CASE STUDY
Zinexa
A chat-native work management platform that eliminates the chaos of managing distributed teams. Through natural conversation in Telegram, teams coordinate work, get paid instantly, and integrate their entire workspace—without switching between a dozen apps.
ROLE
Founder & Lead Developer
TIMELINE
2025
PLATFORM
Telegram • Solana • Google Workspace
The User Problem
Target User Scenario
Anyone managing work with remote teams or freelancers
Whether you're running a startup, managing projects, or coordinating with contractors, the problem is the same: dozens of unread messages across multiple apps, scattered work submissions, and constant questions about payment status.
A typical week looks like this:
Monday: 2 hours onboarding a client
Creating Notion workspace, inviting to Slack, setting up shared folders. Client confused by "yet another tool."
Tuesday: 45 minutes explaining one task
Brief in Notion, discussion in Slack, brief forwarded via email. Designer asks "which file?" Lost in 3 different places.
Wednesday: Checking PayPal
Payment stuck in "processing" for 3 days. Designer in Manila needs it for rent. Nothing Sarah can do but wait.
Friday: Lost work submission
Designer submitted work in Slack thread from Tuesday. Buried under 200 messages. Client deadline missed.
The Real Cost:
- • 15+ hours per week just coordinating (not creating)
- • $850/month in tool subscriptions for 6 people
- • Lost clients due to missed deadlines and coordination delays
- • Freelancer churn because payment takes too long
This problem isn't unique to one agency. Research shows that 96% of workers feel overwhelmed by digital tools, switching between apps 1,200 times per day. Meanwhile, 58% of freelancers wait 30+ days for payment.
The question became: What if work management lived where teams already communicate?
The UX Solution
Instead of building "yet another project management tool," we asked a different question: Why force teams to learn a new platform when they already live in Telegram?
Core Design Principle
Zero Learning Curve — If users need training, the UX failed. Work management should feel like texting a coworker, not operating software.
How It Works: Example Workflow
Scenario: $10,000 branding project with urgent Friday deadline.
TUESDAY 9:00 AM — Manager types in Telegram:
✅ Bot Response (instant):
✅ Project created: BrandRevamp
✅ Task #891: Logo concepts
👤 Marcus → Notified
📅 Wed Jan 8, 2026
💰 $400 USDC
✅ Task #892: Brand guidelines
👤 Aisha → Notified
📅 Thu Jan 9, 2026
💰 $800 USDC
📊 Total budget: $1,200
WEDNESDAY 8:15 AM — Designer submits, Manager approves:
Designer: "done for task 891" [uploads 3 PDFs]
Bot: ✅ Submission received → Quality check passed
Manager: "Approve this task and pay Marcus"
🎉 Task APPROVED!
💸 Processing payment...
✅ $400 USDC sent (1.2 seconds)
Workflow Summary:
- • Creating project: One natural language message
- • Task assignment: Automatic notification
- • Submission: Upload file in same chat
- • Approval & payment: One message, instant settlement
All coordination happens in a single chat thread
The entire project coordination happened in one chat thread. No app switching. No payment delays.
Zinexa's Telegram dashboard - All features accessible from one interface
AI-Powered Natural Language
Chat with Zinexa like you're talking to a teammate. Type naturally: "Assign the landing page redesign to Sarah, due Friday, pay $500"—and Zinexa handles the rest instantly. No forms, no buttons, no learning curve.
Instant Team Payments
The Problem: Traditional payment flow: Work finished Friday → PayPal initiated Tuesday → Bank processes Thursday → Money arrives 12+ days later. Plus 3-10% in fees. Freelancers in emerging markets wait weeks.
Our Approach: Manager types "Send $500 to Marcus" → Money arrives in 1.2 seconds via Solana. Total fees: less than $1. Users never see that complexity — they just see "Payment sent $500."
Bot then sends: "⚠️ Reminder: You have not yet paid Sydney. His payment of $800 is due today."
Meeting Automation
The Problem: Sarah wants to schedule a team meeting with the designers. Normal flow: Open Google Calendar → Create event → Generate Meet link → Open Slack → Message team → Paste link → Send reminders. 15-20 minutes, multiple apps.
Our Approach: Sarah types in Telegram: "Setup a team meeting with the designers tomorrow at 3pm". Bot handles everything: calendar event created, Meet link generated, all designers notified with meeting details. 12 seconds. Zero apps opened.
Task Management
The Problem: Traditional PM tools require opening separate apps and navigating complex interfaces just to check task details or submit work.
Our Approach: Everything happens in Telegram. Check tasks, submit work, and get updates without switching apps. Same experience on phone and desktop — because it's just chat.
Design Decisions & Trade-Offs
Why Telegram? (Platform Decision)
We could have built a standalone app with beautiful custom UI. We chose Telegram instead. Here's why:
✅ What We Gained
- • Zero learning curve — everyone knows how to use Telegram
- • Already installed — no "download our app" barrier
- • Native notifications — users actually see messages
- • Mobile-first — works perfectly on phones without special optimization
- • 900M+ users — instant credibility and trust
⚠️ What We Sacrificed
- • Visual richness — limited to Telegram's UI components
- • Drag-and-drop — no fancy kanban boards
- • Custom branding — all interactions look like Telegram
- • Platform control — dependent on Telegram API
The trade-off was worth it: Adoption trumps aesthetics. Users never adopted beautiful PM tools. They live in Telegram anyway.
- ✓Multi-tenant architecture — One system serves multiple organizations with data isolation
- ✓Unlimited growth potential — Add new organizations instantly
- ✓Row-level security — Organization data stays private with database-level isolation
- ✓Instant updates — Improvements deployed to all organizations simultaneously
Why Natural Language? (Interaction Design)
We could have used buttons and menus. We chose conversational AI. Here's the thinking:
The Traditional PM Tool Flow:
- 1. Click "New Task" button
- 2. Fill in title field
- 3. Select assignee from dropdown
- 4. Choose project from list
- 5. Set priority (Low/Medium/High/Urgent)
- 6. Pick deadline from calendar
- 7. Enter payment amount
- 8. Write description
- 9. Attach files (if any)
- 10. Review and click "Create"
Total: 10 steps, 2-3 minutes, requires training
The Zinexa Flow:
"Assign landing page to Sarah, due Friday, pay $500"
AI extracts: task name, assignee, deadline, payment
Creates task automatically
Notifies Sarah in her Telegram
Total: 1 message, 15 seconds, zero training
The UX Philosophy:
If a user has to remember command syntax or button locations, they'll forget and stop using it. If they can just say what they want like they'd tell a coworker, it becomes habit.
Why Blockchain Payments? (Trust & Speed)
We could have used Stripe or PayPal. We chose Solana USDC. Here's why it matters for users:
Traditional Payment Flow:
- • Day 0: Work approved
- • Day 2: Manager initiates PayPal
- • Day 5: PayPal processes
- • Day 8: Bank receives transfer
- • Day 12: Money in account
- • Fees: 3-10% ($30-$100 on $1000)
Zinexa Payment Flow:
- • Second 0: Work approved
- • Second 1-2: Money arrives (Solana settlement time)
- • Same day: Convert to local currency via exchange
- • Fees: ~$0.50 total (Solana network + gas sponsorship)
Settlement: Seconds vs weeks. Fees: Sub-dollar vs double-digit percentages.
For freelancers in emerging markets, instant settlement removes the anxiety of waiting weeks for payment while managing cash flow for rent, bills, and daily expenses.
Technical Performance
Verified System Capabilities
Payment Processing
Solana blockchain settlement
- Transaction time: ~1-2 seconds (Solana network speed)
- Transaction cost: ~$0.00025 (Solana base fee)
- Currency: USDC on Solana blockchain
- Gas sponsorship: Enabled (users don't pay transaction fees)
AI Processing
Natural language understanding
- Models: Groq (Llama 3.1), OpenAI (GPT-4)
- Intent detection from natural language
- Task extraction from conversations
- Submission quality analysis
Google Workspace Integration
OAuth2 secure connection
- Calendar: Event creation, Meet links, invites, reminders
- Gmail: Email sending (Admin-only for security)
- Drive: File storage, auto-organization
- Docs & Sheets: Document and spreadsheet creation
Current Status:
Zinexa is live in beta on Telegram with all core features functional. The system is built for production with multi-tenant architecture, full security implementation, and scalable infrastructure.
Key Learnings
1. Meet Users Where They Already Are
With 900M+ users worldwide, Telegram eliminates the biggest barrier: getting people to download and learn a new app. Everyone already knows how to use it, has it on their phone, and checks it regularly.
2. Conversational UI Requires Careful Context Management
Natural language interfaces need the right context, not all context. The AI sees recent work-related messages and active tasks, but filters out completed setup conversations and resolved issues. This prevents old keywords from confusing new intent detection.
3. Hide the Complexity
Crypto payments are powerful but intimidating. By handling all the technical details behind the scenes, users simply see "instant payment"—the benefit they care about—without needing to understand blockchain, wallets, or transaction signatures.
4. Build for How People Actually Work
Existing project management tools assume everyone works in an office and gets a monthly salary. The reality: distributed teams, contractors, freelancers, task-based work, and instant payment expectations. Zinexa is built for this reality.
The Journey Ahead
Zinexa didn't start as a project to build "yet another project management tool." It emerged from a simple observation: distributed teams live in Telegram, but their work tools don't.
The journey from "wouldn't it be nice if..." to "fully functional production system" took three intense weeks of systematic development. No shortcuts. No compromises on security or scalability.
The future: Empowering distributed teams worldwide with seamless coordination and instant payments.