The Challenge: Speed Without Compromising Quality
When we decided to build StartupIdeasDB, we knew speed was everything. The market was hungry for validated problem statements, and we had to move fast. But speed doesn't mean cutting corners—it means being smart about your stack, your process, and your priorities.
Our Tech Stack: Built for Speed
We chose technologies that would let us iterate quickly:
- Next.js 14: Server-side rendering and API routes in one framework
- Supabase: Backend as a service - database, auth, and real-time features
- TypeScript: Catch bugs before they happen
- Tailwind CSS: Rapid UI development without context switching
- Vercel: Deploy in seconds, scale automatically
Week 1: Foundation & Core Features
We started with the bare minimum: authentication, database setup, and the problem statement viewer. No fancy features, no bells and whistles. Just the core value proposition working end-to-end.
The key was using Supabase's built-in auth system instead of building our own. This saved us at least 2 weeks of development time.
Week 2: Data Pipeline & UI Polish
Week two was all about the data. We built automated scrapers for Reddit, Product Hunt, Hacker News, and more. The goal was to have 12,000+ validated problems in our database before launch.
Simultaneously, we polished the UI. First impressions matter, and we knew our landing page had to convert. We A/B tested headlines, CTAs, and social proof elements.
Week 3: Payment Integration & Testing
Integrating Razorpay for Indian users and PayPal for international customers was straightforward thanks to clear documentation. We tested extensively with both sandbox and real transactions.
The biggest lesson? Test your payment flow with actual money. Sandbox testing misses edge cases that only appear in production.
Launch Week: Marketing & Iteration
We soft-launched to a small group of beta users and collected feedback. Every piece of feedback was triaged: critical bugs were fixed immediately, feature requests were logged for later.
The hard launch happened on Product Hunt, Reddit, and Twitter simultaneously. The result? 100+ sales in the first 24 hours.
Key Takeaways
- Choose boring technology: Use proven stacks that have good documentation
- Build in public: Share your progress, get feedback early
- Automate everything: From deployments to data collection
- Launch before you're ready: Perfect is the enemy of done
- Listen to users: They'll tell you what to build next
Building fast doesn't mean building poorly. It means making smart choices about what to build, when to build it, and what tools to use. StartupIdeasDB went from concept to serving 7,000+ users in less than a month—not because we worked 24/7, but because we worked smart.
