The $24K Auto-Renewal That Started Resubly
The story behind Resubly: a missed notice window, a painful SaaS renewal, and the simple system we wished we had before the invoice arrived.
By Hermann Lotter | 2026-04-24 | 2 min read
The Invoice Arrived After The Decision Window Closed
The painful part was not that a SaaS vendor renewed. The painful part was that the team had already stopped getting value from the tool, but nobody saw the notice deadline until the renewal was irreversible.
The invoice was roughly $24,000. By the time it reached the right person, the cancellation window had closed weeks earlier. The spreadsheet technically contained the renewal date. It did not contain accountability, timing, or a reliable alert that reached the owner before the deadline mattered.
Why Spreadsheets Failed Us
Spreadsheets are good at storing rows. They are weak at making sure the right person acts before a contract term becomes expensive. SaaS renewals need owners, notice periods, escalation paths, and reminders that are connected to the actual agreement.
The mistake was assuming a renewal tracker was just a list. It is closer to a control system: one place to capture what renews, who owns the decision, when the notice window closes, and what happens if nobody responds.
What We Built Instead
Resubly is intentionally narrower than enterprise SaaS management platforms. It does not try to discover every app on every device or run procurement for a global company.
It focuses on the job that would have prevented the loss: drop in a contract or invoice, confirm the renewal terms, assign an owner, and get reminded before the notice window closes.
- One subscription record per vendor agreement
- Renewal and notice dates that are visible before they become urgent
- Owners and departments attached to each subscription
- Email, Slack, and Teams alerts that reach the people who can act
- Flat pricing so the whole team can collaborate
The Rule We Use Now
If a renewal can cost thousands of dollars, it cannot depend on one person remembering to check a spreadsheet. The system has to make the deadline obvious before the vendor has all the leverage.
That is the product direction for Resubly: small teams should be able to prevent expensive renewal surprises without buying a complex procurement platform.