Why I built Meridian

I'm Howard Grahame — a software developer and consultant based in North West London. Meridian is the tool I always wished existed, so eventually I built it.

The four-tab problem

For years I ran my consulting work out of four different apps. A to-do list for tasks. A separate timer for tracking billable hours. A project manager for the bigger pieces of work. And a CRM for clients and contacts. Four subscriptions, four logins, four places to check — and not one of them talked to the others.

So the same client existed as a row in the CRM, a project in one app, a pile of tasks in another, and a column of time entries in a fourth. Nothing joined up. I'd finish a task and then have to go and log the time somewhere else. I'd want to know how a project was really going and have to open three tabs and do the maths in my head.

Built for one person, on purpose

Every tool I tried was really built for teams. Per-seat pricing for seats I didn't have. Approval flows, assignees, shared boards, admin settings — a whole layer of complexity that exists to coordinate other people. As a company of one, I was paying for weight I didn't need and would never use.

Meridian starts from the opposite place. It assumes one person running everything: several clients, lots of projects, a full pipeline, invoices to send and chase — all held by you. No seats, no roles, no bloat. Just the work itself, in one calm place.

Everything connected

The whole point is that it joins up. Tasks belong to projects, projects belong to clients, and the timer is attached to the task you're actually working on. Log an hour and it rolls up to the project, the client, and your reports automatically. Every call, note, and completed task lands on one activity timeline. You plan your day once, on the Today view, and then you just work.

My own daily driver

Meridian isn't a product I dreamed up for someone else. It's what I use every single day, across my own client projects. Every feature is in there because I hit the need for it in my own work — not because a roadmap said it should be. If something felt like friction, I fixed it. If something wasn't earning its place, it came out.

If you're a consultant running everything solo, I think you'll recognise the problem it solves. It solved mine.