From Idea to Launch: The Battle-Tested Startup Stack

Every indie founder eventually builds their own personal stack — the handful of tools you reach for no matter what project you’re starting.

Here’s mine.
The same set I use across Indie10k and the other microsaas products.
They help me move from idea → validation → launch → growth without overthinking.

🧩 Step 1: Validate the Idea

When a new idea hits, I don’t open VSCode.
I open Presale.services — my shortcut to see if anyone will actually pay for the idea.
It spins up a presale page with a real Stripe checkout in minutes.

If I want to compare messaging or collect interest without payments, I’ll switch to Prelaunch.com or Tally.so.
The goal is simple: see intent, not noise.

“Validation isn’t a survey. It’s a checkout.”

That single mental shift saved me from building three products no one would buy.

💬 Step 2: Talk to Users

I still use Tally.so for early feedback — it feels like a Google Form that grew up.
When I want higher engagement (for example, when testing feature names or pricing copy), I use Typeform.
It’s small stuff like this that makes user conversations feel human, not transactional.

I also plug Tally forms into Beehiiv or ConvertKit for instant follow-up emails, so conversations don’t die after one response.

🧱 Step 3: Build a Home

Every idea needs a “hello world” page.
I use:

• 🧩 ship.fast — best if I want something up today. Comes with auth, pricing, and markdown blog out of the box.

• 🧩 opensaas.sh — when I’m sure I’ll grow it into a full SaaS. It’s open-source, production-ready, and Stripe-friendly.

• ✨ Framer — when I need a prettier, static marketing site fast.

What matters isn’t the framework — it’s that the first deploy happens within 24 hours of validation. Sometimes, I even just ask v0/claude to build a landing page and call it a ship. :)

If I can’t launch in a day, I’m building too much.

💳 Step 4: Accept Payments Early

My rule: connect a payment before adding any features.

For Indie10k, I tested both Stripe and Lemon Squeezy.
Stripe gives total control — perfect for API-heavy products.
Lemon Squeezy wins for ease and automatic VAT handling.

Even one $1 payment changes how you see the product. It shifts from “project” to “business.”

⚙️ Step 5: Deploy Fast

Vercel has become my go-to host — it detects your repo, deploys automatically, and includes logs.
If I need something longer-term, Render.com, Railway.app or even DigitalOcean take over.

I try to avoid multi-step pipelines early on.
A no-click deploy (e.g. a git push) removes friction and forces focus on building, not infrastructure.

📊 Step 6: Track the Right Numbers

I use Google Analytics for privacy-non-friendly analytics - powerful, fastest, but needs cookie banner. I use Plausible.io for privacy-friendly analytics — simple, fast, no cookie banner.
When I need deeper event tracking (like how many users click “Complete Rep”), I use PostHog.

The goal is to measure momentum, not vanity.
How many users came back?
How many finished a rep?
That’s growth-as-code.

✉️ Step 7: Keep Conversations Warm

Once a user signs up, I never leave them hanging.

ConvertKit is my default for onboarding emails and daily growth nudges.
For newsletters and long-form storytelling, I switched to Beehiiv. It’s faster to write, prettier to read, and lets me build a small media loop around the product. But SubStack is still great but with less control.

🧠 Step 8: Write for Google, Not Robots

I still believe SEO is compounding magic — if done right.

NeuralText helps me find real keyword gaps in my niche (“indie growth reps”, “build-in-public streaks”, etc.), while Ahrefs Webmaster Tools monitors backlinks and site health.

Every post on Indie10k's blog is optimized manually — but the ideas are still human.
That’s what keeps trust high.

📣 Step 9: Launch in Public

When it’s ready, I go loud:

• Product Hunt for visibility

• Indie Hackers for ongoing build logs

• Redit for engaging potential users

• X / Twitter for micro-stories that link back to my metrics

The launch is never about “going viral.”
It’s about building the next feedback loop. (but who wouldn't love "going viral"? lol)

📈 Step 10: Keep Showing Up

For ongoing marketing, Publer.io handles scheduling across X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
If I want to grow a professional network, Taplio is a better fit — AI-assisted writing, yes, but human stories still perform best.

Marketing is now part of the build process.
I post as I code.

🧩 Bonus Stack: The Indie10k Formula

Here’s my favorite combo so far: claude+nextjs+vercel+stripe+resend+google analytics = minimal indie saas loop. Everything else is a sweet.

That’s backend, payments, analytics, content and distribution — all in one self-contained, fast stack.

💭 Reflection

Every founder ends up rebuilding the same foundation.
Mine just happens to be simple enough that I can reuse it again and again.

If you’re starting out, don’t collect tools — collect loops.
Tools are only valuable when they help you ship momentum.

→ Try a growth rep on Indie10k today You don’t need another tool. You need one more rep.