The honest SaaS MVP checklist

"MVP" has been stretched to mean everything from a landing page to a full product. Here is the checklist we use to keep first versions honest - the same one behind our SaaS development service.

Must-haves in v1

• Auth and roles: sign-up, sign-in, password reset, and exactly two or three roles - no more.
• The core loop: the one action users repeat that creates value. Everything else is decoration until this works.
• Billing from day one: even a single paid plan. Free-only launches teach you nothing about willingness to pay.
• An admin view for your team to rescue accounts, extend trials and see usage.
• Basic analytics events on the core loop - activation and retention are the numbers that matter now.

What quietly doubles budgets

• Multi-currency, multi-language and white-labelling before the first paying customer.
• Custom report builders. Ship three fixed reports; they cover 95% of early demand.
• Granular permission matrices. Roles are enough; invent fine-grained ACLs when a customer pays for them.
• Native mobile apps before web retention exists. A good responsive web app answers most early needs.
• Micro-optimising infrastructure for scale you do not have yet.

The 8-12 week shape

Weeks 1-2 scope and design system. Weeks 3-8 build the core loop weekly on staging. Weeks 9-10 billing and admin. Weeks 11-12 polish, seed data and launch prep. Slippage beyond that almost always traces back to scope creep from the section above.

Choose boring technology

Proven frameworks, relational databases, managed hosting. Your v1 stack should be chosen for hiring pool and longevity, not conference talks. Boring stacks get products shipped.