How We Ship a SaaS MVP in 90 Days
Our exact playbook for taking a SaaS idea from concept to launched MVP in 90 days — including the scope decisions that make or break the timeline.
How We Ship a SaaS MVP in 90 Days
Most software agencies quote 6-12 months for an MVP. We do it in 90 days. Not by cutting corners — by cutting scope. Here's the exact playbook.
Days 1-14: Discovery and design
Week 1 is interviews. We talk to 5-10 of your potential customers. We map their current workflow. We identify the 3 features that matter and the 30 features that don't.
Week 2 is design. We sketch the user flows, design the key screens in Figma, and build a clickable prototype. By end of week 2, you can click through the entire app — no code yet.
Days 15-45: Build the core
Two-week sprints. Demoable progress every Friday.
Sprint 1 (weeks 3-4): Auth, user accounts, and the single most important feature. By end of sprint 1, a user can sign up and do the one thing the app exists for.
Sprint 2 (weeks 5-6): The second most important feature, plus polish on sprint 1. Billing integration if relevant. Settings and profile.
Days 46-75: Polish and integrate
Sprint 3 (weeks 7-8): Third core feature. Integrations with third-party tools (Stripe, email, analytics). Admin dashboard.
Sprint 4 (weeks 9-10): Bug fixing, performance, edge cases. Onboarding flow. Empty states, error states, loading states — all the things that make an app feel finished.
Days 76-90: Launch
Sprint 5 (weeks 11-12): Private beta with 10-20 real users. Fix what breaks. Set up monitoring, error tracking, analytics. Write help docs. Push to production.
The scope rules
- Three features max. If you can't describe your app's value in three features, you don't have an MVP — you have a feature list.
- No custom CMS. Use Sanity, Contentful, or just markdown files.
- No custom auth. Use NextAuth, Clerk, or Supabase Auth.
- No custom billing. Use Stripe Checkout or Lemon Squeezy.
- No custom analytics. Use PostHog or Mixpanel.
What you can ship in 90 days
- A SaaS with auth, billing, dashboard, and 3 core features
- A marketplace with listings, search, messaging, and payments
- An internal tool that replaces 5 spreadsheets
- A customer portal with self-service account management
What you can't ship in 90 days
- A full ERP with 20+ modules
- A social network with feed, messaging, and notifications
- A mobile app with offline sync and real-time collab
- Anything requiring HIPAA or SOC 2 compliance from day one
For those, plan for 6-12 months.
The team you need
- 1 product manager (you, ideally)
- 1 designer (part-time is fine)
- 2 full-stack engineers
- 1 QA (part-time)
That's it. More people = more communication overhead = slower.
Want us to scope your SaaS MVP? Tell us about your idea — we'll send a fixed-price quote within 5 business days.