How did you build your 1st SaaS? I have so many ideas , want to do just 1 but everytime I get stuck on Front end and back end.

It took me 5 months to build my 1st SaaS, and I can confirm this is extremely challenging. Building a SaaS is complex, you need to think about a lot of things like Front end, Back end, Database, Authentication, User Dashboard, Landing Pages, Payment, Server management, etc. You need to think about a lot of technical details. After finishing your product, you also need to think about Marketing and Support. This is can be overwhelming.

This is why I've build a SaaS Boilerplate, it includes everything you need to build your SaaS faster. A lot of technical details are solved for you, so you can focus on your product and business.

For example about "How about backend connection like databases?" is already solved by the React SaaS Template. So, you don't need to think about it because the connection to the database is already established for you.

The boilerplate comes up with a working SaaS and the idea for you is to customize based on your needs and requirements. There is nothing wrong with using templates, especially you are getting stuck. Templates can help you save time and effort on the design, UX, technical decision, DevOps, etc.

If you want to build yourself and don't want to purchase a template, you can definitively find a lot of resources online. You can find course, YouTube videos, blog posts, etc. And, building a SaaS is the perfect opportunity to learn React and JavaScript. There is nothing wrong to build it in one year or two.

You can think about stitching together a bunch of scraper/automation/low code tools like Axiom.ai, Bubble.io, Make/Zapier, Phantom Buster, and use Airtable as a DB. Build an Interface on Airtable as your front end and allow your users to try it out and validate if it's a good idea. I'm presuming you're looking to productize some sort of a service, in that case learning to stitch together these tools but make it look seamless to your users is a great way to get started.

You can try to find co-founder that will help you. You don't have to pay anyone, you just split the equity. But it works only if you find someone who can believe in that product as much as you do.

This really absurd, if you have an idea and its validated. You will pay money to get it done as soon as possible.
This will show what’s an idea and is it worth it or not:
https://friendsofsaas.substack.com/p/where-to-find-ideas

Starting with a SaaS is definitely not the easiest thing to do. As somebody else mentioned, a simpler project might be ideal, something like a NextJs app without a database, to ship something and get used to the process.

If you really want to create something complex and don't have any experience with backend work, I'd highly recommend getting decently versed in it before releasing anything, as security and performance can really make or break any service.

From most to least expensive solutions I can think of:

• Hiring a developer (duh)

• Using managed services for sticky solutions like databases or authentication (firebase, auth0) - but you still have to be able to glue this together

• Using an open source starter project which offers the functionality (authentication, dashboards etc.) you need, or close. I'd browse github searching for "saas starter <technology>" and have a look at what comes up - in this case, you might have the tech stack chosen for you, you have to learn on the go, and you really are tied to the quality of the project itself (ie. if there is a bug in the starter, you'll have that bug in your project)

I think with a bit of luck it might be the best bang for your bucks, as you do have something to start with you can improve and get fast(er) feedback.

• Elbow grease and fully DYI solution, trial and error style :D

A SaaS is basically one of the most complex things you can build. It has to have multi-tenancy (work for several users, it's not just a program that runs on one particular PC), authentication, database, networking, scaling.

If you don't have a software engineering background (but some other or general kind of engineering background) you should probably start building some websites that are not complex (no login, no database, just frontend basically).

You can then start building a backend+database for some things that require persistence.

Take little steps, don't try to build a whole car without knowing how to build the individual parts :)

I will recommend no code solutions like bubble or glide. You could search “100 days of no code” to learn more.

Here is exactly what you can do. Seriously if you follow this, you will build your first Saas.

1. Pick a tiny idea. Don't try to build the next Shopify. Try to build a valuable calculator.
2. Pick a small piece of that tiny idea. For example 'user types in number and I get that number in Javascript'
3. Google how to do that small thing. Keep trying things and googling things until it works. If you can't figure it out after a couple hours, ask someone for help, a friend or online.
4. Pick the next tiny piece, for example 'do something with that number the user entered'. Google how to do that.
5. Repeat for each piece of the Saas.
6. Do this every day for an hour. Don't stop.

This is exactly how I build my app, and how Levels learned and a bunch of other people.

You can do it!

Hey Vishal! My advice would be to launch fast using the quickest route you have available. Nothing will teach you more about what you need to be focusing on that getting your ideas out in front of your ideal customers and testing your assumptions about what it is they care about. No code is an amazing way of getting ideas off the ground very quickly - I got my first business off the ground in large part with a template and a hacky back-end system of no-code tools. I wrote a bit about my journey here: https://webflow.com/blog/turning-your-side-project-into-a-business - maybe that could help to get your ideas flowing on how to get unstuck?

If you are having issues with development I would recommend you go the no-code route. Even experienced developers use no-code tools, so don't feel guilty for using them. If this is not an option for you than maybe hire/partner with someone.

I built one for someone else using NextJS
and Firebase. Having learned some lessons from this I am building an open source kit to help kickstart a SaaS:
https://github.com/mcapodici/firestarter

If you take a look, please bear with me, it is early days!

I'm taking a wild guess here, but a lot of engineers suffer from scope creep.
If this should be the case don't start with your ideas yet. I know it's freaking hard but start with extremly small projects. Write down a list of all features the project should have. Don't do anything more than that! Every time you want to refactor something, ask yourself, is this really necessary? E.g. do you really need a MongoDB instance, or is localhost enough for now? These are just some wild thoughts of mine, hopefully you can find some sence in them^^.

Hey! I feel like I have been in a similar boat. I have a degree in computer engineering but it was heavily focused on hardware and low level coding. I felt discouraged trying to learn things like JavaScript and React since it always felt so far away from an end product. I’ve stayed away from no-code platforms because I thought they were too limited, but it turns out I was wrong. I’ve been using Bubble.io for about a month and it is fantastic. There is a learning curve, but it was perfect for someone like me who is familiar with basic web design but struggles with putting together a real product. Bubble gives you a ton of freedom and makes designing the front end and back end very simple. You can integrate basically any API and there’s tons of plug-ins to add functionality as well. You can get a fully functioning and customizable login/sign up in minutes and get payments integrated in under an hour. It is perfect for building a web based SAAS MVP. I’ve also heard great things about flutterflow for mobile apps. Definitely a good idea to continue learning JS and React though, as you may want to re-code things after your MVP stage

I have learned Ruby on Rails even though I was mainly a Python and Java developer.

I have also tried to use React, Javascript and other SPA type solutions. Everything always crumbled at different points such as: authentication and authorization, adding payments, pagination etc.

The thing is that it has all been done before and Rails has established and up to date libraries for everything I have mentioned. Laravel is also a choice if you prefer PHP and Django for Python.

Main point is to choose boring tech. After I have switched to Rails I've been able to launch two products in less than 3 months.

I would only consider non-monolith frameworks only for very specific apps that their main selling point is interactivity. Think products like Figma or Google Sheets.

May be you can buy saas boilerplate for whatever language you are interested in like this for python https://www.saaspegasus.com/ or https://spark.laravel.com/ for php and use it for launching.

If I were you I’d build something simple using Nextjs and deploying it to Vercel. It’s easy to use. Instead of purchasing a template I’d use mui.com components. After coming up with something that you like, you can use firebase and firestore for user auth and to persist user data

I initially started last October. Built some webapp real simple using AI APIs like GPT3. I am not able to get authentication like sign up/login and pricing and other basic stuff and stuck. User dashboard/admin dashboard? Any help will be appreciated.

Yes, I know that.
My first SaaS Product that was to be created was complex and very elaborate. I gave up on it.

Ask yourself.
Do you basically want to gain users with the product and potentially make profits or do you want to learn frameworks?

I recommend the following ,if you are for user/profit.

• Forget about the stack. Use what you already know. Include not more than one technology you don't know.
• You will waste time if you always reinvent the wheel.

And start with something small. I fell on my face and spent weeks to develop something.
Recently I even deleted the repo on GitHub. I learned my lesson and wanted nothing more to do with that old project.

And in my opinion, React is a complex framework. If you learn React for you own purpose, go for it. But only then.

I launched a Micro SaaS product two weeks ago and it was actually very enriching. My stack is Laravel, VueJS and Mailgun.
Where VueJS was my "dont-know-yet" in my used stack.
I've learned that VueJS can be cool but my focus was to launch the product.

Maybe you should try Non-Code solution at the moment, since your questions suggest that you aren't experienced in web development, right?

Best
Sentury

hello 👋,

how about just leave the frontend & backend to us → InvocationX.com 😉✨?