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IntakePay
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For independent consultants

Scope the engagement and take the deposit, in one link

Your client answers the questions you’d otherwise spend the first meeting on (the problem, the outcome, the decision-makers, the data) and pays the deposit straight to your own Stripe account.

Start freeOpen the consultant demo

Free until your first client pays you, then $19/month · card required

An example engagement

Package
Operations assessment (6 weeks)
IntakePay’s cut
$00% of every deposit
Deposit into your own Stripe accountPaid by card
$3,000less Stripe’s fee

The duct-tape version

The way many consultants collect an intake and a deposit today

  • Scoping answers scattered across a call, two follow-up emails and a shared doc
  • A payment link pasted into a thread, disconnected from everything else
  • A spreadsheet to remember which proposals turned into paid work
  • IntakePay replaces all of it with one private link per client, and a page for your bio when you want one

How it works

Set up once: your business, your Stripe account, your plan. After that, each new client takes three steps.

  1. Step 1: Create the client

    Add the client and the engagement deposit. Your scoping questions are copied onto their link.

  2. Step 2: Send one link

    Send it by email, Slack or text, however you already talk to them. IntakePay never emails your client.

  3. Step 3: They scope it and pay

    Your client answers the scoping questions and pays the deposit by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The row flips from Pending to Paid and you get an email.

The Consulting engagement template

An intake written for consultants, ready on day one

Scope the engagement: the problem, the outcome, who decides, and the data you will start from. Reword, reorder, add or remove any question before you send your first link.

  1. What’s your organization, and what is your role there?

    Short answerRequired

  2. How many people work at your organization?

    DropdownOptional

  3. In a few sentences, what problem are we solving?

    ParagraphRequired

  4. What does a successful outcome look like at the end of the engagement?

    ParagraphRequired

  5. Who makes the final decision, and who else should be involved?

    Short answerRequired

  6. How soon do you need results?

    DropdownRequired

  7. When would you like the engagement to start?

    DateOptional

  8. What has been tried so far, and what data or documents already exist?

    ParagraphOptional
All templates
Preview of the Consulting engagement template as a client sees it, for Keel & Compass Advisory, a fictional consultant, with a $3,000 deposit.

The template as your client sees it. Keel & Compass Advisory is fictional.

Is it for you?

IntakePay is built around one way of working. If that isn’t yours, a simpler tool will serve you better.

Built for you if

  • You sell fixed-scope engagements, such as an assessment, a sprint or a strategy project, rather than open-ended hours.
  • You take a deposit before kickoff to hold your time.
  • Your clients can pay by card, including company cards.
  • You want the problem, the desired outcome and the decision-makers in writing before the first working session.
  • You are an independent consultant, not a firm with staff accounts.

Not for you if

  • You bill hourly in arrears and don’t take deposits.
  • Your clients can only pay through purchase orders, net-30 invoices or vendor portals.
  • You need statements of work or a contract builder in the same tool. Those are left out on purpose; the full list of what IntakePay won’t do says why.
  • You need team accounts, seats or roles for associates.

Try it before you sign up

Open the link a fictional consultant would send. Fill it in on your phone and see what happens on your side when they pay. Nothing is charged.

Open the consultant demo

Questions from consultants

Pricing questions
Can a client pay with a company card?

Yes. Stripe Checkout accepts major credit and debit cards, including corporate cards, and Apple Pay or Google Pay where the device supports them.

Can I send an invoice instead?

Not from IntakePay, which takes card deposits through Stripe Checkout. If a client needs an invoice or a purchase order, use Stripe Invoicing or your accounting tool for that client.

Where do the answers go?

Into your IntakePay dashboard, next to the payment. The email you get when a deposit is paid links to the answers but never contains them. You can export everything to CSV.

How large can a deposit be?

Each link can collect a deposit from $1 to $50,000. Card limits set by your client’s bank still apply.

Set it up before your next engagement starts

Start freeOpen the consultant demo

Free until your first client pays you, then $19/month · card required