Keysolved

You get the call. All keys lost.

You check your memory, the scribbles in your notebook, then a manufacturer PDF that’s three firmware versions out of date. The Facebook groups have an answer from 2019. The forum thread you half-remember is locked. The tool manufacturer says “supported” but won’t tell you the firmware version or the adapter you need. And this is all before you’ve quoted the job or even left site.

Auto locksmiths work from vans. They turn up to stranded customers with 20 minutes to fix it. The information they need — transponder family, programming method, tool compatibility, OBD port location, security code workflow — is scattered across the open web, and one wrong assumption kills the job. The field experience is locked inside individual heads.

Keysolved is the single reference, on a phone, on the job. Search by make / model / year, or paste in a UK reg and DVLA returns the vehicle in under a second. The vehicle page tells you the transponder chip, the programming method (OBD / EEPROM / on-board / bench), the skill level, the security code workflow, which Autel / Xhorse / OBDSTAR / Lonsdor tools actually work, the firmware quirks that don’t show up in tool docs, the OBD port location with an illustration, and the field tips from working locksmiths. Mobile-first. PWA. Works offline because vans don’t always have signal.

Paying subscribers across 7+ countries — UK, US, France, Spain, Denmark, Mexico, Cameroon — in the weeks after launch via Alex’s locksmith audience. Two tiers active: $19/mo standard and a permanently-locked $9/mo founding cohort capped at 100. Weekly Claude-drafted newsletter live. The catalogue is growing daily — new vehicle requests from real subscribers go straight into the queue. Same product the locksmith trade had been waiting years for, shipped in three weeks from a kickoff call to a live, billing product.

Alex Welsh runs The Locksmith Mentor — a YouTube channel and education business for auto locksmiths. He had an idea he’d been carrying for years: every locksmith he taught was working from the same scattered, unreliable sources, and nobody had built the reference they actually needed. He had the audience and the domain knowledge. He didn’t have the build.

We had a call on the 8th of April. The next day I sent over a plain-English product spec, a Heads of Terms, and started on the frontend prototype before the ink was dry.

We argued the name for 48 hours. I’d called the prototype “KeyBase”. Alex pitched “Keyamigo”. Then on the same morning we both independently arrived at Keysolved. He emailed: “You already got it, could be a sign.” It was.

Three weeks later we were live. Alex announced it to his email list, signups started landing the same day, and the first honest customer feedback arrived a day after that — exactly the loop we wanted. The product isn’t the moment of launch. It’s the year that follows it. We’re a few months in and the catalogue grows every week.