Built an MVP for an eCommerce SaaS starter kit using modern tech - would love your thoughts
Hey IH champs!
Over the past 4 months, I've been building something I wish I had when starting eCommerce projects – a complete starter kit with authentication, checkout, admin dashboard, and Stripe integration. It's called QuickStartCommerce.
Why I built it:
As a developer, I often had to spend days wiring up the same stuff again and again — login, cart, product pages, etc. I wanted a way to launch client stores or SaaS prototypes faster.
What it includes:
Built with Next.js, Node.js, MongoDB
Stripe payments with guest + logged-in checkout
Admin panel to manage products, orders, categories, and users
Order confirmation via SMTP
Fully documented setup + Postman collection
Demo: https://qsc.launchshed.com
Admin: https://qsc.launchshed.com/admin ( email - admin_demo@qsc.com , pwd - qsc123 )
I just launched it on Gumroad (keeping pricing accessible for indie devs), but honestly — I'm more excited to hear what you all think.
Would love any feedback — on the idea, the landing page, or what you’d add/improve.
Here’s the landing page: https://launchshed.com/quick-start-commerce
Thanks for reading — I truly appreciate any comments or suggestions!
I guess my question is why someone would choose this over well-established competitors for E-commerce stores (ex shopify and woocommerce). It seems like you're targeting an awkward middle ground between non-technical people who could benefit from the established players in the E-commerce startup market, and experienced devs who could easily create something for themselves. The only people left are those who feel technical enough to want more than shopify, but also couldn't create something for themselves.
Maybe I'm not explaining this well, but I feel like its a pretty small market.
Nevertheless, I'm super impressed by the skills you must have to have put this together and I hope you can sell this to some people and provide value for them! Good luck!
Really appreciate the thoughtful perspective - and thank you for the kind words too!
You’re right - Shopify/WooCommerce are fantastic for non-tech users, and experienced devs can absolutely build things from scratch. But I found there’s a sweet spot in between — devs and freelancers who want speed and control without reinventing the wheel every time. Think of it like a boilerplate that gets you 80% of the way there, but still gives you full flexibility to extend or self-host.
A few folks using it right now are building SaaS MVPs, client storefronts, or internal tools where Shopify would be overkill or too locked-in. And since the full codebase is included, it’s great for learning or customizing deeply.
That said, you’re totally right — it’s not for everyone. I just wanted to serve the kind of dev I used to be when I wished something like this existed 😄
But honestly really happy to hear your doubt. Hopefully I explained well
That makes a lot of sense!
I suppose come to think of it I would probably be that kind of person too (if I were to start a shopify store), like not super experienced but technical enough not to want to play with blocks.
Best of luck with your launch!
Thanks mate! Cheers!!
Got ~70 hits to the landing page and some encouraging feedback, but no sales yet.
Curious if anyone here has experience launching dev tools/starter kits — what helped you convert that early interest into actual purchases?
I’m wondering if it’s a landing page issue, feature gap, or maybe just need more visibility. Super open to honest thoughts or suggestions!
How how do integrate the products, orders into your platform?
Hello @Seb_the_Builder
I have created admin panel to manage products and orders.
Also I am providing REST apis to manage products.
Stripe payment gateway is integrated with smtp mail notification.
Let me know if you have further questions. I would be very happy to answer
Congratulations on building your MVP for the eCommerce SaaS starter kit! Leveraging modern technology is a great approach to ensure scalability and user satisfaction. I’d love to hear more about your tech stack and any specific features you’ve implemented. Additionally, sharing your insights on user feedback and future enhancements could provide valuable context for discussion. Looking forward to your thoughts!
Thanks so much - really appreciate the kind words and encouragement!
Tech-wise, I went with Next.js for the frontend, Node.js + Express on the backend, and MongoDB for the database — mostly to keep things developer-friendly and easy to deploy. i have also integrated Stripe for payments (supporting both guest and logged-in checkouts) and added an admin panel for managing products, orders, categories, and users. SMTP support is included for sending order confirmations too.
As for user feedback so far - early users loved that everything is already wired up, especially the Stripe flow and admin features. Developers are loving the Postman collection of the apis. A few devs have asked for things like multi-vendor support or coupon management, so those are on my radar for future updates.
Would love to hear your thoughts — especially if there’s a feature or use case you think would be a great addition!
⸻
Let me know if you want to add a CTA like “Feel free to try the demo if you haven’t yet!” too.
Hey
Quick review here: I think it's a great product!
I would add maybe a hyperlink to the different products on the images you are showing and also maybe some charts to track the revenue of the app, number of users etc
keep it going!
Hey, thanks a lot for the kind words and the feedback — really appreciate it!
Totally agree on both points — clickable product images would improve the demo experience, and charts for revenue/users are already on my wishlist in the future updates. I am thinking of adding some basic analytics to the admin panel soon.
Thanks again for taking the time to check it out — means a lot! Let me know if you spot anything else or have ideas you’d love to see in there 😊
You guys still do boilerplates in 2025? Oh. My. God. Dude, there's a gazillion boilerplates on the internet, most are free, some are paid. Those paid ones (from Marc Lou, for examples) have lied to you and manipulated you into either buying one or starting your own. Their numbers on sales volume are inflated--this is not a real scalable business, not even a side hustle, you're probably gonna sell 0.
I'm under no circumstances trying to bash your work or effort, props to that. But, for the love of God, stop creating boilerplates, no one will buy them except maybe 2 times a year.
Also, we (at least I) are not buying this:
"Why I built it:
As a developer, I often had to spend days wiring up the same stuff again and again — login, cart, product pages, etc. I wanted a way to launch client stores or SaaS prototypes faster."
This is an outright lie. Any decent (or above decent) developer will copy paste barebones code from one project to another, they will NEVER rewrite, as stated in your phrase. Not only devs will copy paste and reuse code, but decent-and-above devs will have a boilerplate repo just for that. So no.
I'm telling you, there's better ways for you to spend time coding and making money, it's just not boilerplates. Sorry.
Hi Rusu,
appreciate the honesty and strong feedback. I understand where you’re coming from, but let me offer another perspective.
Not every product is meant for every developer. You are right — experienced devs can wire up auth, cart, and checkout from scratch or reuse their own repos. But not everyone is a seasoned developer, and not everyone wants to invest time redoing the same wiring for every new project.
This starter kit isn’t for the 10x engineer. It’s for:
• Freelancers who want to launch quicker for clients
• Solo founders validating an idea in hours, not days and weeks
• Non-tech users who want a solid boilerplate to build on
• Teams who value structure, docs, and time-saving integrations
Also, I’m not pretending this is a million-dollar business. It’s a polished, full-stack starter kit built with modern tech - It includes payment integration, admin panel, order flows, and docs and even full apis postman collection :). That’s value for people who need it.
And whether I sell 2 copies or 200, its all a step forward. I shipped it, learned a lot, and I will keep building.
But again — thanks for the feedback. Even critical voices are part of the journey, and I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
"But again — thanks for the feedback. Even critical voices are part of the journey, and I appreciate you taking the time to comment."
Sure, I meant to be critical but not in a rude way, I appreciate the reply and your view. :)
You could at least offer an alternative perspective or suggest a possible trajectory for where the markets are headed and what the best approach might be in 2025. Simply commenting without any actionable feedback or ideas comes across as a sign that you've tried, failed, and now assume nothing works — which isn't helpful. If that's not the case, then clarify it and propose something better.
@Launchshed beautifull saas by they way . loved it .
Thanks @lamort it is really really motivating. That’s what keeps me motivated to build tools. One day surely will get the break point 😊
No one cares what you want. I came here to comment and provide feedback, not to provide business ideas. And the OP got my point. Also, you argue that I should provide a solution instead of an empty comment, all while you provide an emtpy, solutionless comment, as well? Oh, the hypocrisy. Also, you seem frustrated, who offended your feelings? If you don't like my comment, go past it, ignore it. Goodbye and stop getting butthurt over internet, sister.
I didn’t criticize, so I don’t need to provide a business idea or another approach, because I like what he did. So your comment is baseless. The only butthurt Karen here is you.
good luck selling boilerplates and wordpress templates and building directories of directories :D :D :D :D :D /flex
"I didn’t criticize, so I don’t need to provide a business idea or another approach,"
I don't need either. No one says if you criticize, you need to come up with business ideas, lol. You making the rules now? Get a grip, sister. LOL U GETTING TRIGGERED OVER INTERNET IN 2025, LOL!!!
LET ME GUESS, YOU SELLING WORDPRESS THEMES? LOLOLOL
Well, apparently you are not aware of the rules of decency of a simple, respectable human being—probably still a teen, or a loser, or just a Karen. But when you criticize, that means you simply see something that others don't—hence the critique. Markets are flooded, great. But typing so angrily without providing alternatives or better approaches—that's just a loser mindset. So take the L, Karen, on simple human decency.
Plus, you're just attacking me, lol. 'I’m a girl and I’m triggered and selling templates'... lol. Nah, I’m just amazed at how someone lashes out on the internet at someone launching a project—just to lash out.
I'm not gonna read that wall of text. Do you have a summary? Thanks, miss Templates & Themes.