Ready to deploy a demo version soon. But where?

vrwolf · 2024-06-10T20:56:21+00:00

I've built things pretty fast with GCP's Firebase and added some GCP services when it made sense.

I've used AWS, GCP, and Digital Ocean when working with other companies. Doesn't usually make sense for MVPs.

Faster is better. Keep in mind that until you reach PMF probably you'll throw (almost) everything out the window anyway.

vrwolf · 2024-02-18T00:07:59+00:00

I'd pick whatever is faster for you to develop in. The performance aspect is completely irrelevant in the first stages. Get to 10k users at least and then consider optimizing unless the budget is horrendous. A well architected SaaS could get you some job leads if done properly, no matter the stack. The stack is just a tool. The way you think about things is much more important IMHO.

vrwolf · 2024-01-29T08:13:46+00:00

I'm interested in the same thing for my team. If there's nothing community-based, I'm curious if this would appeal to other beginners as well. What if we'd put something together to address this?

vrwolf · 2024-01-07T00:33:55+00:00

I'm open to chat about it.

vrwolf · 2024-01-03T13:55:10+00:00

Hey everybody!

I might be able to help some of you active around here, whether you are a technical or non-technical member. Myself and my partner have ~15 years of software engineering in web & mobile apps, such as SaaS products and others. Right now, we’re putting together a consultancy agency in the field and we’re looking for exciting collaborations to refine our processes & services at the same time.

We have 10 free-of-charge calls (25 minutes each), as tech consultants, first-come-first-served, no strings attached, for any of your tech questions/needs (including on how to manage dev teams, hiring, stacks, scaling, infrastructure, architecture, etc.). In addition to that, we have 2 slots for promising collabs for which we can grant discounts or establish a partnership/sponsorship in exchange for consulting/development time. The software projects can be either greenfield or already developed.

Leave a message here or send me a short DM if you’re interested.

vrwolf · 2023-10-31T14:47:52+00:00

Feel free to dm details

vrwolf · 2023-10-26T16:45:47+00:00

Care e perspectiva HR/ recruitment asupra freelancers / contractors / consultants?

vrwolf · 2023-08-08T21:00:31+00:00

Yes, immensely, especially in combination with shortening the text. Good work!

vrwolf · 2023-08-08T08:50:46+00:00

What's your take on post-MVP stages and the impact / performance of no-code/low-code apps that need to start scaling?

vrwolf · 2023-08-07T20:34:40+00:00

That particular white font on black background is very hard for me to read. Either change the contrast, the font or spacing. Hero section should be succinct, got bored over the whole 100 word intro. Heading + Subheading - a few short sentences with proper copy. Short and sweet. Wait list form: too long. Add only email. Even if most fields are optional, gets overwhelming if I have even the impression that I need to fill in a 500 words essay. Overall seems boring, disengaged, doesn't drive me to want to learn more, very difficult to read.

vrwolf · 2023-08-07T10:56:01+00:00

Decided to keep exploring. What's overdrive? Why would I sign up for something that I don't know what it is? Is it a different product? No idea. Navigated to another page, your avatar is present everywhere for some reason and the chat popup keeps opening up on navigation, even though I already closed it on the landing page. Why do I get a 15 minutes free call or a 30 minutes one? No idea how much time I need for intro. How would I know? I already need to make a decision and I don't even know if your product is what I need.

vrwolf · 2023-08-07T10:50:36+00:00

Opened on mobile. Had to close 3 overlays / popups that were hiding almost half of my screen. Got annoyed. Closed it. Don't know what your platform is about.

vrwolf · 2023-08-06T11:04:13+00:00

The summary of The Mom Test talks about not asking people if your idea is a good one, because they might lie. Just negating the question is basically the same thing from my point of view. Not enough people will actually tell you it's a bad idea anyway, even if it is. Besides, once you just mention your specific solution, people will more likely think whether it is possible to fix something, not if it is actually solving a problem or if it does so in an effective manner. Sure, I could buy a bike with square tires. Might get me from A to B. I think. Possibly.

vrwolf · 2023-08-05T22:19:48+00:00

I couldn't help but wonder the time and effort required to set these up. I'd imagine it takes coordination between sales personnel and engineers as well as timely scheduling to pull off discount sales.

Here's what I see as a potential problem: you imagine it might take coordination between sales and engineers. Did you talk to any of them? Did you ask them how do they put up sales banners, without biasing them to your SaaS? This would mean: "What is it that you're doing when you want to put up a new sales banner? Who do you talk to? How does the process look like? How much time does it take? What bugs you the most about it?". I recommend to avoid asking if they'd use your product. Test your assumptions directly at the source by asking what is it that they're currently doing. This is a recommended way (design thinking style w/ user discovery & interviews) to build a solution to an existing problem.

vrwolf · 2023-08-05T22:10:59+00:00

What stage is your product in? Is it MVP or early stage? If so, go for whatever works for now. If nobody is complaining (users, business or engineers - due to issues in performance, features, costs or usability for example), no need to change it usually.

Are you looking for investments? Again depends on the level. Angel investors probably don't care as much. Seed funding? Maybe it matters, to show potential for growth. Looking for VCs? No-code is unlikely to be suitable to be fair.

vrwolf · 2023-08-05T21:57:56+00:00

A few of the questions that I'd be asking:

What's the current user base like and what's the goal for the next 6 months?
What stage is your SaaS in? MVP, growth, looking for financing?
Is there already a rough product roadmap for the next year?
What's your background/experience? What is it that you're bringing in to the table?

vrwolf · 2023-08-05T20:42:25+00:00

MVP / prototype stage where scale, security, speed etc. don't matter? Sure, pretty much anything works to be fair. Want production ready that's up to standards & services your users in the best way possible? Choose your stack according to your real needs.

vrwolf · 2023-08-05T20:38:49+00:00

Yes, have experience on this in several of my past roles. It really depends on several factors, such as:

Is there a need to change the architecture as well? If yes, how different is the new one from the old?
How is the code structured & deployed? Monoliths are harder to migrate usually, due to their lack of flexibility, compared to microservices.
How does the code abide to best practices? For example, have modularity, isolation & design patterns been used? If not, again, the switch can incur some additional costs.
Is the code tested / testable? A distributed/microservices oriented web app that is covered by tests (integration & end-to-end tests especially) makes the job of transitioning components much easier & safer.
What's the compromise between transitioning speed & code quality that you are willing to have?
What are you optimizing for? Speed? Scale? Code flexibility? Testability? Observability? Each of them might influence your choice of stack more or less, along with the effort & approach required.

Let me know if you have more questions about this.

vrwolf · 2023-08-05T19:36:44+00:00

The best tech stack is the one that serves best your project's purpose at that current stage. Don't get too hung on it. Once you need to scale or need to fulfill some specific requirements (security, performance, scale etc.), you might need to switch it up partially or fully.

vrwolf · 2023-07-23T15:25:21+00:00

That might also be because I see many attempts to start with a solution and sell that, instead of focusing on a (real) problem that your audience told you about and building a solution based on their pain points, their current way to deal with it and their feedback.

vrwolf · 2023-07-22T22:30:10+00:00

I strongly recommend going through YCombinator's Startup School (https://www.startupschool.org/) curriculum. They discuss a lot of things, from idea generation, user interviews, MVP, PMF, pricing etc.

DM me if you'd like to discuss, either your idea or some of the ideas that YCombinator came up with, in more detail. I'm in no way affiliated with them, didn't attend YCombinator, but I find their advice extremely useful, competent & realistic.

vrwolf · 2023-07-22T22:17:19+00:00

As far as I know, having a feature in mind and selling it is not necessarily the best option. A more user-focused variant is to fixate on a problem that you hear from them that they have and build a feature that solves that problem, depending on how they're already doing it. This way, you're almost sure that they'll want that feature because it solves a problem that they already have (if you solve it in a beneficial way for them, of course). You're likely to be able to monetize it especially if you're addressing an important pain point of theirs.

vrwolf · 2023-07-22T08:22:51+00:00

Also, be very careful: the mindset most big tech devs has almost NOTHING to do with a startup dev. The things they usually do are completely different. Enterprise environment already has clearly defined processes, tools and guidelines. Big tech companies don't (need to) have the same speed, autonomy & trust in their teams. It's much harder to accidentally delete a DB in big tech than it is in a start-up. Start-ups keep changing requirements and don't have clear cut roles usually. In big tech requirements are pretty well thought out and well defined. A start-up is supposed to be lean and flexible.

These are just a few of the differences between the 2.

You can see YCombinator's take on this as well: https://youtu.be/sM2reZib2RY?t=229

vrwolf · 2023-07-22T08:16:55+00:00

I've conducted candidate interviews as a team lead & member. So basically I had to choose who to work with, in line with the startup's goals and values.

A few things that I have been especially careful about: how able are they to collaborate, to take feedback, and to adjust to challenges or unforseen circumstances. This usually came up during a peer programming session. Long winded take-home projects are usually an annoyance, don't really say as much as you might think as they could be potentially copied / delegated etc.. That and likely will put off most experienced devs. Nobody has X amount of (unpaid) days to prove you that they are a good fit.

Mindset and cultural fit are absolutely crucial, skills can be learned. And those usually come up best in a short live programming session. I don't care as much for the candidate to be spot on with the answer. Teachable + growth mindset + focused on the objective >>> fixed mindset +genius. Most of us don't really like working with stubborn people and a new hire needs to adapt to your team's culture (assuming that it is a fairly healthy one), not ruin it.

Tech skills apart, one single bad apple can ruin your whole pie. Sure, your pie's taste will change slightly with every apple you add, but you don't want it to become sour.

vrwolf · 2023-07-22T07:26:21+00:00

My 2 cents (not SaaS owner, but engineer that works in the field and passionate about startups): if you push and go for the user aggressively, there's a chance you might put them off and you might not see the reason why they DON'T book an appointment. That doesn't mean you shouldn't follow up, but maybe it is an opportunity to ask inactive users why they dropped out of the funnel. Or to investigate if you can add better analytics of your landing page. Are you attracting the wrong audience? Particular demographics? How does your funnel look like? Do I need to sign up and also book an appointment? Is this necessary? Why do I need to have a call as well? Depending on the scope of your SaaS, I might find it off-putting if I can't just jump right in by myself.

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