What we build
SaaS MVP development
A subscription web app with accounts, a paywall and one job it does well, deployed in 48 hours for a fixed $3,500 AUD.
Short answer
A subscription web app with accounts, a paywall and one job it does well, deployed in 48 hours for a fixed $3,500 AUD.
Almost every SaaS idea is really one valuable action wrapped in a lot of scaffolding. The scaffolding — sign-up, login, password reset, billing, a settings page, an empty state — is the same in every product and eats most of a normal build. The valuable action is the bit only you can specify.
A 48-hour SaaS MVP works because the scaffolding comes from a hardened starter rather than being written from scratch, which leaves the whole build window for the part that makes your product different. You end up with something a stranger can sign up for, pay for and use without you in the room.
That is the real test of a SaaS idea and it is not a test a prototype or a Figma file can run. Either people put a card in, or they do not.
The three features worth starting with
- 1
Accounts and authentication
Email and password or Google sign-in, password reset, and a session that survives a refresh.
- 2
The one thing your product does
The single workflow that creates the value, built properly rather than stubbed out.
- 3
Stripe subscription billing
A real checkout, a real plan, and access that switches off when payment fails.
Deliberately left out of version one
- Multiple pricing tiers with different feature gates — pick one plan for the MVP
- Team accounts, seat management and role permissions
- An admin back-office (you use the database directly at this stage)
- SSO, SOC 2 or enterprise procurement requirements
Technical decisions for this kind of product
- Next.js and TypeScript, deployed on Vercel, so hosting costs nothing until you have traffic
- PostgreSQL for anything with relationships between users, teams and records
- Stripe Checkout rather than a custom payment form — faster, safer, and it handles tax
- Transactional email through Resend, so sign-up and reset emails actually arrive
A worked example
An invoice chaser for freelance designers
Sign up, connect a list of clients, and the app emails overdue-invoice reminders on a schedule. Three features: accounts, invoice list with due dates, automated reminder emails. Billing on top. That is a complete, sellable product and it fits a weekend.
The mistake to avoid
Building a dashboard before building the thing the dashboard reports on. Charts feel like progress and prove nothing. Build the action first.
Common questions
- Can you build a SaaS product in 48 hours?
- A subscription web app with accounts, a paywall and one job it does well, deployed in 48 hours for a fixed $3,500 AUD.
- What features should a SaaS product MVP start with?
- Accounts and authentication: Email and password or Google sign-in, password reset, and a session that survives a refresh. The one thing your product does: The single workflow that creates the value, built properly rather than stubbed out. Stripe subscription billing: A real checkout, a real plan, and access that switches off when payment fails.
- What is left out of a SaaS product MVP?
- Multiple pricing tiers with different feature gates — pick one plan for the MVP; Team accounts, seat management and role permissions; An admin back-office (you use the database directly at this stage); SSO, SOC 2 or enterprise procurement requirements. Each of these is deliberately deferred to a later build rather than half-finished in the first one.
- What is the most common mistake when building a SaaS product?
- Building a dashboard before building the thing the dashboard reports on. Charts feel like progress and prove nothing. Build the action first.
Related reading
- How many features should an MVP have?
- How to scope an MVP so it can actually ship
- What the $3,500 AUD covers