Are indie hackers doing things right?

I am learning and building my first product like yourself, so I feel I can only comment on the tech stack. Like others have said, build in what you know. I build in Next.js as well. It is a modern framework that should have everything you need. It's easy to go down the "optimum tech stack" rabbit hole, but right now you just need to build and the differences are probably too minimal for it to even matter.

Conducting market research first would be the best course of action. Then you can learn more about the needs and problems of potential customers. While targeting a high-value product is possible, as a student, you need to be more careful and focus on your studies and product ideas. This approach will help you build the right product.

Here's my 2c!

1. I think doing some market research first would be best. You can learn more about what your potential customers are looking for and what they are currently experiencing. This will help you build the right thing.
2. I'd use what you're comfortable with. This will help you build faster without the added time to learn a new language and get comfortable with the syntax. At the end of the day, the customer won't REALLY care what tech stack you're using - as long as it works.
3. I think you can answer this with some market research.
4. Sorry! I don't understand this question!

Hope that helps!

As you are in ideation phase, I am sure Micro SaaS Ideas would be good help. I have been building this for 2 years and grew to 25,000 email subscribers.

1. Should I build my MVP first or do market research and find potential customers?

• Recommend building Landing Page, build waitlist and then work on MVP in parallel. For Market research, you can use Micro SaaS Ideas and forums like IH, Reddit and from your waitlist, talk to users 1-1

2. I have some experience with Javascript but most SaaS devs say Ruby on Rails is a better option over Javascript with Next.js. Should I just go with that?

• Don't worry too much on the Tech stack. Instead spend time on adding users to waitlist.Ruby on Rails is powerful too.

3. Should I build my application as a google chrome extension or as a web application?

• The current idea of creating a new client for GMail is risky as most platforms don't allow that. Be careful. But A Webapp makes more sense in this case for users. But do a serious deep-dive in the newsletter I mentioned.

4. Lastly, which application might be useful for developers to build their MVP as quickly as possible without wasting a lot of time on the learning curve?

• Look for some SaaS Boilerplates that can save you huge time.

Hey there, Jacky here! As someone who bootstrapped two SaaS products, I'd be happy to offer some advice on your start-up questions:

1. Definitely do market research first. Knowing your audience and competition are key before building a product. Find out if there's demand for your idea, who your target customers are, and how you can out-compete your competitors.
2. Use what you feel comfortable with. I use Vue.js, Django, and node.js for the backend, but your choice of tech stack will depend on your requirements and goals.
3. It depends on your product's features and user experience. A web app might offer more flexibility, while a Chrome extension could integrate with the browser and provide additional features.
4. Buying a SaaS boilerplate with pre-built modules like payment and user management can save development time and allow you to focus more on marketing.

Hope that helps! Don't forget to build in public and engage with the indiehacker community for more support. Good luck with your start-up journey!

You asked some great questions, let me try to answer.

1. This is a controversial topic. Some makers prefer to confirm before build but this depends on your social media reach. If you have a big crowd you can ask, go for it and prove your idea. If you are a nobody with a tiny crowd, build a MVP and spread the word on platforms like IndieHackers or your target community. But if you build a MVP focus on what matters and do it great.

2. This also is a hard topic. I would go with JavaScript/TypeScript an Next.js because you can achieve a lot with it. Ruby on Rails is not so popular anymore. But it"s up to you, choose what ever you want and more important, choose the tech stack your comfortable with.

3. This depends. Check what you want to achieve. Is this possible as an chrome or Firefox extension? How much effort is it to develop extensions for all the major browser? Extensions have limitations, check this and decide.

4. If you unfamiliar with programming try some No or Low Code tools like Budibase.

Talk to your users. How To Talk To Users | Startup School