Press resources
If you're writing about AI workflow automation, the QuickBooks ecosystem, or B2B distributor software, this page has the facts and assets you need. For interviews, custom demos, or product walkthroughs, email [email protected] with "Press inquiry" in the subject. We respond same business day.
One-line description
SideQuest Automation is a local-first AI connector that reads inbound customer purchase orders from Gmail and builds draft Estimates in QuickBooks Online, sold to wholesale and industrial distributors.
Three-paragraph description
SideQuest Automation builds inbound purchase order automation for the long tail of B2B distributors on QuickBooks Online. The product is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connector that runs locally on a customer's Mac or Windows machine, reads labeled PO emails from their Gmail, parses line items from PDFs and scanned images, matches each line against their QuickBooks catalog using a learned cross-reference, and builds a draft Estimate for a human to review and submit.
The wedge is the inbound side of the PO transaction — the part of distributor operations that the existing ecosystem (Bill.com, Webgility, SOS Inventory, Cin7, ProcureDesk) largely ignores or treats as a side feature. Most competitors are either buyer-side procurement platforms, ecommerce sync tools, or full inventory management systems that overshoot what a $2M to $15M distributor actually needs. SideQuest solves the bottleneck — manual PO retyping into QuickBooks — without forcing the customer to migrate off QuickBooks or buy a platform they don't need.
Customer data stays on the customer's machine. The connector only reports a count of POs processed back to SideQuest's servers; PO contents, customer lists, and pricing never leave the customer's computer. SideQuest is currently in private beta with free-tier customers, paid plans starting at $79/month for 200 POs/month, and unlimited at $999/month.
Key facts
| Company name | SideQuest Automation |
| Product | SideQuest QuickBooks PO automation connector |
| Target customer | Wholesale and industrial distributors on QuickBooks Online, $2M to $50M annual revenue |
| Current connector version | 0.4.0 (May 25, 2026) |
| Stage | Private beta |
| Free tier | 20 POs/month, no credit card required |
| Pricing | $79/mo (200 POs) → $999/mo (unlimited) |
| Live integrations | QuickBooks Online, Gmail, Claude Desktop |
| Data architecture | Local-first — customer data stays on customer's machine |
| Founded | 2026 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Quotable lines (use freely)
"The bottleneck for most distributors isn't 'should we automate POs' — it's 'can we automate POs without ripping out QuickBooks.' SideQuest is the smallest tool that closes that gap."
"Most PO automation tools are built for the buyer. SideQuest is built for the seller. Different side of the transaction, different shape of software."
"We don't auto-submit anything to QuickBooks without a human approving it. The software handles the typing. The human handles the decision."
What's true and what's not yet
We're a beta-stage product. To save reporters time, the honest status:
- Live and working: The QuickBooks Online and Gmail integrations, the PO parser, the SKU cross-reference matcher, the human-review flow, the local-first data architecture. Customers have processed real POs through it.
- Working via workaround: Order intake from Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Amazon Seller Central via email forwarding. Direct API integrations targeted for Q3-Q4 2026.
- On the roadmap: Auto-submit for high-confidence POs (Q2 2026), auto-reply to buyer (Q3 2026), QuickBooks Desktop bridge (Q3 2026), NetSuite (2027).
- Not built yet: Multi-warehouse inventory management (not our scope), real EDI exchange (not our scope), outbound spend management (not our scope).
- What we won't claim: We do not have named customer logos to display yet. We do not have revenue figures to share publicly. We do not have venture funding.
Logos and screenshots
For SideQuest's wordmark and the most current product screenshots, email [email protected]. We send PNG and SVG versions for both light and dark backgrounds.
Media contact
Email: [email protected]
Subject line: "Press inquiry"
Response time: Same business day for press inquiries.
Stories we can talk to
- The build journey — surfaced QuickBooks and Google OAuth gotchas that cost weeks; we published the workarounds publicly
- Why local-first AI matters for SMB ops (customer data never leaves their machine)
- The honest economics of B2B distributor software (worked example math at /case-studies/)
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a delivery channel for back-office automation
- Why "AI auto-submit" is the wrong design and human-review-in-the-loop is the right one