How I Built and Scaled My SaaS Startup Using Lean Tech Stacks and Rapid Iteration

Building a SaaS product is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Three years ago, I took the plunge with just an idea and a credit card. Here’s what worked (and what didn’t) when I built and scaled my SaaS using lean development and rapid iteration.

Choosing the Right Tech Stack for Your SaaS

The tech stack decision kept me up at night. I needed something that wouldn’t collapse when we hit 10,000 users, but simple enough for a small team. After testing several options, we landed on:

• React for the frontend (because who wants jQuery in 2024?)
• Node.js with Express for API routes
• PostgreSQL for relational data

This combo gave us the flexibility to pivot when users surprised us with unexpected needs – which they always do.

Why Our Lean Stack Won

Our stack wasn’t the fanciest at meetups, but it let us ship features while competitors were still configuring their Kubernetes clusters. Here’s the simple Express server setup that powered our first 500 paying customers:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
// Define routes and middleware here
app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

Crafting a Product Roadmap That Actually Works

Early on, I made the classic mistake: building features no one wanted. Pivoting to an MVP approach changed everything. We launched with just three core features that solved acute pain points.

Listening to Users (Even When It Hurts)

Our first negative review stung, but revealed a critical workflow issue. We added Hotjar session recordings and Intercom surveys to collect honest feedback. Within weeks, we’d:

• Redesigned the onboarding flow (conversion +27%)
• Cut our favorite (but unused) dashboard feature
• Added simple CSV exports users kept requesting

Bootstrapping Like Your Life Depends On It

With $5,000 in the bank, we got creative:

• AWS free tier for hosting (until we hit limits)
• Cloudflare for free DDoS protection
• Plausible Analytics instead of pricey alternatives

Where We Splurged

We paid for two things early: 1) A great logo designer ($300), and 2) A rock-solid backup system. Everything else could wait.

Shipping Faster Than “Enterprise” Competitors

While bigger companies held quarterly planning meetings, we shipped weekly. Feature flags became our superpower – rolling out changes to 5% of users first saved us from multiple disasters.

Our Quickest Win

The “Export to Google Sheets” feature took 4 hours to build and immediately became our #1 requested integration. Lesson learned: sometimes the simplest solutions move needles.

Scaling Without Losing Our Minds

At 10,000 users, our naive queries started failing. We learned to:

• Add proper database indexes (night-and-day difference)
• Implement Redis caching for common requests
• Break our monolith carefully, service by service

The Query That Almost Killed Us

This innocent-looking query brought our database to its knees until we optimized it:

// Before: SELECT * FROM users WHERE status = 'active';
// After: SELECT id, name, email FROM users WHERE status = 'active' INDEXED;

What Actually Matters When Building SaaS

After three years and many mistakes, here’s my hard-won advice:

• Your stack should help you move fast, not impress developers
• Build less than you think you need
• Obsess over user problems, not technical elegance
• Scale only when you have to (premature optimization is still evil)

The SaaS game rewards those who learn quickly, not those who build perfectly. Now go ship something!

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