What's coming to JoinNests and why we're building it this way

We launched JoinNests into public beta this month. And before we start telling people what to expect, we figured we owe you an honest answer to a simple question: what's next, and why in that order?

Here's the roadmap. And the thinking behind it.

Where we are right now

JoinNests is live. You can sign up today, configure your membership categories, set up your approval pipeline, and start accepting members; all without calling a developer or paying a vendor from abroad.

What's already built:

• Multi-step registration forms: custom fields, conditional logic, consent steps with PDPA audit trail
• Approval workflows: single-stage or multi-stage, with assigned reviewers, full audit log, and email notifications at every transition
• E-certificate generation: upload your template background, configure the fields, certificates auto-generate on approval
• Renewal automation: reminders at 30 and 7 days, members upload payment proof through their own portal, you approve in one click
• Excel bulk import: upload your existing spreadsheet, map the columns, import your whole member database in minutes
• Real-time notifications: new applications, status changes, renewals; all surfaced to your admin team the moment they happen
• Stripe billing: Basic and Pro plans, 7-day free trial, no card required upfront, priced in MYR

That's Phases 0 through 10.5. It took longer than we expected. It's better than we planned.

What's coming next

We're building one thing at a time. Not because we can't move faster; because we've seen what happens when you build ahead of what your users actually need. You end up with a product full of features nobody uses and gaps in the things that matter.

So here's the list, in order.

Event management: around September 2026

The most common thing we hear after "when can we start using this?" is "can it handle our AGM?"

The short answer is: not yet. The longer answer is: soon.

Event management is the next feature on the list. What we're building:

• Create events with capacity limits, registration windows, and waitlists
• Member pricing vs guest pricing; charge different rates for different groups
• QR code check-in at the door: scan, confirm, done
• Attendance tracking per member profile; see who showed up, who didn't, and whether it matters for their membership standing

We're not building a full event ticketing platform. We're building what associations and clubs actually need for their AGMs, annual dinners, professional development sessions, and committee meetings. Tight scope. Done properly.

Target: roughly two months from now. We'll update this post when it ships.

Digital membership cards: November to December 2026

After events, the next logical question is credential verification. If your members need to prove they're active at a venue, an event, or a checkpoint; they currently need to show a PDF or email a certificate.

That's not how it should work in 2026.

Digital membership cards will let you issue Apple Wallet and Google Pay passes directly to your members on approval. They tap their phone. You see it's valid. That's it.

• Auto-issued on membership approval
• Shows name, tier, membership number, and expiry
• Works offline: no internet connection needed at the door
• Designed to complement e-certificates, not replace them. The certificate is the formal record. The card is the daily credential.

We're building this for professional bodies whose members need to prove active standing, sports clubs where membership entitles access to facilities, and any org that runs physical events or venues.

Third-party integrations: Q1 2027

This is the furthest out and the most intentionally deferred.

The honest reason: integrations are expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain. Every time Google changes its OAuth flow or Microsoft tweaks the Graph API, something breaks. We're not going to build integrations until we have paying orgs who need them specifically; not because we think integrations don't matter, but because we've seen too many products build them early and spend all their maintenance budget keeping them alive instead of shipping new features.

When we do build them, here's what's planned:

• Gmail and Google Calendar: sync renewal reminders and event invitations directly to your admin team's calendar, send member communications from your org's Gmail account
• MCP server: Enterprise accounts will be able to connect JoinNests to AI tools like Claude or Cursor and query member data, run reports, or trigger workflows via natural language. This is the kind of thing that sounds like a gimmick until you see a secretary ask "who's coming up for renewal in the next 30 days?" and get a clean answer in two seconds.
• REST API: for the organisations that have their own systems and need JoinNests to talk to them. Full read and write access, API key auth, rate limited per key.

If you need one of these integrations before Q1 2027, reach out. If enough orgs ask for the same thing, we move it up.

Why we're building it this way

We had a longer roadmap. We cut it.

The original plan had fourteen phases. It had online fee collection, a public member directory, custom domains, digital membership cards, event management, volunteer tracking, and an in-app chat; all planned before a single real org had used the product.

We cut everything that wasn't essential for the first organisation to actually run their membership on JoinNests. That turned out to be more than we thought: registration, approvals, renewals, certificates, billing. That's already a complete product for most associations.

Everything else waits until a real org asks for it. Not a potential org. Not a hypothetical org. An org that has signed up, configured their setup, and is actively using the platform.

The rule is simple: we don't build Phase N+1 until Phase N has a real org using it.

This keeps us honest. It stops us from building features that sound good in a pitch deck but don't solve a real problem. And it means when we do ship something, it's because someone asked for it; which usually means it's actually useful.

A note on the beta

This is a beta. That means things will break. Workflows that work perfectly for one org will need adjustment for another. The CSV export will miss an edge case. The renewal reminder will fire at the wrong time for someone on a non-standard renewal period.

When that happens, message us. The whole point of a beta is that we fix it fast because you're not just a customer: you're the reason we built this.

If you're running an association, professional body, club, or any membership organisation in Malaysia; and you're still on spreadsheets and WhatsApp; this is the right time to try JoinNests.

Seven days free. No card required. Set up in under a day.

Start your free trial →

Or if you're an NPO and full price isn't in the budget: talk to us. Tech for good is our motto. We'll work something out.

Get in touch →

JoinNests is built by AIS and DigiHwy Certainty (DHC): a Malaysian tech-for-good social enterprise. We build open infrastructure for the organisations that hold communities together.