How a Legal SaaS Company Moves 5X Faster than Competitors with Knack

Company: Scan Logic

Industry: Legal Tech | Use Case: AI-Powered Legal Billing & Financial Workflow Automation

Before becoming a software company, Scan Logic was a services firm that supported legal financial systems. When their law firm clients repeatedly asked for more efficient ways to manage their accounting processes — methods that did not yet exist in the market — CEO Scott McCarthy saw an opportunity and knew his team had to answer the call. But how could they deliver the solution the industry was missing? The answer: Knack’s AI-powered app builder.

Today, one of Scan Logic’s core services is delivering AI-powered billing and financial workflow software to law firms. And testament to the needs so many firms have, Scan Logic is now onboarding four to five new clients every month. Here’s how they did it:

The Traditional Coding Trap

For years, Scott and his team resisted going into SaaS because, with a technical background, Scott knew that building custom software would require a massive development effort and long timelines. 

But as more clients made the request, he decided to explore things further. Scott’s first instinct was to build the platform from scratch so that it would do exactly what his clients needed.

“We originally started writing the applications with traditional code. It was slow and painful. I knew writing the code from scratch was just going to take an immense amount of time.”

— Scott McCarthy, CEO, Scan Logic

Front-end interfaces. APIs. Database infrastructure. Reporting engines. Every layer required custom development. The process was predictable but would be painfully slow.

Then, things changed. 

“We were more of a services company. We had a lot of firms coming to us, asking us for solutions. And it wasn’t technically possible until AI came along.”

— Scott McCarthy

The Emergence of No-Code Platforms

As AI capabilities matured and no-code platforms like Knack emerged to offer robust solutions, the equation changed. Suddenly, Scott was revisiting the idea of offering software in addition to their other services. So, he started doing research on the new “vibe coding” tools. This ultimately led him to Knack.

Though at first, Scott’s development team was skeptical. Like many experienced engineers, they worried about limitations: Would they get boxed in? Would customization be restricted? And will the platform be reliable? Would they be able to scale?

Scott understood the concerns. He had them too.

Scan Logic initially experimented with Knack on the front end. The results were immediate. So, the team quickly expanded their use of Knack to include reporting, APIs, and database components. They soon realized that instead of building foundational infrastructure repeatedly, they could focus their engineering energy on the specialized logic that is unique to legal billing.

Custom Code Meets Flexibility

Beyond just relying on their own experience, Scan Logic partnered with a handful of law firms to be early adopters as they refined their software product. This collaborative approach allowed the team to iterate, test, and refine the product.

In addition, Knack allowed the Scan Logic to inject JavaScript, apply CSS, and integrate custom APIs. That hybrid model removed the traditional tradeoff between speed and control.

Instead of choosing between no-code simplicity and full-code flexibility, Scan Logic gained both.

Over time, developer resistance disappeared. The team embraced the platform because it allowed them to build faster while still maintaining technical depth.

“The nice thing with Knack is you can custom code anything you want… We haven’t really hit any limitations of what we could do.”

— Scott McCarthy

A Winning Combination of Speed and Technical Stability

Scan Logic also realized the time compression offered by Knack compared to traditional development cycles was dramatic.

Rather than rebuilding common components, the team layered their custom logic and integrations on top of an already stable, production-ready platform. Knack became the core development engine powering Scan Logic’s AI-enabled billing applications. 

The result was a faster path to market without sacrificing technical rigor.

“Something that would take two years to build, we could get done in three to six months.”

— Scott McCarthy

“Give Me 10 Seconds”: Real-Time Customization in Action

The power of Knack also showed up during client calls.

During one onboarding session, a managing partner at a law firm asked for a specific customization of their app. Instead of opening a ticket and scheduling a deployment window, Scan Logic’s developer responded in real time.

“Okay, give me 10 seconds… refresh the page… The guy goes, ‘Wow, that’s incredible!’”

— Scott McCarthy

In traditional environments, even small interface changes require code edits, QA testing, and redeployment. Changes can take hours, days, or weeks.

With Knack, modifications happen live.

That speed isn’t just impressive. It’s a competitive advantage.

Clients experience responsiveness that most software vendors simply cannot match.

Scaling SaaS with Core App Duplication

As Scan Logic began onboarding more firms, scalability became critical.

Each law firm operates slightly differently. Integrations must connect to unique financial systems. Workflow variations require tailored adjustments.

Instead of rebuilding from scratch, Scan Logic maintains core application templates. For each client, they can duplicate the base app, then customize configurations, adapt integrations, and deploy quickly. The core logic remains intact, but each client receives a solution that’s aligned with their operational model.

Knack’s app duplication and configuration flexibility dramatically reduce onboarding time while preserving customization.

“We have the core applications. We duplicate the application. We’re not starting from scratch.”

— Scott McCarthy

Staying Lean While Moving 5X Faster than Competitors

Production speed is key, and part of that efficiency comes from team structure. Without Knack, Scan Logic would need:

• A dedicated GUI development team
• API infrastructure engineers
• Database administrators
• Ongoing performance management staff

Knack eliminates much of that overhead.

The managed database remains stable. APIs are built in. Front-end components don’t require custom frameworks. Infrastructure maintenance is dramatically reduced.

In a market where competitors are still hand-coding everything, Scan Logic operates on an entirely different development clock.

“Most of our competition is still writing primarily all code apps. We’re moving five times faster.”

— Scott McCarthy

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Lessons for Service Firms Becoming SaaS Companies

Scan Logic didn’t attempt to build a massive, feature-complete platform overnight. They launched modules incrementally, validated with clients, and evolved through feedback.

They also learned one key lesson the hard way: move faster than your fear.

Hesitation costs time. Once the team committed to using Knack as their core platform, momentum accelerated.

For other service-based businesses considering productization, Scott’s advice is straightforward:

“Start small. Take it step by step. Work with your clients. Don’t try to go crazy at the beginning.” 

— Scott McCarthy

The Competitive Advantage of AI-Powered App Building

Through creating their own software to offer clients, Scan Logic changed their entire competitive posture. They gained:

• Compressed development cycles
• Real-time client customization
• Faster onboarding
• Leaner infrastructure
• Greater engineering focus on differentiated logic
• Market-leading speed

By leveraging an AI-powered app builder that combines no-code efficiency with full-code extensibility, Scan Logic transitioned from a service provider to a scalable SaaS company.

And they did it without building every layer from scratch.

For service-based businesses that want to offer more to their clients, the gap between idea and software product has never been smaller.

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