How to create a SaaS with Laravel in days, not weeks

I created three SaaS last year. The first one took me about a month, the last one only 3 days. These are the reasons and how you can shorten the time as much as possible

My first SaaS product took me about a month or two from beginning to release.

MetricsWave was making sales three days after starting development. A week later he had already sold $300 worth of licenses.

Launching quickly is one of the best decisions you can make when creating a SaaS. The sooner your product is in production, the sooner you will start to get feedback.

So, how can you launch your product in days instead of weeks?

1. Choose the right stack

In my case, I make all SaaS with Laravel and React.js or Laravel Livewire, why? Because is the framework I already know and the one with I’m faster.

Although, Laravel with gives me some starter kits with which I can have registration, login and user profile in a second.

And with Laravel Cashier I can connect Stripe, and start receiving payments in minutes.

But in your case it may be different. If you don't know PHP or Laravel, you may be faster using Ruby On Rails, Node.js, or any other language or framework.

Let me tell you something: Nobody really cares. Seriously, there are no users who care what language or framework is behind an application.

The advice is clear, use the one with which you are most comfortable and fastest.

2. Define the right MVP

Ok, now you know how to build it, but what are we going to do?

Ok, now you know how to build it, but what are we going to do? I'm not talking about the idea, I'll leave that to you, but about that idea, what is essential and what is not?

What is the minimum we can do so that the user has a functional tool that solves their problem? That’s the question. Everything else should be built after launch, not before.

I'm going to tell you a secret. As of today, months after launch, MetricsWave does not have any limitations on free accounts.

You can pay and upgrade your account plan, but free accounts only see a warning when you exceed the limit. The rest continues to work exactly the same.

Why? Because that’s not my focus right now. My objective it’s to keep improving the application a make sure that it solves the problem of having good website analytics in a convenient and privacy-friendly way.

So, in summary, build only what is essential. Think about the problem and solve it. The rest will either be done or not.

3. Use the right tools and APIs

You don't need to reinvent the wheel. There are tools out there that can make the entire process easier.

You can use the Stripe Customer Portal to allow your users to manage their subscription and payments. Or the Payment Links to start receiving payments without developing anything.

Do you need an application, or can it start with just a form? Can you solve the problem with a few emails?

Maybe you can solve the problem creating a basic shop with Shopify, or sell your content with Substack.

Check if there is the perfect tool for you and the problem you want to solve. Most of the time it is not necessary to program an ultra-complex tool.

4. And, the most important

If you want to make sales, this is the best advice I can give you:

You don't really need a product to start making sales.

Believe it or not, you can sell without having an app or a product.

Knowing how to explain the problem and what the solution will be like already gives value and can make many people end up buying future licenses for that app.

With MetricsWave I achieved sales before launching the product. It was just a landing page explaining what I was going to build and what the tool would be like.

I also promised to do it if a certain level of sales was reached or return all the money otherwise.

Also create a roadmap to explain when the initial version would be available, what features it will have and when the next new features will arrive.