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Full admin of a real startup to be used as a SaaS boilerplate

by Marius

Hello fellow indies,

After working for 6 months on a startup (https://juvmed.com/) I still struggle at finding more customers, even though the feedback on project from those who try it is good ("it's great, but I don't need it" :) Those who need it already have something and won't change.

Since it was based on a SaaS boilterplate for nodejs that I've built, I thought that it might help others kick-start their projects if I put the full admin on sale:
https://nodex.wensia.com/

Hope this helps you delivering a quick working prototype that you can use to validate your own startup!

Marius's avatarMarius
on February 9, 2020
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  1. 1

    Interesting pivot, I also considered selling the codebase for some of my failed projects, but decided not to because code gets outdated pretty quickly and requires a lot of maintenance.

    If NodeX is targeted towards prototyping then it should be really easy to set-up and use/change. I am usually afraid to get started with boilerplates as they also have a variety of learning curves and usually you hit some customizability issues very fast. If I am going to use a boilerplate as the basis of my project I want it to be really solid and bug free.

    How secure/bug-free is NodeX?
    I had a look over the (really short) snippets and noticed a lot of the stuff is hardcoded such as db table names/columns or roles for specific actions and that there was no error-handling (what happens if the query in that snippet fails?). The last thing you want when using a boilerplate is for it to silently fail: it doesn't work and you don't know why.

    Just speaking up my mind, but I would not purchase/use a boilerplate before I know exactly how tested/bug-free and how customizable it is.

    XCS's avatar XCS
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    7 years ago
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    1. 1

      Thanks for your thoughts!

      I am usually afraid to get started with boilerplates as they also have a variety of learning curves
      I agree. That's valid for any framework too, eg Vue or React.

      and usually you hit some customizability issues very fast.
      It depends. I like nodejs APIs instead of approaches like 'build UI visually and generate CRUD code'. The nodejs API handling code is simple and easy to extend.

      I had a look over the (really short) snippets
      Yep. I'm proud of having some utility functions (which I've reused in 10+ projects) which allow me to write an API to get users list in 8 readable lines, including permission handling.

      and noticed a lot of the stuff is hardcoded such as db table names/columns or roles for specific actions
      Because it's custom code for a very specific action :) I prefer to have an API for each read,update,delete,create of each entity. I understand there might be other approaches, but this works well for me.

      and that there was no error-handling (what happens if the query in that snippet fails?).
      There is error handling: one handler in the "dbquery()" database call wrapper, one in the overall node backend, one in the client (which shows the error message coming from backend). No need to duplicate this in every API handler.

      Try out https://juvmed.com , it's being used daily by 10+ users. Try to break it too :) There were bugs, but in the app logic (eg calendar availability), not in the db queries, which is very generic and should be handled in a single place.

      I also considered selling the codebase for some of my failed projects, but decided not to because code gets outdated pretty quickly and requires a lot of maintenance.
      Maybe we have different approaches, like not handling db errors in each API call.
      I made this http://geotechpm.herokuapp.com/ in 2014. Besides an ~ yearly update, it still works and used by 25+ employees. Unfortunately, all from the same company (1 single paying customer).

      Finally,

      I also considered selling the codebase for some of my failed projects
      maybe more founders should try this. It might benefit others. But, code quality can be a big issue, and it's hard to know what you get until you pay...

      Marius's avatar Marius
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      7 years ago
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