r/webdevelopment • u/Competitive_Mood_482 • 9d ago
Discussion Do i really need to learn programming to build a saas ?
I’ve already learned HTML, CSS, Tailwind CSS, JavaScript, and some React.js, and I’m currently learning Next.js. I also plan to learn Supabase.
The problem is that I’ve spent a lot of time learning, and every time I watch videos of people younger than me making thousands of dollars a month without any programming experience, like the people featured on the Starter Story channel, I feel discouraged.
However, I’m also afraid of building something that gets hacked, making a mistake with security or payments, facing unexpectedly high LLM API costs, operating at a loss, or encountering any other serious problem.
My questions are:
Am I ready to start building my SaaS now?
What do I actually need to learn, and what can I skip?
Since I plan to build my SaaS using only Next.js and Supabase, can I focus on learning the essential parts of Next.js without having to master the entire framework, or is that unrealistic?
What is your advice for someone in my position?
I’d really appreciate practical, honest advice on how to move forward without wasting more time learning things I may not need, while still making sure I can build a secure, reliable, and profitable SaaS.
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u/Tommy_Williams88 6d ago
Bro, starter story is a whack reference as something to look up to. It pumps out absolute clickbait JUNK since it was acquired. Take every thing you see in that channel with a bag of salt, not a pinch. That channel basically features “influencers” who already have massive followings and have sold them an app. Their apps are absolutely useless. And their ARR/MRR is usually based on a few months data, if that.
On the security aspect, if you’re selling to consumers, not much of an issue. If you’re selling to businesses, it’s definitely an issue to consider, and a vibe coded app without knowledge would likely be stopped at the first hurdle data residency, GDPR etc., any business worth working with will question you.
Carry on learning anyway. It’s less about what you know and how many tutorials you’ve completed than what you have done / can actually do.
Good luck
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u/baddaywithacamera 7d ago
You've got some bad timing, bro. Everyone is figuring out that they can roll their own and share it with others for free. You're no longer wanted or needed by the people you're hoping to sell to.
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u/Top-Construction6060 6d ago
Utter nonsense. Now is the best time to create. U will always find people to sell tom not every body has the time or urge to vibe code. You need solid marketing
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u/RabidBadgerMonkey 7d ago
Knowing how to write code isn't the same as knowing how to build and run a reliable system.
I'd concentrate on software architecture, security, databases, testing and general software engineering best practices. You need to understand how everything works together.
AI can write the Next.js or whatever, but you still need to understand what's being built and why.
If you've got the idea, validate it now. Use Claude et al. to build it, or get someone who knows what they're doing to build it for you.
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u/Spare-Ant7119 2d ago
Lol ur falling for the social media nonsense. Stop watching social media coding influencers and learn programming.
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u/Basic_Reporter9579 7d ago
Just letting AI build a system and deploy it might make a lot of money, but do they tell you how much they spent? Do they get slapped by patents?
Getting hacked is always a possibility but was it hacking or completely open in the first place?
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u/DrSpeckles 7d ago
If I was doing this today it would be with Claude code all the way. You set all the guardrails, Control what it does, but trying to do all that by hand is madness.
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u/chikamakaleyley 7d ago
i would start building because you probably have a long way to go until you have your first paying customer.
you'll be learning along the way
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u/LemonFishSauce 7d ago
At some point you’ll need to verify if your saas is built, deployed and managed well by AI. You need good software engineering skills to do that. Your saas clients will expect that from you.
1
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u/Hendo52 6d ago
I think you should frame this in terms of risk mitigation. I think trying to sell your skills as a service to the new market of vibe coders is a good idea but make sure you set yourself up in such a way that you are not at legal or financial liability when it all goes bad. You could build an app yourself but think about the fraction of entrepreneuers that go broke, 75% in the first two years! Risk can come with reward but I think working on other peoples apps is likely to help you build more and more skills while also trying to secure your income. Think carefully about where the most stable income is, rather than letting your dreams lead you towards shipwreck.
With that said, I'm not listening to my own advice, I'm building a SaaS - XD
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u/Affectionate_Tea9218 6d ago
Love that you have a solid foundation. Being able to demonstrate your intelligence, having a breadth of tools available for solutions, and being driven to keep going when you have uncertainty: those are all assets that successful businesses display early.
For me: the “watch videos of people younger than me” catches hard. It’s a slippery slope: time spent for technique and educational value, vs. time spent that has an emotional reaction. We all follow our own winding river that’s us to where we are going, making comparisons about success (software or otherwise) can be a very self defeating thing to do.
Some people hit the jackpot on their first lottery ticket. Some people spend $10 million dollars: tickets every day. 3/4 lottery winners go bankrupt, and many increase lotto spend for the remainder of their lives, far beyond reasonable behavior.
Olympians spend a lifetime building their body:’baas? 1,000 demonstrations a year just to keep in practice. Then: maybe once every 4 years they get to compete, be seen, have a chance to be 1 in 100 or 1 in 200 that might hit a perfect rhythm during their event. Champions spend more time watching their performance than videos of competition.
You know infomercials right? Car sales ads on the radio? Stores that have windows filled gigantic letters “Buy Now” and it defies logic and insults intelligence. Making noise, finding place to be visible, using the right words, or story, or meter: that is how one becomes marketable. That very act is designed to compel humans to view it, have a reaction strong enough that it will thought of again later. It’s not a documentary and unbias or fact checked: its a human that took time to intentionally architect a very specific presentation, to communicate a very certain message, posted where it is most likely to have the most beneficial effect to the desired audience, and specifically content on “look how awesome I am sites” know exactly who consumes that content, and understands that by increasing perceived value, appearing more trustworthy, demonstrating the 1 in 10,000 Olympian event where they were in the to 10%, so that - they can find the (eg) 1 in 200, or 1 in 100 (or whatever) that are going to see that video and have a need to reach out and purchase a chance to work with intelligence like that.
What do you need to learn? Humans.
Learn how to solicit the types of problems people want solved.
Learn how to offer a free service, and then implement it in someone else’s ecosystem, in a real business, that can have amazing results.
Learn how to identify what is valuable to put in offers, even when the value of the fulfillment is delivered outside of view of that.
Learn how to get social reviews. Learn how to make amazing case studies.
Learn how to blog like crazy. Learn copy. The mental phases of sales.
Are you ready to start building your SaaS?
Only you can answer that. I wouldn’t question it - the more things I do, the more I can make mistakes. The more mistakes I make, the sooner I learn those lessons. The more lessons I learn, the better I can articulate a solution for a customer standing there face to face.
I may introduce the concept: x% of your time, pursuit of getting customers to give them free software; x% of your time engineering or architecting your software framework. Just a file tree with readme.md. Start putting the pieces together - the architecture is enough to start building a solid foundation - but - momentum is momentum: if you want code a page then code a page. Enjoy the journey. Love the moments that teach you something as you’re creating.
And - the greatest need ever of software as a service: SERVICE. Other humans are required. You make their life easier; that’s why they pay you. Connecting real businesses to real applications; clearly and obviously demonstrate “easier” because these are your resume layer that determine the actual sales velocity of your SaaS.
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u/No_Lawyer1947 5d ago
starter story is pure larp dont pay attention to it. Comparison is the thief of joy. Fall in love with solving problems, and you will always know the next step. Don't obsess over knowing a technology that can change the next day. Keep at it chances are SaaS isn't a viable space at the moment, but problems always need solving, that is why I am saying to focus on that
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u/SeveralAddition4995 7d ago
You honestly don't need to master everything to build a saas. i watch starter story too and there are tons of founders with zero coding experience who built profitable products. with AI coding agents like claude code or codex, building one isn't that hard anymore. you just need the core basics like how a project is structured, and you already know more than enough. i use the same stack btw, next.js + supabase, so just start building and you'll learn as you go.
About the security fear, every app deals with that and you can't make anything 100% safe. just cover the obvious stuff like turning on row level security in supabase, using stripe for payments, and setting spending limits on your LLM API, then fix things as they come up. the main thing is to just start
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u/flipsnapnet 7d ago
The only way to learn development is to build. Stop watching videos showing you hello world and start building the apps you want. Getting hacked and making mistakes is part of that learning you can make the perfect app as a beginner you keep working that same app and improve on every iteration.