Basestep
Our own platform for makers of an AI prototype, from first prompt to tax return. Website live since 27 September 2026; the platform opens later.
- Product
- Basestep, Empireyo's own product
- What we did
- Brand, UI design, web design, the website and the platform, findability in Google and AI
- Technology
- Astro
- Status
- Website live since 27 September 2026; the platform opens later
- Live
- basestep.io ↗
Counted on basestep.io, 24 October 2026
| Fact | Result | How we checked |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | 162: 81 in Dutch, 81 in English | The basestep.io sitemap, counted on 24 October 2026 |
| Terms | 38 per language, each with its place in the law and the two most common mistakes | The glossary on the site, counted on 24 October 2026 |
| Knowledge | 20 articles and 5 guides per language | The knowledge base and the guides page, counted on 24 October 2026 |
| Trackers | 0, and no cookie banner | The server only allows files from basestep.io itself (Content Security Policy); when the page loaded on 24 October 2026, every request went to basestep.io |
| Server | Its own server in Amsterdam | The basestep.io address looked up on 24 October 2026: a Leaseweb server in the Netherlands |
| AI search engines | Welcome, with an llms.txt | The site's robots.txt and llms.txt, read on 24 October 2026 |
| Live since | 27 September 2026 | The start date of the basestep.io certificate and the last change to robots.txt |
| Platform | Opens later | On every page: "The platform opens later." Read on 24 October 2026 |
| Load time on a phone | 0.58 s | Our own measurement on 24 October 2026: phone size, processor four times slower, slow connection, empty cache, median of three runs. Google rates up to 2.5 s as good. The page does not shift and weighs 120 KB |
You build a prototype in an afternoon. Then the real work begins.
With AI tools such as Lovable, Bolt, v0 or Replit, people build a working prototype in an afternoon. Then things often stall: no domain, no idea what comes first, and as soon as money comes in, VAT, invoices and a duty to keep records as well.
Basestep is the path after the building tool. In the site's own words: a Dutch platform that helps makers of an AI prototype turn it into a real business, with the bookkeeping of a sole proprietorship included.
It is Empireyo's own product. We came up with it, made the brand, designed every screen and built the website and the platform. basestep.io says so too: Empireyo, trading as basestep.
The website has been live since 27 September 2026. The platform itself opens later: logging in will be possible once it opens, and ordering is not possible yet. Below, we describe what the platform will do the way basestep.io describes it.
A website that runs, and a platform that opens later.
| Part | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Two rounded bars and the wordmark, a gradient from violet through cyan to mint, a dark and a light mode. | Live |
| Website | 162 pages in Dutch and English, built in Astro. | Live since 27 September 2026 |
| Knowledge | Knowledge base, guides, glossary and a comparison of AI subscriptions, free and without an account. | Live |
| Signal | AI news with a verdict per work profile, and a weekly digest. | Explanation live; no edition has appeared yet |
| The journey and the board | Four phases from idea to maintenance, always with one next step. | Opens later |
| Bookkeeping | From quote to ledger, with a tax engine that explains every line. | Opens later |
Four phases, and always one next step.
This is how basestep.io describes the platform. The platform opens later; the explanation is already on the site.
| Phase | What you do | What the platform provides |
|---|---|---|
| Think | Choose a project type: website, web shop, web app, compass or blank. | A three-step wizard, then a board that is already filled in. |
| Create | Build in your own AI tool. | Templates, skills and UI components, each with an AI prompt. |
| Deploy | Go live yourself, following a recipe. | A health check of eighteen points: secure, findable, legal minimum. |
| Grow | Get found, maintain, earn. | Maintenance tasks set up for each project type. |
| The board | Three columns, checklists, priority, deadlines with reminders, recurring tasks and labels. | Above the board, always one recommended next step. |
Tax software that explains instead of filling in.
The bookkeeping for a sole proprietorship is part of the same platform. It also opens later; this is what basestep.io says about it.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Quotes | Accepted with a click, with a record of who accepted when. |
| Invoices | Gap-free numbering, PDF and e-invoice, a payment QR code, and a reminder procedure in which every step stays your own choice. |
| Costs and hours | Costs, hours, mileage and business assets with depreciation. |
| Bank | Import statements yourself as CAMT.053, MT940 or CSV and match them, without a bank link. |
| Ledger | Automatic journal entries, periods that lock, an audit log with a hash chain and an XAF audit file. |
| Tax engine | VAT per box, an estimate of income tax, monitoring of the small business scheme and a reserve for income tax and the health insurance contribution. And it says plainly when something is beyond its scope. |
| Deliberately never | No bank link, no OCR on receipts, no filing with the Dutch Tax Administration. Whoever uses the engine files the return themselves. |
| On basestep.io | BookkeepingPlatformRoadmap |
Read without an account, with source and date.
What already works is the knowledge: free, without an account, in Dutch and English.
| What | How | On the site |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge base | 20 articles per language, from going live to your first VAT return. Every article opens with the answer, names its sources and carries a date. | Knowledge base |
| Guides | 5 per language: the main guide from prototype to live, and a guide for Lovable, Bolt, v0 and Replit. | Guides |
| Terms | 38 per language, each with its place in the law and the two mistakes people make with it most often. | Terms |
| Comparison | AI subscriptions from Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT and Lovable side by side, with a source and check date in every cell. | Comparison |
| Signal | AI news with a verdict per work profile for every item. A language model writes the first draft, a person edits and publishes. | Signal |
Northern lights on ink.
Two rounded bars stacked on top of each other, the upper one in a gradient from violet through cyan to mint. Next to them the wordmark, written the way the site writes it: basestep, in lower case.
Dark
Light#07080FBackground in dark mode#14162BText in light mode#F7F8FCBackground in light mode#6A58EEStart of the gradient#3FB7F0Middle of the gradient#59DFB2End of the gradient
Two modes, one button.
Drag across the homepage to compare dark and light mode. The button sits at the top of every page; all three typefaces are on the site's own server.
Astro, its own server, and nothing from third parties.
| Part | How |
|---|---|
| Framework | Astro. Every page goes online ready-made, with one small script. |
| Weight | The homepage weighs 120 KB in 8 requests. |
| Languages | Dutch and English, each with an address of its own and a reference to the other language. |
| Server | Its own server in Amsterdam, with a Let's Encrypt certificate. |
| Privacy | No trackers and no cookie banner: the site only loads files from its own domain, the typefaces included. |
| AI search engines | robots.txt welcomes GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and others, and an llms.txt summarises the site for AI assistants. |
| AI in the product | Only for Signal: a language model writes the first draft of the news, a person reads, decides and publishes. |
Measured on 24 October 2026, on a first visit without cache
What it delivered
Anyone who builds a prototype with AI can read on basestep.io what comes next.
Want to see more work?
Every client and what we made for them is on the work page.
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