About MovaLab
Built inside a real agency.
By someone who lived the problem.
MovaLab was built while running operations for a 60-person agency that tried every tool and failed. This is the tool we wished existed.
The Story
Why MovaLab exists
The Problem
I built MovaLab while running operations for PRISM, a faculty-led student marketing agency at Virginia Tech. 60+ people, 11 clients, 8 departments. We tried everything — Basecamp, Monday, Notion, spreadsheets duct-taped together. Nothing worked for how agencies actually operate.
The Solution
So I built what we needed. I'm not a professional software engineer — I used AI tooling, documentation, and pure stubbornness to get a working platform. It solves real problems. Agencies can deploy it today and run real operations on it.
The Ask
The codebase needs experienced engineers to make it production-hardened. That's why I'm opening this up. I need help. And I believe small agencies shouldn't be priced out of good tooling just because enterprise vendors charge $50K/year.
If you've ever rage-quit a Monday.com board or mass-Slacked your team asking “who has capacity this week?”, this is for you.
— Isaac Tigges, Director of Accounts at PRISM, Virginia Tech
The License
Built with open source principles
The Model
MovaLab is built with open source principles — the code is public on GitHub, you can self-host it forever, modify it, and contribute back.
The Caveat
Our license (the Sustainable Use License, same one used by n8n) doesn't technically meet the OSI definition of “open source” because it restricts commercial resale.
The Reason
I'm one person building this. If I release it under MIT and someone with more resources spins up a competing hosted version tomorrow, I can't compete. The project dies and agencies are back to square one.
What you can do
- Use MovaLab for your agency — free forever
- Self-host on your own infrastructure
- Modify the code for your needs
- Contribute improvements back
- Offer consulting services to other agencies
What you can't do
- White-label MovaLab and sell it as your own product
- Host MovaLab and charge others to access it
n8n uses this same model and has 100K+ GitHub stars. It's the right balance between open and sustainable.