Finally got Courage to Publish My First SaaS app (Feedback is Welcome)

I had a desire to create a SaaS application even before I started programming, that is one of the reasons why I ventured into the world of web development.

Through a whole journey, over these four years in the IT industry I thought I don't know enough to be able to build a SaaS application, especially not by myself. Which is true to some extent.

And as AI is becoming more popular from day to day, I took a chance and decided to create an app which would include some type of AI.

Being a frontend developer for the last 4 years meant I had to learn a lot of additional stuff if I wanted to make this app work.
I had to learn: backend stuff, Database, Docker, DNS, CI/CD on GCP, GCP Storage, Stripe API and webhooks. Also, a bunch of SEO and Marketing stuff which I am still figuring out.

To make things even harder on myself, VueJS is the frontend framework which I am using in daily work so it would make the most sense to choose VueJS for this job. So I did the right thing and chose NextJS with TypeScript.
NextJS because it is recommended on official ReactJs documentation for some reason idk. And TypeScript because I've wanted to learn it for quite some time.

The lesson I've learned after building this application is that this is the fastest way to learn new technologies, and probably the most fun way. I would for example never learn how to set up CI/CD on GCP if I just stayed on my frontend developer role in 9-5.

After all, I don't expect millions of dollars in revenue from this app but rather I see it as an app in which I learnt a bunch of new things and there's still things to figure out.

So finally, I present to you my first SaaS app for improving the quality of your photos using AI technology - ClearPixel.
It is a simple and straightforward process. You upload a photo, AI improves its quality and returns a new improved photo to you, which you are then able to download.

I am planning to expand the app with other AI models related to photos. But first I would like to see if I am able to bring at least 100 customers to the app as it is at the moment.

ClearPixel needs some improvements in design but I was too hyped and couldn't keep this any longer, I just wanted to share it with all of you. And I wanted to ship it fast and get some feedback on it.

Other than that, I am open to and would love to hear any type of feedback on this app, or if you find a bug or something. Please share it, I would love to hear it.

It would also mean the world to me if you could share this app to your friends or someone you know will need this app.

ClearPixel link - https://www.clearpixel.io/
Instagram link - alenvarazdinac

Thank you.

P.s. writing blog posts is also one thing I need to get better at :D

Comments

[Mike Talbot ⭐]

Great job well done!

I'd say I'd like to understand the pricing before signing up for an account, even if it is free. I would not have signed up had I not read this post with that information lacking. I find the layout clean, but the black-and-white palette is rather jarring.

[Alen Varazdinac]

Thank you for your feedback @miketalbot, much appreciated!

I will add a pricing on landing page, that's a great point!
And yeah I need to add some colors, you are right on that.
Thank you.

[Arber Braja]

As another frontend developer I love the UI and how simple you have kept things on the UI side of things. They are IMO exactly as they should be. Also, seems like you have done your homework regarding marketing stuff too, since you have correctly positioned all the important stuff that represent what your app does right at the top of the page, as it should be.

One suggestion I could make is to offer API support. So I can utilize your service to connect that with other services. That will increase the market for your app right away and you can keep selling credits just because of external services integrated with yours.

[Alen Varazdinac]

I tried keeping the UI as simple as possible to not confuse users, I thought it was too simple so thanks a lot for your comment. And I guess I did research marketing stuff regarding a landing page, I hope it converts visitors to registered users and maybe even to customers if they like the product.

API support is a brilliant idea, thank you. I will have to expand to it once I get some more AI models running.

[Ranjan Dailata]

Cool AI site. I would prefer to have the vertical sidebar on the right side. Would be interested to see the detailed API usages on the UI. Also, if you would provide an API for the consumers, that would be really awesome. Please note that there is a huge business for the API. But you need to do it right by building the SDKs and also more than anything, you should provide the free credits based on the month-to-month basis, so the users are encouraged to try more. Not to mention the marketing techniques to grab the users :)

I highly encourage you to please prepare a nice blog post and also a detailed write-up on theresanaiforthat, so everyone is aware of your AI startup.

Competition

I see a tough competition or a challenge in the AI world as there are ton of 3rd party services and apps already available.

So the challenge for you is, if someone or a startup could easily do a single click deployment via Vercel or host it by themselves is a big question?

Please find the open source options.

RestorePhotos
vercel-ai-photo-restorer

[Alen Varazdinac]

I really have to figure out the way to provide API and I am putting that on my roadmap.

Thank you for letting me know about the AI website. Do you know if google picks up this post and the one I write for "There's an AI for that" for SEO ranking?

Yeah there's a huge market for this AI service, but I am planning to expand with other AI services and some other cool stuff that'll separate me from the market, and make users keep using my app instead of going on multiple different apps. And other than that not everyone has technical knowledge to deploy the app by themselves nor they have time, so I guess that's a plus for me. It all depends to who I market the app to.

Thank you a lot for your feedback @ranjancse.

[Ranjan Dailata]

You would have to come up with a ton of blog posts marketed via your domain for Google to build organic search results. Any other aspects are just alternatives which you have no control.

Something unique with the API is highly recommended. When I mentioned the single click deployment, technically speaking those are not users but instead small to mid-scale companies who could easily spin up :) Unless you bring out some unique thing in the market with the mix and match of other useful ones for the users to stick to your website or a platform makes sense.

[Alen Varazdinac]

Okay, I understand. Thank you for explaining and thanks so much for your feedback.
I will prioritize an API on my roadmap.

[geniot]

bring at least 100 customer
Bringing is one thing, making them pay is quite another. I googled "photo filters online" and you are in a good company. Also, I'm not sure I like my baby face after your AI filter. It looks like I've put on some makeup or a thin rubber mask... I immediately see some fishy photoshopping in this new version of me.

[Alen Varazdinac]

Yeah you're right, it's even tougher to make users pay for a package I offer. But yeah my goal for now is just to get 100 people and get some feedback.
And yes, AI model does need some work.
Thank you for your comment.

[Marek]

Congrats lunching the product, I know from personal experience it's a proud moment. Few things I suggest:

• run the Lighthouse report and take a look at Accessibility in the first place. There are some contrast issues, easy to address and it will improve the aesthetics of the design too
• the background behind the header needs to change OR change the logo - again contrast is the issue here
• your blue button are dark, give them white text to stand out, same with icons
• emphasize the Before / After images. Perhaps use css animation to just fade in the images one after another so that it's clear what your app does.

I tweaked the css quickly, here's the result (the gradient in the bg could finish quicker at the top though)

[Alen Varazdinac]

Thank you for your feedback.
Design does need some improvements, you are right on that.
But can you please tell me how did you open this website in light mode?
I hope for everyone else is in dark mode, because that's how it is supposed to be.

[Marek]

It opened in light mode for my by default. I don't have anything that's forcing light theme on my OS, and I can get to dark mode via DevTools.

[Alen Varazdinac]

Okay thanks @motorhead777 and @andyjud for help. This is going on top of my todo list. I had no clue this was happening.

[Andreas Jud]

I see it on white background too, not dark. Dark looks better.

[Alen Varazdinac]

@geniot and @corners2wall after further inspection, I think the AI model looks like it does at the moment because I broke it with compression. That was the last thing I was doing because I needed page to load faster and files to be small.
At least I hope it's the problem 🤞🏼Working on it right now.
Thank you for letting me know 😊

[Corners 2 Wall]

Good luck

[Alen Varazdinac]

Thank you a lot!

[Stéphane CHANGARNIER]

Hi, nothing to say about the layout, pretty clean and into the standards and perfectly functional, thought the test I have done didn't modify the image, probably there wasn't anything to fix 🙂.

Maybe it lacks a bit of an identity (logo is not very noticeable).

I wanted to ask you the choice of using the Google auth provider only, doesn't restrict it too much users? Or is it on your roadmap maybe .. I guess you used next-auth.

Congrats anyway!

[Alen Varazdinac]

Hey, I have had some issues with AI model and just pushed some changes so maybe your image will get modified now.

I could add a logo somewhere on the main screen of the app, that is a great idea actually. It will look much better and professional.

I have used NextAuth, you are correct on that. Since it's my first time tinkering with it, and connecting to the database and all that fun stuff, I have decided to use only Google provider for now. But I will definitely add some more options in the future, as soon as my app becomes stable, especially the AI part.

Thank you so much for your comment 😊

[Corners 2 Wall]

No magic. Just see IMAGE DITHERING. It's simple algo that looks like magic.

[Alen Varazdinac]

Yeah AI model does need some work indeed. Thank you for your comment.

[Henry Lee]

Good job! Apparently a bit slow to load, have you tried the chrome lighthouse?

[Alen Varazdinac]

That could be due to cold start on GCP 🫣
I do plan on turning that off sometime soon.

[UTKARSH ANAND]

Congratulations 🎉, it looks fantastic,
You choose right stack for this project, because I am also working on my first SaaS app which is powered by AI.
Although my app is currently available on convoform.com, I still want to make more improvements before releasing it. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.