Quick start — your first week on Kowbi

This is the fastest path from signup to taking your first paid booking. Plan on 30 minutes of focused work.

1. Create your account

Sign up at kowbi.io/register. Pick the Free plan if you want to test with no commitment — you can upgrade later without losing data.

After signup, check your inbox for the verification email and click the link. You can keep setting up your studio while this is pending, but you'll need to verify before you can connect Stripe.

2. Finish onboarding

The onboarding wizard collects:

• Studio name & slug — your slug becomes part of your booking URL (e.g. yourstudio.kowbi.io)
• Timezone — important for booking windows and emails
• Business hours — when bookings can start and end
• Address — shown to clients on booking pages

You can change all of this later in Admin → Settings.

3. Add at least one room

Go to Admin → Rooms → New Room. Each room needs:

• A name (e.g. "Studio A", "Podcast Booth")
• An hourly rate
• A minimum booking length

If you offer half-hour rates, set the hourly rate to twice the half-hour rate and your minimum length to 30 minutes.

4. Connect Stripe (required for paid bookings)

Admin → Settings → Payments → Connect with Stripe. Kowbi uses Stripe Connect — money flows directly to your Stripe account; we never hold your funds. See Connecting Stripe for details.

You must verify your email before connecting Stripe.

5. Configure deposits + booking rules

In Admin → Settings → Bookings:

• Deposit amount — what cards are pre-authorized at booking
• Cancellation policy — copy that goes on every booking page
• Buffers — setup/breakdown time between bookings

See Deposits & pricing and Booking rules for what to put here.

6. Test a booking yourself

Open yourstudio.kowbi.io in an incognito window and book a session as if you were a customer. Use a Stripe test card if you're on Free, or your own card on a paid plan (you can refund yourself).

This is the single most important step — you'll catch any room/pricing/email config issues before a real client does.

7. Add Kowbi to your existing booking links

• Instagram bio — replace your current booking link with your Kowbi URL
• Google Business Profile → Booking link
• Website — embed the booking widget or link directly

You're live. The next 48 hours of real traffic will tell you what to refine.