Micro Saas Building - Anyone done it? Know any developers?
Discussion
Hi everyone,
I have been working on an idea for a Micro SaaS product in the industry I work in, and I am currently developing the MVP. I do not have any programming experience myself, and I am not convinced that the “no-code AI tools” being promoted online will produce a reliable or scalable product.
Over the next few months I am planning to hire a developer to build the platform properly. I appreciate this will be an investment, but I believe the idea has strong potential. I am also planning to run it past a few other consultants in my field, and if they see the value, they may help promote it in return for a healthy referral arrangement.
The skill set I am looking for is:
• Full-stack JavaScript development
• Experience with Next.js (frontend + backend routes)
• Supabase or Firebase (authentication + database)
• PostgreSQL
• Stripe subscription billing
• Tailwind CSS
• Hosting on Vercel or Render
If any of you are, or know, developers you have had a good experience with, especially those comfortable building SaaS products... I would really appreciate any recommendations.
Thanks very much.
I have been working on an idea for a Micro SaaS product in the industry I work in, and I am currently developing the MVP. I do not have any programming experience myself, and I am not convinced that the “no-code AI tools” being promoted online will produce a reliable or scalable product.
Over the next few months I am planning to hire a developer to build the platform properly. I appreciate this will be an investment, but I believe the idea has strong potential. I am also planning to run it past a few other consultants in my field, and if they see the value, they may help promote it in return for a healthy referral arrangement.
The skill set I am looking for is:
• Full-stack JavaScript development
• Experience with Next.js (frontend + backend routes)
• Supabase or Firebase (authentication + database)
• PostgreSQL
• Stripe subscription billing
• Tailwind CSS
• Hosting on Vercel or Render
If any of you are, or know, developers you have had a good experience with, especially those comfortable building SaaS products... I would really appreciate any recommendations.
Thanks very much.
What's your budget? I think you'll struggle getting anywhere with Micro SaaS if you cant service the tech yourself.
I employe a number of people with that skillset on salaries of 45k+ for juniors and 75k+ for mid/seniors, plus benefits. Those aren't even very competitive salaries and we struggle to find people.
I employe a number of people with that skillset on salaries of 45k+ for juniors and 75k+ for mid/seniors, plus benefits. Those aren't even very competitive salaries and we struggle to find people.
I've successfully built micro SaaS services which I'm using commercially. Using mostly no code tools
Half of the internet is running on half-assed software which is barely functional. So the bar is much lower than you'd expect.
Obviously, if your market requires enterprise-grade security, it's a non-starter. But a lot of people complaining about AI are the equivalent of expert craftsmen being elbowed out of factory-built products of a lesser quality
But the reality is that many perhaps most online businesses don't need enterprise-grade code.
So what's the industry? Banking?
Half of the internet is running on half-assed software which is barely functional. So the bar is much lower than you'd expect.
Obviously, if your market requires enterprise-grade security, it's a non-starter. But a lot of people complaining about AI are the equivalent of expert craftsmen being elbowed out of factory-built products of a lesser quality
But the reality is that many perhaps most online businesses don't need enterprise-grade code.
So what's the industry? Banking?
lizardbrain said:
I've successfully built micro SaaS services which I'm using commercially. Using mostly no code tools
Half of the internet is running on half-assed software which is barely functional. So the bar is much lower than you'd expect.
Obviously, if your market requires enterprise-grade security, it's a non-starter. But a lot of people complaining about AI are the equivalent of expert craftsmen being elbowed out of factory-built products of a lesser quality
But the reality is that many perhaps most online businesses don't need enterprise-grade code.
So what's the industry? Banking?
the industry is quality management / ISO related. There are tons of 'packages' people can buy into to give them an alleged solution, but there is no one package fits all for this, i have niche'd down a solution for one part of the standard which crosses many different ISO standards which will make that part a breeze. Half of the internet is running on half-assed software which is barely functional. So the bar is much lower than you'd expect.
Obviously, if your market requires enterprise-grade security, it's a non-starter. But a lot of people complaining about AI are the equivalent of expert craftsmen being elbowed out of factory-built products of a lesser quality
But the reality is that many perhaps most online businesses don't need enterprise-grade code.
So what's the industry? Banking?
It won't cost the earth say £50/month, £495 a year, and they can forget about that part of the standard knowing when being serveilled by the certificatiob body it will be fine
wahman said:
the industry is quality management / ISO related. There are tons of 'packages' people can buy into to give them an alleged solution, but there is no one package fits all for this, i have niche'd down a solution for one part of the standard which crosses many different ISO standards which will make that part a breeze.
It won't cost the earth say £50/month, £495 a year, and they can forget about that part of the standard knowing when being serveilled by the certificatiob body it will be fine
It sounds like you will be processing sensitive operational data?It won't cost the earth say £50/month, £495 a year, and they can forget about that part of the standard knowing when being serveilled by the certificatiob body it will be fine
Would you be expected to hold ISO security and/or quality certificates yourself to operate in this space?
lizardbrain said:
It sounds like you will be processing sensitive operational data?
Would you be expected to hold ISO security and/or quality certificates yourself to operate in this space?
nah the section it will cover is not operational data or information specific. Would you be expected to hold ISO security and/or quality certificates yourself to operate in this space?
i have been listening to some b2b podcasts about starting a micro saas and before even thinking about developer i need a pitchdeck / mvp that can first of all get feelers out on how potential clients feel about it.
I believe we have all of the skills to produce a SAAS product in the Quality Assurance Sector. We would possibly not suggest using the Stack you are considering though. If you want a five minute chat happy to introduce our point of view to your thought process.
Not sure if its relevant but in a former life I was a Manufacturing Director and was responsible , with consultants help, for installing BS5750 and later ISO EN9001 so I would understand your QA jargon
Not sure if its relevant but in a former life I was a Manufacturing Director and was responsible , with consultants help, for installing BS5750 and later ISO EN9001 so I would understand your QA jargon
Interesting thread, admittedly I am not a software developer but I am an AI enthusiast, particularly when it comes to coding or even "vibe coding" (I dislike that term).
I am midway through development of what you could call a micro Saas. Essentially specialist engineering software performing various management and calculation tasks. My primary approach so far has been via a combination of myself, ChatGPT to assist with prompt development and Claude Code for execution.
As an Engineer myself its been a steep but interesting learning curve, particularly when it came to the planning for front and backend approaches. My planned next steps is to engage rea lworld professionals to look at things like security, structure etc. From a quick look on sites like Fivrr this shouldnt be too difficult.
I am midway through development of what you could call a micro Saas. Essentially specialist engineering software performing various management and calculation tasks. My primary approach so far has been via a combination of myself, ChatGPT to assist with prompt development and Claude Code for execution.
As an Engineer myself its been a steep but interesting learning curve, particularly when it came to the planning for front and backend approaches. My planned next steps is to engage rea lworld professionals to look at things like security, structure etc. From a quick look on sites like Fivrr this shouldnt be too difficult.
Pete102 said:
Interesting thread, admittedly I am not a software developer but I am an AI enthusiast, particularly when it comes to coding or even "vibe coding" (I dislike that term).
I am midway through development of what you could call a micro Saas. Essentially specialist engineering software performing various management and calculation tasks. My primary approach so far has been via a combination of myself, ChatGPT to assist with prompt development and Claude Code for execution.
As an Engineer myself its been a steep but interesting learning curve, particularly when it came to the planning for front and backend approaches. My planned next steps is to engage rea lworld professionals to look at things like security, structure etc. From a quick look on sites like Fivrr this shouldnt be too difficult.
Still no further forward, did connect with a chap on linkedin who seems promising as for a developer, he is heavily claude code forward but has previous experience. life getting in the way of me moving forward.I am midway through development of what you could call a micro Saas. Essentially specialist engineering software performing various management and calculation tasks. My primary approach so far has been via a combination of myself, ChatGPT to assist with prompt development and Claude Code for execution.
As an Engineer myself its been a steep but interesting learning curve, particularly when it came to the planning for front and backend approaches. My planned next steps is to engage rea lworld professionals to look at things like security, structure etc. From a quick look on sites like Fivrr this shouldnt be too difficult.
what i really need is to make some mock dashboards to show how it might look, and get 10 founding members and white-glove them onto the platform for some additional funding, testimonials, and feedback.
wahman said:
Still no further forward, did connect with a chap on linkedin who seems promising as for a developer, he is heavily claude code forward but has previous experience. life getting in the way of me moving forward.
what i really need is to make some mock dashboards to show how it might look, and get 10 founding members and white-glove them onto the platform for some additional funding, testimonials, and feedback.
That sounds frustrating to be honest, but maybe we can push this forward together depending on where your sticking points are? If the first step is simply mocking up some dashboards and figuring out the next steps in terms of planning and funding I would say its entirely possible. what i really need is to make some mock dashboards to show how it might look, and get 10 founding members and white-glove them onto the platform for some additional funding, testimonials, and feedback.
Im probably at 85% ready for beta testing now, I have a decent chunk of work left to get the output reporting working and looking right, then just small refinements to the UI but its more more diminishing returns.
For note btw, I am running Claude Code and Codex via a Virtual Private Server which is hosting my development site. I also have a separate VPS which hosts the production site, using Github for repo and revision management. The trick really seems to be in good prompting and incremental changes, none of this "build that, make no mistakes" type stuff that has become meme culture for vibe coding.
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