Building a SaaS boilerplate from scratch while learning the business side — here’s what nobody tells you about going solo.
Four months ago, I launched a SaaS boilerplate that I built entirely on my own. What started as a simple solution to avoid repeating the same setup tasks turned into a crash course in entrepreneurship, burnout, and the reality of solo development.
I’m sharing this because when I was starting out, I craved honest stories about what it’s actually like to build something from zero. Not the highlight reel — the messy, unglamorous truth.
The Origin Story
Like many developers, I was tired of setting up the same authentication flows, payment integrations, and dashboard templates for every new project. The repetitive nature of these tasks felt like wasted time that could be spent on actual features.
So I decided to build a comprehensive boilerplate — something I could use for my own projects and potentially sell to other developers facing the same problem. Simple enough, right?
Four months later, I’m running what feels like a mini business, and the journey has been nothing like I expected.
Lesson #1: Stop Polishing, Start Shipping
I spent three entire weeks perfecting a payment flow system. Every edge case was covered, the code was clean, and I was genuinely proud of the architecture. The result? Zero signups.
This was my first harsh lesson in product development: perfection is the enemy of progress.
Those startup books I’d read (The Lean Startup, Rework) suddenly made sense in a visceral way. Now I ship messy MVPs and let real users tell me what actually needs fixing. It works infinitely better than building in isolation.
The difference is striking — users don’t care about elegant code structure. They care about solving their problem quickly and reliably.
Lesson #2: Marketing Might Matter More Than Your Code
This one genuinely hurt to learn as a developer. I believed in the “build it and they will come” philosophy. If something was technically excellent, surely people would discover and appreciate it naturally.
I spent four months perfecting features while doing virtually zero marketing. Launch day arrived and… crickets. Three signups in the first week, and two were friends doing me a favor.
The wake-up call forced me to completely flip my priorities. Now I dedicate almost as much time to marketing as I do to coding:
- Writing technical blog posts
- Engaging genuinely on Twitter and LinkedIn
- Having real conversations with potential users
- Building in public and sharing the journey
The results were eye-opening. My mediocre v1 with intentional marketing significantly outperformed my “perfect” v0 with no marketing strategy.
Key insight: Code doesn’t sell itself. You have to become comfortable promoting your work and articulating its value clearly.
Lesson #3: Solo Burnout Hits Differently
Working on your own project is uniquely exhausting in ways that traditional employment never prepared me for. There’s no clear boundary between “work time” and “personal time” when everything is your responsibility.
I found myself coding until 2 AM, waking up with feature requests on my mind, and checking analytics during dinner. The breaking point came when I spent three straight days debugging a payment integration issue and realized I hadn’t left my apartment or had a meaningful conversation with another human.
My girlfriend literally had to hide my laptop one weekend.
What helped:
- Hard boundaries: No coding after 8 PM
- Dedicated weekend recharge time
- Working from coffee shops to be around people
- Regular exercise and social activities
It sounds obvious, but when you’re grinding solo, it’s surprisingly easy to forget you’re still human with basic needs.
Lesson #4: Embrace Controlled Chaos
Solo development means constant context switching. One minute you’re debugging a webhook, the next you’re writing documentation, then answering support emails, then working on UI design, then handling business operations.
Time-blocking became essential for my sanity. Without dedicated hours for specific activities, I’d default to coding all day while support tickets and documentation piled up.
The system that works:
- Morning: Deep coding work
- Afternoon: Support and communication
- Evening: Planning and admin tasks
Lesson #5: Document Everything (Your Future Self Will Thank You)
I naturally resist writing documentation — it’s not immediately rewarding like building features. But I forced myself to maintain detailed comments and setup instructions.
When I returned to my codebase after a two-week break, I was incredibly grateful for this discipline. Clear documentation isn’t just for users; it’s for the version of yourself that needs to understand your own decisions months later.
Lesson #6: Pricing Is Psychology, Not Math
Pricing consumed weeks of mental energy. Should it be $29? $99? Subscription or one-time? I analyzed competitor pricing, calculated development hours, and still felt uncertain.
The breakthrough came when I stopped trying to find the “mathematically correct” price and started focusing on the value proposition. What problem does this solve? How much time does it save? What would that time be worth to my target user?
I landed on something that felt fair for the time savings provided. The key insight: pricing is less about finding the perfect number and more about confidently believing in your value.
I’m still adjusting based on user feedback, but at least I stopped overthinking it into paralysis.
Lesson #7: Financial Runway Changes Everything
I had approximately two years of savings before starting this project. That financial buffer was crucial — I can’t imagine doing this while stressed about rent or basic expenses.
The mental space that financial security provides is enormous. It allowed me to focus on building something meaningful rather than scrambling for quick monetization or making desperate decisions.
Even six months of runway can be sufficient for many projects, but having that cushion fundamentally changes your decision-making process.
Lesson #8: Choose Technology You Actually Enjoy
I started with tools I knew well and genuinely enjoyed using: Nuxt.js and Supabase. This wasn’t the flashiest or most trending stack, but it made development feel natural even after writing thousands of lines of code.
When you enjoy your technology stack, building doesn’t feel like a grind. You’re more likely to maintain momentum through difficult periods and less likely to burn out on technical debt.
The principle: Choose tools that help you ship consistently, not just ones that look impressive to other developers.
Lesson #9: The Internet Isn’t As Toxic As It Feels
When I first shared my project publicly, criticism came quickly. Some feedback was harsh, some was constructive, but all of it made me question whether I was on the right track.
However, as I continued building and sharing, I began hearing from people who genuinely appreciated the work — users who found it helpful, developers who offered thoughtful suggestions, and strangers who simply encouraged me to keep going.
The negative voices are often the loudest, but they’re not representative of everyone. There are genuinely supportive people online who want to see you succeed.
Don’t let the loudest critics drown out those who care.
The Unexpected Truth: I Actually Love This
Despite the stress, the reduced income compared to my previous job, and the longer hours, there’s something deeply satisfying about building something from scratch and watching people use it.
Even during frustrating periods, I’d rather be solving these problems than sitting in another corporate planning meeting.
The autonomy, creativity, and direct connection between effort and results make the challenges worthwhile.
Final Thoughts
Solo SaaS development isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme or an easy path to freedom. It’s challenging, often lonely work that requires you to develop skills far beyond coding.
But for those willing to embrace the chaos, learn constantly, and push through the inevitable obstacles, it can be incredibly rewarding.
If you’re considering a similar journey, my advice is simple: start building, ship early, talk to users, and remember that perfection is less important than progress.
Have questions about the technical implementation, business decisions, or just want to chat about solo development? Feel free to reach out — I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned.
Tech Stack: Nuxt.js, Supabase, Stripe, Tailwind CSS
Timeline: 4 months from concept to launch
Current Status: Iterating based on user feedback and growing slowly
And a few screenshots of Nuxtbe at the end, just to add a bit of color.
