service available for higher touch clients (23:18–23:59).
7. Scaling and Churn
- Current Growth: ~5 new clients/week, overall churn around 2% (20:38–20:56).
- Common Reasons for Churn: Not price, but lack of follow-through by clients or “switching due to agency takeovers” (21:03–21:08).
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Consolidation:
“Your entire online persona, presence, all that stuff, we’ve got you covered… You don’t have to go to a marketing agency over here and a web hosting guy over there and a developer over there and a UI guy over here. We’re a one stop shop. We’ve been doing it for 25 years.”
— Ken Cox (19:03–20:01) -
On AI’s Impact:
“You’re missing 65% of your calls. We need to get those answered.”
— Ken Cox (19:03–19:08)“AI is going to drop the price of software across the board. You don’t have to implement every single piece—just start looking at your gaps, fill your gaps.”
— Ken Cox (19:09–19:24) -
On the Real Problem:
“My SaaS cost alone is $3,000 a month… You’re coming in, and what’s the elevator pitch?”
— Kayvon Kay (18:57–19:03)“The elevator pitch is: As a result of 70% of your phones not being answered, we’re gonna build you a full AI 24/7 answering and email machine. That’s all that really matters.”
— Kayvon Kay (20:01–20:23) -
On Support & Responsibility:
“One throat to choke. That finger pointing game—‘not my fault, it’s their fault’... it’s exhausting to chase some of those things down.”
— Ken Cox (23:02–23:15) -
On Simplicity and Directness:
“Get to work.”
— Ken Cox (24:05)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- Intro & Ken’s Background: 00:00–02:38
- Defining the Product & Target Market: 02:38–03:51
- What Makes InLink Different: 05:06–06:20
- The $3,000 SaaS Problem: 06:20–07:36
- Deeper Dive on Tech Stack & Support: 07:36–09:41
- AI Employee, Automating the Front Desk: 11:53–14:15
- Auto Glass Example for AI: 14:30–15:37
- Pricing & Setup Model: 16:05–16:52, 23:18–23:59
- Elevator Pitch & Real-World Gaps: 18:57–20:23
- Growth & Churn: 20:38–21:08
- Support, Handover, and Final Words: 23:02–24:05
Conclusion
InLink presents a compelling solution for SMBs trapped by high SaaS costs and fragmented systems, blending enterprise-grade privacy, hands-on support, and AI automations for a single monthly fee. The brutal truth: most small businesses are hemorrhaging efficiency (and sales) through missed calls and SaaS sprawl. Ken’s answer—AI automation, radical support, and consolidation of key tools—is positioned as the cure. If you’re a solopreneur or small business owner, this episode is a wake-up call to audit your software stack and consider embracing the next wave of low-cost, AI-powered SaaS.
Find out more:
NLink.com
Ken Cox Personal Site
Next Steps: Sign up for a Tuesday webinar or catch Ken on podcasts for demos and deeper walkthroughs.
Closing Words:
"Get to work." — Ken Cox (24:05)