I cut my agency's client onboarding from 3 weeks to 2 days with this Nuxt boilerplate approach
So honestly this has been a game changer for our agency, we used to spend like 2-3 weeks just setting up the basics for every client project, auth systems, payment integration, database setup, all that repetitive stuff that nobody wants to do but has to be done
Basically we started using ShipAhead for client projects and now we just extend it for whatever they need, the auth is already done, Stripe is hooked up, database is configured, even email stuff works out of the box, so we literally just customize the features they actually care about and ship in like 2 days instead of weeks, our clients are honestly shocked at how fast we move now
The best part is it works really well for those clients who want something quick to validate their idea before committing to a full build, we can get them a working MVP with real payments and user accounts in a weekend, then iterate from there if it gains traction, cuts down so much wasted time on projects that might not even work
Anyone else running an agency and dealing with this same bottleneck, like spending half your sprint just wiring up the same infrastructure over and over, kinda curious if this is just us or if other dev shops are struggling with the same thing
Tom, the agency bottleneck angle feels stronger than a generic boilerplate pitch. I’d probably make the first screen say something very concrete like: “Stop rebuilding auth, payments, emails, and project scaffolding for every client sprint.” Then use the $19 subscriber story as proof that the product helps teams ship a real offer faster, not just start a repo faster. Small copy tweak, but it makes the value feel more tied to agency delivery time.
the infrastructure tax is one of those things every agency accepts as normal until someone shows them it doesn't have to be. two to three weeks of auth, payments, and database setup before you've written a single line of actual product logic is just accepted waste.
the MVP validation angle is where this gets really interesting for clients - being able to put something with real payments in front of users in a weekend changes the conversation from 'should we build this' to 'here's what users actually did with it.'
what does the customization ceiling look like though - when a client comes in with something genuinely unusual, like a complex multi-tenant setup or non-standard payment flow, how much of the boilerplate starts working against you instead of for you?
Curious -what part of the onboarding used to take the most time before? Was it setup, integrations, or just coordinating everything?
Speed matters more than people think. Same in agencies—lead response delay kills conversions more than bad ads. Curious if you’ve seen similar patterns with onboarding drop-offs?
This is so relatable. Wiring up Auth and Stripe for the 100th time is exactly what burns out most agency devs. Cutting that boilerplate setup down to 2 days is a massive win for your margins!
Quick question: When you hand over these quick MVPs, do the clients usually keep you on retainer to maintain the stack, or do you just hand over the codebase and move to the next project? Great job with this approach!
This resonates a lot the hidden cost in agency work is rarely the custom features, it’s rebuilding the same foundation every time.
Feels like what you’ve really optimized isn’t just speed, but decision risk. When setup takes weeks, clients hesitate to experiment. When infrastructure is instant, validation becomes cheap and iteration actually happens.
I’ve noticed a similar shift with AI/automation projects too the winning teams aren’t necessarily coding faster, they’re standardizing the starting point so energy goes into solving the real problem instead of plumbing.
Curious; has this changed how clients scope projects now that they know delivery can happen in days instead of weeks?
The infrastructure boilerplate problem is universal for agencies — you're rebuilding auth and payments for the 50th time while the client thinks you're building their product. The 3 weeks to 2 days number is believable because most of that time was never actual product work anyway. Curious how it handles the customization edge cases when a client needs something that doesn't fit the standard setup.
3 weeks → 2 days is a real jump. curious though - in my experience the time isn't usually the setup, it's requirements back-and-forth and scope alignment. does this address that too or mainly the technical scaffolding?
This comment was deleted 5 months ago
This comment was deleted 5 months ago
Come on bro, at least try....