Tools and Resources
The Stack
Every Tool I Use to Run Four Companies
I get asked for this list constantly, so here it is. This is the actual software behind WebinarKit, Maker AI, PressPitch AI, AI Support Crew and Epic Marketing Events. Not a roundup of tools I've heard of. The stack I pay for every month, what each one does in my business, and the honest limitation of each. Where I've built the tool myself, I say so.
Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I only list tools I actually pay for and use. The tools I built myself are marked.
- 4 Companies Run On This Stack
- 20K+ Customers Served
- $8M+ In Online Sales
- 11 Years Full-Time
Jump to a Category
Built By Me
WebinarKit
Built by me
Automated and live webinar platform.
What I use it for: Every webinar funnel I own runs on it.
20,000+ businesses, 4.7/5 across 258 reviews on G2.
The catch: Live webinars stream at 720p while automated streams at 1080p, and it's built for selling, not for large internal training events.
Maker AI
Built by me
Find, build and sell a software product without writing code.
What I use it for: It's how I validate an idea and get the go-to-market built before I write a line of anything.
The catch: It won't build the app for you. It hands you the proven idea, the exact prompts and the customer playbook. You still have to run them.
PressPitch AI
Built by me
Finds journalists, podcasts and stages, writes the pitch, runs the outreach.
What I use it for: How I book podcasts and press without a $10k/month agency.
The catch: Nobody honest guarantees editorial coverage. This gets you the right journalist and a pitch worth reading. The journalist still decides.
Processing Scoop
Built by me
Free comparison of payment processors for merchants doing real volume.
What I use it for: I built it after personally losing thousands to the wrong processor.
The catch: It's a research tool, not a processor. You still have to apply.
Epic Marketing Events
Built by me
Two-day live event in Miami with 8 and 9-figure operators.
What I use it for: The room I built because I wanted to be in it.
The catch: It's in person, once a year. Next one is January 11-12, 2027.
Sell More With Webinars
Built by me
The book, co-written with my WebinarKit co-founder Philip Schaffer.
What I use it for: The whole webinar playbook in one place.
The catch: It's about webinars specifically. If you're not selling with video, start elsewhere.
Sell & Get Paid
ThriveCart
Checkout, order bumps, upsells, affiliate management.
What I use it for: Every checkout across all four companies runs on it. I bought the lifetime license years ago, before they moved to subscriptions.
The catch: As of July 2026 they sell monthly plans ($37/mo annual for Standard, $67 for Pro+) and the lifetime license is de-emphasized. Existing lifetime holders are grandfathered. The interface also shows its age and the reporting is thinner than a real CRM.
GoHighLevel
CRM, funnels, pipelines, automations, and a white-label agency layer.
What I use it for: Client-facing funnels and automation.
The catch: It's a lot of product and the ramp is real. Budget a couple of weeks. The per-usage fees for email, SMS and AI also sit on top of the sticker price.
Email & List
beehiiv
Newsletter platform, website, and monetization layer.
What I use it for: My newsletter, 20,000+ subscribers.
The catch: They are serious about list provenance. They locked my account after I imported my list until I documented exactly where every subscriber came from. Annoying in the moment, and the reason their deliverability holds up.
Campaign Refinery
Deliverability-first email sending.
What I use it for: Mailing my full list.
The catch: They will reject a dirty list on purpose. If your list has never been cleaned, fix that before you apply.
MillionVerifier
Email list cleaning.
What I use it for: I ran my whole list through it before importing anywhere.
The catch: It's a single-purpose tool. It cleans, that's it.
Build Software
Lovable
Build real web apps by describing them.
What I use it for: I have built and shipped real SaaS products with it.
The catch: It gets you to a working, sellable product fast. The last ten percent, the gnarly state handling and edge cases, is where you'll want a developer or a code editor.
Claude
The AI I actually work in.
What I use it for: Strategy, writing, research, code, and running my whole marketing operation through connected tools.
The catch: It's only as good as the context you give it. Expect to spend real time setting it up before it pays off.
Supabase
Postgres database, auth and storage behind the apps I build.
What I use it for: The backend for every Lovable project I ship.
The catch: It's a real database. Once you're past the free tier you're doing actual data work.
Content & Video
HeyGen
AI avatars and video generation, including a clone of me.
What I use it for: Scaling video without filming every piece.
The catch: An avatar is not a substitute for you on camera. It works for volume and repurposing, not for the video where people need to feel you.
Blotato
Writes, schedules and publishes across every platform at once.
What I use it for: My entire multi-platform posting system runs through it.
The catch: It's a distribution tool, not an ideas tool. Garbage in, garbage everywhere at once.
Canva
Design.
What I use it for: Carousels, ad creative, thumbnails, event graphics.
The catch: Everyone uses it, so you have to work to not look like everyone.
kie.ai
One API for a lot of the best video and image models.
What I use it for: Generating video content at a fraction of going direct.
The catch: It's an API layer, so it's closer to developer tooling than a polished app.
Syllaby
AI video from keyword research through to scheduled post.
What I use it for: Faceless and avatar video at volume, with the topic research and scheduling in the same place.
The catch: The credit model charges per step, so iterating on a video that did not come out right costs you twice. Their refund window is also void if you have used any credits.
AI & Automation
Wispr Flow
Voice dictation that actually keeps up.
What I use it for: I talk instead of type for most of my day now.
The catch: It takes about a week before dictating stops feeling strange. Push through it.
ChatGPT
Second AI opinion, image generation, quick tasks.
What I use it for: I run it alongside Claude rather than instead of it.
The catch: Running two AI subscriptions only makes sense once you know what each is better at.
Manus
Autonomous AI agent for multi-step work.
What I use it for: Ad ops and research tasks I don't want to babysit.
The catch: Output quality is uneven. It needs a real review pass before anything ships.
Zapier
Connects everything that doesn't connect natively.
What I use it for: The glue between tools across all four businesses.
The catch: It gets expensive at volume, and every zap is one more thing that can silently break.
The Community
Skool
Community, courses, live calls and payments in one place, with gamification that actually drives retention.
What I use it for: Where the Maker AI community lives.
The catch: Two plans now: $9/mo Hobby with a 10% transaction fee, or $99/mo Pro at 2.9%, which rises to 3.9% on transactions above $900. Growth Boost also takes 30% of revenue from members Skool sources for you, and it is enabled by default. Check that setting.
Paid Ads
Meta Ads Manager
Facebook and Instagram advertising.
What I use it for: The paid acquisition channel I've spent the most in, by a wide margin.
The catch: Free to use, brutal to learn. The bulk import flow in particular will fight you.
Deep-dive reviews
- ThriveCart Review (2026): The Lifetime Deal Just Changed
- Campaign Refinery Review (2026): I Mail 40,000 People Through It
- Skool Review (2026): The Fees Nobody Tells You About
- Lovable Review (2026): I Built Real SaaS With It
- GoHighLevel Review (2026): What It Actually Costs
- beehiiv Review (2026): I Moved 20,000+ Subscribers Onto It
- Blotato Review (2026): I Run My Entire Posting System On It
- Syllaby Review (2026): Honest Take on the Credit Model
Want the plays, not just the tools?
Every week I send what I'm actually running across four companies. What worked, what broke, and what it cost. Free.
Frequently Asked Questions
What tools does Stefan Ciancio use?
Stefan runs four companies on a stack built around WebinarKit for webinars, ThriveCart and GoHighLevel for checkout and CRM, beehiiv and Campaign Refinery for email, Lovable and Claude for building software, and Blotato and HeyGen for content. The full list with what each one is used for is on this page.
Are these affiliate links?
Some of them are, and that's disclosed at the top of the page. Stefan only lists tools he actually pays for and uses across his own businesses, and the tools he built himself are marked as such.
What is the best checkout software for course creators?
Stefan uses ThriveCart across all four of his companies, mainly because it's a one-time license rather than a recurring monthly fee, which changes the math significantly over a few years.
What does Stefan use to build software without code?
Lovable for building the application itself, Supabase for the database and auth behind it, and Maker AI for validating the idea and building the go-to-market before writing anything.