DEV Community: Shreyan Shukla

Building SaaS is Fun Until You Realize Nobody Cares (Yet)

Shreyan Shukla — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:20:12 +0000

When you're deep into building, the code becomes your comfort zone.

You're in flow, you're shipping fast, you're dreaming of Product Hunt #1 and viral tweets.

But then you launch… and the silence is deafening.

What just happened?

You spent 10 days building a killer boilerplate for SaaS products (in my case, SaaSRocket).

You’ve tested it, documented it, polished it.

You hit “Launch” and refresh your analytics.

100+ visitors.

0 conversions.

Ouch.

Here's the honest truth no one told me:

Building is not the hard part.

The hard part is getting people to care.

You could build something 10x better than what’s out there… but if no one knows you exist, you’re invisible.

So what have I learned (the hard way)?

Marketing starts before you write code.
- Build in public. Share your problem. Tease features.
- Get 10 people waiting before you build 10 features.
Your product doesn’t sell itself — you do.
- Show up online. Tweet. Post. Comment.
- Don’t be spammy, just be real and helpful.
SEO, mailing lists, community posts — all matter.
- Dev.to, Reddit, IndieHackers — they’re gold if used wisely.

What I'm doing now:

Writing daily Dev.to posts like this (meta, I know)
Posting on Reddit with actual value, not promo fluff
Making sure every visitor sees exactly what they get

I still want to believe I can make my first $ online from something I built with love. And honestly, that first sale would mean more to me than any job offer.

If you’re stuck in the same loop — building, launching, refreshing, doubting — keep going.

You’re not behind. You're just at the start of the second half of the game.

And if you're trying to build a SaaS, I've open-sourced everything I learned into SaaSRocket.

It won’t write your copy or do your marketing.

But it'll save you 2 weeks of setup hell.

💬 I’d love to know:

What was your biggest lesson post-launch?

Let’s be honest about the messy part of indie hacking.

– Shreyan 🚀
@ShreyanRants

I launched my first SaaS and learned that marketing is way harder than building

Shreyan Shukla — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 11:28:46 +0000

So I recently built and launched my first real SaaS product — SaaSRocket — a fully integrated SaaS boilerplate with Supabase, Resend, Cloudinary, Lemon Squeezy, and more. Shipped in 9 days. Sounds cool, right?

Here’s the truth no one tells you:

Building is easy. Marketing is pain.

🚀 What I Learned:

Marketing is harder than building. I always thought if I just shipped, people would come. Spoiler: they didn’t. You have to scream on Reddit, X, Product Hunt, Indie Hackers... and even then, 100+ visitors may convert to 0 buyers.

Mailing lists are goldDon’t skip the waitlist form on your landing page. I didn’t do it until late. Regret.

Solve real painBoilerplates work because they scratch an itch every indie dev has. But if you want to be in the big leagues, solve a real, big, painful problem.

Day 1 sales are rareI expected a miracle on launch day. Nah. Even folks like Marc Lou got 0 sales on day 1 for their early projects.

Don’t just build in public for cloutIt only works if your product is for devs. Otherwise, you’re just performing for the wrong crowd.

📦 About SaaSRocket

If you're a solo founder or indie dev, check it out: https://www.saasrocket.pro

I made it cheap ($50) because every dev deserves good infra without emptying their wallet. And yeah, it’s fully tested, well documented, and built by someone who’s tired of gluing the same 10 services every time.

Cheers to shipping and learning 🚢💻

Why "Building in Public" is Going to Damage Your Brand

Shreyan Shukla — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 15:14:04 +0000

If you're on tech Twitter or IndieHacker circles, you've probably seen the term "building in public" thrown around like it's some golden rule. And for many indie developers, it is — but only if you're building for other devs.

Let me explain.

The Problem

Everyone’s out here sharing MRR updates, dashboards, lines of code, and weekly retrospectives. But here’s the catch: most of your actual customers don’t care.

If you're building something for non-technical users, constant behind-the-scenes updates can make your brand look unfinished, chaotic, or even desperate. And in consumer-facing industries (like lifestyle, fashion, or non-dev SaaS), your customers don't want to see the builder struggle — they want a polished, confident product that solves their problem.

Not All Transparency is Marketing

There's a difference between transparency and vulnerability. Sharing every bump on the road might make you relatable on Twitter, but it can reduce your perceived value in the eyes of your customers. You’re essentially telling them:

“Hey! I’m still figuring this out — wanna pay me while I do?”

That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve built in public too. I’m building SaaSRocket — a production-ready boilerplate for SaaS founders with pre-integrated Supabase, Resend, Lemon Squeezy, and more. I shared progress with devs because it’s made for devs.

But if I was building something for, say, eCommerce shop owners or restaurant managers, I’d focus on results, testimonials, and polish — not my debug logs and feature toggles.

So What’s the Takeaway?

If your product is for other developers, sure — building in public can help.

But if it’s not?

You might just be hurting your brand by constantly exposing its unfinished side.

Instead:

Build quietly.
Launch loudly.
Let your users speak for you.

And if you are building something for devs, maybe skip the chaos and use SaaSRocket. It’s got all the boring parts done — so you can skip to shipping.

Why You Should Stop Starting Your SaaS From Scratch

Shreyan Shukla — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 07:57:50 +0000

Check out SaaSRocket here

If you're like me, you've probably done this more times than you'd like to admit:

Open a new GitHub repo
Set up Next.js
Add Supabase or Firebase
Struggle with auth logic, payments, dashboard layout
Waste 2-3 days before you even write a line of product code

Why are we doing this to ourselves?

Time Is Your Most Expensive Resource

As indie hackers, we’re not short on ideas.

We’re short on time, money, and mental bandwidth.

The quicker you get to the “validation” phase, the better.

But when you spend 70% of your time setting up email, image uploads, routing, and payment integration — you burn out before you even launch.

That’s exactly what kept happening to me.

The Turning Point

A couple weeks ago, I decided to stop reinventing the wheel.

I built myself a SaaS boilerplate with everything pre-integrated:

Supabase auth + database
Lemon Squeezy payments (way easier than Stripe)
Resend for transactional emails
Cloudinary for media uploads in blogs
Clean dashboard layout + Next.js App Router setup
Pre-written unit tests so I don’t ship garbage accidentally

And guess what? I finally shipped something.

SaaSRocket Was Born

I packaged that boilerplate into a product called SaaSRocket.

It’s what I now use for any new SaaS idea I want to launch quickly.

It’s lightweight, fast to set up, and honestly saved me from the graveyard of “almost-shipped” ideas.

Not Just for Me

I priced it at $49 (with a crossed-out $119) so other indie devs — especially those in lower-income regions — can skip the grunt work too.

If I had this a year ago, I probably would've launched 4–5 SaaS products already.

👉 Check out SaaSRocket here

Or build from scratch again... if you like pain 😅

Have you found or built any boilerplates that actually saved you serious time? Would love to hear your stack 👇

I Built a SaaS Boilerplate in 9 Days — Here's Why It Was Worth It

Shreyan Shukla — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 07:15:38 +0000

10 days ago, I gave myself a challenge:

💡 Build a SaaS product and make $1000 in revenue in 50 days.

I knew I didn’t have time to build something huge. I needed leverage.

So instead of building a SaaS, I built a SaaS boilerplate — the thing every SaaS builder needs before they build. SaaSRocket

The Problem

Every time I started a new idea, I’d waste days:

Wiring up Supabase or Firebase
Setting up auth, dashboard pages, SEO
Integrating email, image uploads, payments
Writing the same boilerplate over and over again
Or scrolling through GitHub trying to find the “perfect starter”

So I built the thing I kept needing.

What I Built

I call it SaaSRocket — a plug-and-play boilerplate that gives indie devs everything they need to go from “new repo” to “launch day.”

🔥 Supabase Auth + Database
💳 Lemon Squeezy payments (no Stripe docs to drown in)
📧 Resend email setup
🖼️ Cloudinary for blog/media support
✅ Pre-written unit tests
🧠 SEO & Next.js 14 App Router ready
🧪 Tested. Documented. Packaged.

It's built for devs like me — who don’t want to spend 2 weeks writing code just to get the basics running.

Why It’s $49

I know most boilerplates are $150+. Some are $300+.

But I priced SaaSRocket at $49 because:

I wanted to make it accessible, especially for indie hackers in countries like mine.
I wanted to compete with free by being so low-friction that it feels like a steal.
And let’s be honest — I want it to fund my master’s degree in Japan.

What I Learned

There’s a real gap between open-source and premium SaaS starters.
Shipping fast gives you insane clarity. I built this in 9 days.
Pricing low can spark interest, but positioning matters even more.
Marketing is 10x harder than coding (and that’s saying something).

Wanna Check It Out?

If you’ve ever wanted to skip the boilerplate hell and just build your SaaS idea already, you might find it useful.

Check it out here 👉 https://www.saasrocket.pro

📦 I built and shipped a SaaS boilerplate in 10 days — here’s everything I learned

Shreyan Shukla — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 07:57:19 +0000

10 days. That’s all I gave myself.

Not because I was doing some productivity challenge, but because I needed money fast, and I was tired of dragging projects for months with 0 results.

So I built SaaSRocket, a fully integrated SaaS boilerplate with:

Supabase auth
Resend email API
Lemon Squeezy payment integration
Cloudinary blog media support
Prebuilt dashboard UI
Unit tests
SEO setup out of the box

Here’s what I learned in those 10 days:

💡 1. Scope is everything
If you don’t define what “done” means on day 1, you’ll keep building forever.

I decided the scope on day 0:

A dev should be able to deploy their SaaS with auth + payments + dashboard in 1 hour.

Anything outside that (like fancy CMS or onboarding flows)?
Backlog.

⚡ 2. Skip Stripe if you want to ship fast
Stripe’s powerful — but it’s not fast for solo indie hackers.
I used Lemon Squeezy instead. 10x faster setup, digital delivery built-in, no worries about compliance.

Also: no KYC rejections or delays like I faced with Stripe earlier.

🧪 3. Add tests from day 2, not day 10
I made the mistake of writing tests on day 10.
Bad idea.

You’ll end up debugging spaghetti when you could’ve caught stuff early.

Start with basic test coverage once 40–50% of your logic is stable. It’ll save you hours.

🤯 4. Even when you do everything “right”, you might still get 0 sales
I shipped a fast product.
Wrote raw landing page copy.
Added testimonials.
Posted on X, Reddit, IndieHackers.

Still 0 sales on day 1.

And that’s normal.
Even the top indie makers had 0 buyers on day 1. It’s a slow burn. You keep showing up.

🛠 5. Build for indie hackers, but speak like one too
If you’re selling to devs, your landing page copy shouldn’t sound like a VC pitch.

Instead of:

“A robust, scalable SaaS starter kit engineered for growth”

Try:

“Sick of setting up auth + Stripe for every idea? Skip it — grab this boilerplate and launch.”

Real talk wins. Always.

Final thoughts
10 days later, I’ve shipped it.
I’ve had 100+ visitors in 24 hours.
No sales yet.
But I’m proud as hell I didn’t quit halfway.

If you're building and struggling to finish, remember: shipping something imperfect > perfect vaporware.

You can check it out here: SaaSRocket
If nothing else, maybe it’ll give you ideas for your next launch.

From Scratch to SaaS in 9 Days: A Dev's Journey + Free Insights

Shreyan Shukla — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 05:49:10 +0000

Ten days ago, I set a personal challenge: build a new SaaS product from scratch and earn \$1,000 in revenue from it in just 50 days. No team, no budget, just one indie hacker with a laptop, a frozen bank account, and a dream.

Why a Boilerplate?

I’ve always been annoyed at how expensive good boilerplates are. The ones with proper integrations — payments, auth, email, file uploads — either cost too much or require hours of extra work to actually be usable.

So I built SaaSRocket, a full-stack SaaS boilerplate that helps indie devs get their projects off the ground fast, without spending \$300+ just to get started.

The Stack I Used (And Why)

I wanted the stack to be indie-friendly — something anyone could deploy and understand:

Next.js + Tailwind CSS for the frontend
Supabase for auth, DB, and instant backend APIs
Resend for transactional emails
Lemon Squeezy for payments (after 5 days of approval wait 😅)
Cloudinary for media uploads (esp. useful for blogs)

The goal was to eliminate all the grunt work solo founders dread:

Want a blog? Plug in your Cloudinary key and go.
Want dashboard sections? Just update one config array.
Want payments? Lemon Squeezy is pre-wired.

Things That Broke (And What I Learned)

No real project comes without hiccups. Here’s a few I hit:

Unit testing: Out of 9 test suites, 8 failed on my first run 😭. Fixed.
Test mode hell: Accidentally shared the test checkout URL instead of the live one. Rookie mistake.
Store delays: Lemon Squeezy took 5 days to approve my store, and my bank account was frozen for a week.
No domain at launch: SaaSRocket launched on Vercel with no proper .pro domain until after the build.

Despite this, I still shipped the whole thing in 9 days.

What I'd Do Differently Next Time

Start marketing before the product is live.
Avoid long waits by having backup payment providers.
Build a clearer onboarding doc earlier in the dev cycle.
Set up better session recording (PostHog had issues for me).

For Devs Who Just Want to Launch Faster

If you’ve ever:

Spent hours wiring Stripe for the nth time
Struggled to get basic SaaS infra running
Wasted a weekend trying to plug in Resend/Supabase/Auth

...then SaaSRocket might be a lifesaver.

🔗 Check it out here — \$49 for the first 500 customers.

It includes:

SEO-optimized landing page
Dashboard generator
Blog with Cloudinary support
Lemon Squeezy, Resend, Supabase all integrated
Pre-written tests

It’s what I wish I had 2 years ago when I started indie hacking.

What’s Next?

I'm marketing SaaSRocket across Reddit, Twitter/X, Product Hunt, and Dev.to — trying to get my first sale and prove to myself I can make it as a solo founder.

If I hit \$1,000 in the next 50 days, I’ll share a full breakdown of what worked and what didn’t.

Over to You 👇

What's the one integration that always slows you down when you're building a new SaaS?
Or what's your go-to stack for shipping fast?

Drop your thoughts below. Would love to jam!

Keep building,
Shreyan

PS: If you liked this post, I’m on X @Shreyanrants building in public and oversharing my entire journey 😅

[Boost]

Shreyan Shukla — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 05:45:29 +0000

Why I Built My Own Boilerplate

Shreyan Shukla — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 14:35:32 +0000

I've spent the last 2 years building projects, shipping MVPs, and... well, scrapping most of them halfway through.

What I realized? I was spending 80% of my time doing the same boring stuff every single time:

Setting up Supabase auth
Connecting email services like Resend
Struggling with Stripe or Lemon Squeezy integrations
Making yet another dashboard layout
Stressing about SEO or image handling

It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t efficient. And it damn sure wasn’t helping me ship faster.

Enter: SaaSRocket 🚀

So I built SaaSRocket — a battle-tested SaaS boilerplate that gives indie devs everything they need to launch a SaaS in a few days, not weeks.

It comes with:

🔐 Supabase authentication
📧 Resend email integration
💳 Lemon Squeezy for payments
📸 Cloudinary for blog media
🧠 SEO best practices out of the box
✅ Pre-written unit tests
📦 Production-ready with Next.js + Tailwind

And yeah — I priced it at $49 because indie devs deserve better than $200 boilerplates.

What It Looks Like

(Insert 1–2 screenshots here: landing page, dashboard, blog admin, etc.)

A Message to Fellow Builders

I'm not some YC-funded rocket startup. I’m just a 21-year-old indie hacker trying to fund my master’s in Japan.

This boilerplate helped me break out of “rebuild hell” and finally ship. If it can save even one dev 20+ hours of grunt work, it’s worth it.

You can check it out here: https://www.saasrocket.pro

And if you like it, feel free to share or give feedback — I’d love to connect.

TL;DR

Stop wasting hours wiring the same 5 tools together.

Build your SaaS with everything already connected.

Check out SaaSRocket →

#nextjs #supabase #indiehackers #saas #startups #tailwindcss
google-site-verification: googlefb530c5c8a8fe8f0.html