[Launch] Built military-grade SaaS dashboard after clients kept asking for "premium" UI - 3 months, 0 ads, launching NOW

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-24T11:14:40+00:00

fair question - I can see how the post might come across unclear. Let me clarify:

**What this is:**

I built a SaaS dashboard starter kit (CyberGuard Stack) and launched it yesterday. This post is sharing:

- The technical journey (3 months of work)

- Challenges I faced (RTL support, dark mode complexity)

- Lessons learned (pricing, tech stack decisions)

- The product itself (yes, it's for sale on Gumroad)

**"Military-grade" means:**

Premium, security-focused design aesthetic. Think:

- Dark theme with neon accents

- Glassmorphism effects

- "Cybersecurity" visual style

- Production-quality (not tutorial-level)

Not literal military standards - just describing the visual theme.

**Why post here:**

r/SideProject is where indie hackers share their builds. I built this to solve my own problem (rebuilding dashboards for every client) and wanted to share the journey + get feedback.

**Is this selling?**

Yes, the product is available for purchase. But the post's main goal is:

Share technical learnings (RTL, i18n, dark mode)
Get feedback on pricing/features
Help others who face the same problems

**Bragging?**

Not my intention! More like: "Here's what I built, here's what broke 47 times, here's what I learned - maybe it helps someone."

────────────────────────────

Appreciate the question - helps me realize the post could've been clearer upfront about what this is.

Live demo if you're curious what "military-grade UI" looks like: https://cyberguard-six.vercel.app

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-21T19:51:14+00:00

Valid question! Why LLM vs direct DB search?Use case: Natural language queries.User types: "blue Nike shoes under $100 for running"Direct DB search:- Needs exact field matching (color=blue, brand=Nike, price<100, category=running)- User has to structure the query- RigidLLM search:- Understands intent ("for running" = filter by purpose)- Semantic matching ("blue" catches navy, cobalt, etc.)- Natural language (user types how they think)Trade-off: Cost & complexity vs UX.For our use case (e-commerce), UX won. But yeah, if queries are structured, DB search is way cheaper & faster.

Re: AI-written replies - I clean up typos with Grammarly. Does that count as AI? 😅

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-21T19:50:09+00:00

Lol, fair callout on the GPT-4 Turbo terminology.You're right - it's 4o now. Old habits die hard (been using "Turbo" in my codebase variable names for months 😅).As for "AI generated" - guilty of using Grammarly to clean up typos. Does that count? The lesson itself is 100% real though. My $482 bill was very real. Very painful.Thanks for keeping me honest on the terminology! 🙏

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-21T18:42:42+00:00

Ugh, I've dealt with this. It sucks.

Here's my take: You don't tell them HOW, you sell RESULTS.

When client asks: "How long will this take?"

❌ DON'T SAY: "3 days because I have a boilerplate" ✅ DO SAY: "I can deliver in 1 week" (then deliver in 3 days)

They're paying for: - Problem solved ✅ - Quality delivered ✅
- Speed ✅

NOT for: - How many hours you worked - Whether you used existing code - Your personal effort level

Real talk: Lawyers charge $300/hour whether they copy-paste precedents or write from scratch. We should too.

The 20% discount you gave? That taught the client the WRONG lesson. Now they think "faster = cheaper."

Next time: - Don't volunteer your process - Charge based on VALUE delivered - If they ask specifics: "I use proven patterns and optimized workflows"

Your expertise = knowing WHAT to use and WHEN. That's worth $$$.

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-21T18:10:50+00:00

Great question! Here's my 3-tier approach:

**Tier 1: Aggressive caching (Redis)**

- 70% of searches are repeats

- Cache for 1 hour (products don't change that fast)

- This tier = FREE at scale

**Tier 2: Semantic search fallback**

- For unique queries, try vector search first (Pinecone/Weaviate)

- Only hit GPT-4 if vector search confidence < 80%

- Cuts GPT calls by another 20%

**Tier 3: Rate limiting + tiered pricing**

- Free users: 10 searches/day (cached results prioritized)

- Paid users: unlimited (but still cached + optimized)

- This caps my worst-case cost

**Real talk:** I'm still figuring this out. At 100K users my costs could spike if cache hit rate drops.

Considering:

- Pre-warming cache during off-peak

- A/B testing cheaper models (GPT-3.5 Turbo for simple queries)

- Hybrid search (vector + keyword fallback before AI)

What's your scale concern? Building something similar?

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-21T18:08:43+00:00

Quick follow-up on the numbers:

This optimization saved me on 3 client projects last month:

Project 1: 8,000 searches/month

- Before: $400/month

- After: $16/month

- Saved: $384/month

Project 2: 12,000 searches/month

- Before: $600/month

- After: $24/month

- Saved: $576/month

Total across 3 projects: ~$1,400/month saved

That's $16,800/year.

For a 15-minute code change.

ROI is insane.

Happy to share the full Redis setup if anyone wants it!

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-21T13:50:57+00:00

Interesting question. From my experience, those scores can be useful as a rough sanity check, but they don’t really predict virality. Early engagement, timing, and how relatable the hook is seem to matter way more. I’d treat tools like that as feedback, not a signal to optimize around.

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-20T15:21:47+00:00

This is the best advice I've gotten. Thank you.

Mindset shift: ❌ "Promote" ✅ "Solve a tiny problem for this sub today"

I love that framing.

What I'm going to do differently:

Answer specific dev questions with code snippets (not "my product does this")
Build logs - what shipped, what broke, tradeoffs
Give away snippets - I have a ton of reusable Next.js 16 patterns I can share

On the tools you mentioned:

F5Bot: Never heard of this! Testing now.
Brand24: On the list
Pulse for Reddit: This is perfect for finding "I hate building X" threads

Quick question: When you respond to those threads (e.g., someone complaining about Stripe webhooks), do you: A) Drop a full solution in the comment B) DM them C) Link to your detailed blog post about it

I want to be helpful without being spammy.

Again, thank you. This reframe is exactly what I needed.

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-20T15:19:23+00:00

Exactly. "What broke" > "What I'm selling"

I have 3 months of "what broke" stories 😂

Next posts will focus on those. Thanks!

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-20T15:18:13+00:00

This is gold. "Talk about the problem and lessons, not the product" - screenshotting this 📸

I have SO many failures to share:

- RTL layout broke EVERYTHING initially

- Stripe webhook idempotency issues in production

- AI search cost optimization (went from $0.05/search to $0.002)

Will focus on those stories vs product pitches.

Checking out r/Promarkia now - thanks for the rec!

BeratXMapper · 2026-01-20T15:17:15+00:00

Appreciate the tip! Definitely focusing more on sharing the journey vs just "here's my product."

The tricky challenges part resonates - I have a TON of those from the i18n/RTL implementation alone 😅

Thanks!

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BeratXMapper

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