BrainWaves saves about 10 hours on every client onboarding with a ClickUp grant engine
Before & After
Executive Summary
BrainWaves Consulting helps biotech founders win non-dilutive funding from NIH, NSF, SBIR and STTR programs and private foundations. More than 50 active grant opportunities were tracked in spreadsheets, each with its own deadline cadence, eligibility rules and budget shape, while subcontractors rotated in and out across time zones.
UpSys ran a 5-week build that put the whole operation into one ClickUp workspace across five Spaces. Setting up a new client went from 1 to 2 days of rebuilding to 30 to 60 minutes from a template, which is about 10 hours back on every onboarding.
The Challenge
Every status update meant a tour of five tools. Client context sat in Google Docs, grant deadlines sat in spreadsheets, decisions sat in email threads, and the only place they came together was in the founder's head.
Client and grant information lived across Docs and spreadsheets, so finding the current answer took longer than acting on it.
Processes were not written down, so every subcontractor and VA needed a one-to-one walkthrough before contributing.
A grant carries deadlines, budgets, narrative drafts, client documents, submissions and outcomes, with no single home per client or per grant.
Clients were updated by hand, and there was no self-serve view of what was in progress or what was still owed.
Invoices and recurring retainers needed reminders, without exposing finance to the whole team.
The Solution
The build followed a 5-week plan: workspace architecture and Sales pipeline in week 1, Delivery space and grant lifecycle templates in week 2, automations and dashboards in weeks 3 and 4, then training, SOPs and handover in week 5. Everything was scoped so a subcontractor who joins for one grant can pick up work with no ramp.
Five Spaces. Sales, Delivery, Operations, ClickUp System and Brand, each holding one kind of work.
A grant lifecycle as a template. Intake, strategy, proposal, submission and post-award are repeatable subtasks rather than a memory exercise.
A sales pipeline and client database. Clear lifecycle statuses, with leads and repeat clients handled separately.
A Waiting on Client status. Blockers surface on the board without giving non-paying users access to the workspace.
Date-driven automations. Onboarding, strategy kickoff and deadline reminders fire on their own.
Scoped finance lists. Invoices and recurring retainers are tracked where only leadership can see them.
The Results
Six weeks after go-live, a new client engagement starts from a template in 30 to 60 minutes instead of 1 to 2 days of rebuilding, which is roughly 10 hours back on each onboarding. Every active grant lives on one board with its status visible at a glance, so the search across five tools is over.
SOPs now sit inside the task templates that use them, which is what makes a rotating subcontractor bench workable. The firm can add retainer clients without adding the same weight in operations.
Client onboarding setup
Searching for context
Subcontractor ramp
Client follow-ups
Recurring retainers and renewals
Operational scale
Client Testimonial
I found UpSys through Ramzi's YouTube channel when I was looking for help turning ClickUp into a real OS for my grant strategy business. I had the pieces of a system, but they mostly lived in my mind, with nothing organized in a way that made client delivery feel clear or repeatable.
Anja and Ramzi translated that workflow into a ClickUp space that is structured and intuitive, with the automations, SOPs, and walk-through videos to match. It really felt like white-glove service. I've already saved hours getting new hires up to speed, and the grant process is much clearer for my clients, with far less back-and-forth. I would absolutely recommend UpSys to any service-based business owner who wants more clarity and ease in their operations.
Melanie Das
CEO · BrainWaves Consulting
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