Avast ye! Pull up a chair and pour yourself a grog.
If you read Monday’s dispatch, you know that writing code is no longer the bottleneck. The “AI Systems Architects” (that’s you) can now build a functional app in 20 minutes using tools like Replit or Cursor.
But a functional app sitting on your hard drive is just a toy. A functional app that accepts credit cards? That is a Micro-SaaS.
The old world told you that to start a software company, you needed a co-founder, a slide deck, and a million dollars in venture capital from some guys on Sand Hill Road. That advice is as outdated as a wooden leg. In 2026, the most profitable captains aren’t building “Unicorns.” They are building “Cockroaches”—tiny, indestructible businesses that survive on crumbs and live forever.
You don’t need a million users. You need 50 users paying you $20 a month. That’s $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). That covers your car payment. That covers your groceries. That is freedom.
Here is the battle plan for how to start a micro saas in 48 hours—from a blank screen on Friday night to a stripe notification on Monday morning.
What is a “Micro-SaaS”? (And Why You Should Care)
A Micro-SaaS is exactly what it sounds like: A software-as-a-service business run by one person (or a very small crew) that solves a very specific problem for a very specific group of people.
It doesn’t try to be Salesforce. It tries to be “The best tool for converting Excel sheets to PDF for real estate agents in Florida.”
The beauty of the Micro-SaaS model is the margins. Since you are using AI to write the code and cheap cloud hosting (or free tiers like Vercel) to run it, your costs are near zero. Every dollar that comes in is almost pure profit.
💡Personal Note: My first “win” wasn’t a massive platform. It was a simple script that alerted sneakerheads when a specific shoe dropped on a specific website. I charged $5 a month for access to a Discord channel where the bot posted links. It made $400 a month and took zero maintenance. That small trickle of cash is what gave me the confidence to build bigger ships.
If you want to understand the economics of this lifestyle, Tyler Tringas’s Micro-SaaS Ebook is the sacred text. He breaks down why aiming small is actually the smartest way to get big.
Step 1: The Idea (Boring is Better)
The biggest mistake I see aspiring captains make is trying to be “innovative.” They want to build “The Next Facebook” or “A Better ChatGPT.”
Stop it. You will die.
When you are figuring out how to start a micro saas, you want to look for Boring Problems. You want to find tasks that people hate doing, but have to do every day.
Where to look for ideas:
- Spreadsheets: If a business is running a critical process on a messy Excel sheet, that is a Micro-SaaS waiting to happen.
- Calculators: People love specialized calculators. “ROI Calculator for Solar Panels,” “Bank Bonus Churning Tracker,” “Wedding Budget Planner.”
- Converters: “Convert [File Type A] to [File Type B]” is a massive search category.
The “Bank Bonus” Example:
Let’s say you read my article on “Bank Bonus Churning.” You know people struggle to keep track of which banks they opened, when to close them, and how much money they need to deposit.
- The Idea: A simple web app where users input their bank accounts, and it sends them an email reminder: “Hey, move $500 to Chase today to avoid the fee” or “Close your Wells Fargo account today to keep the bonus.”
- The Value: If your tool saves them one $30 overdraft fee, it pays for itself.
💡Personal Note: I keep a “Hate List” on my phone. Every time I get frustrated with a digital task—like trying to resize an image for a specific social media platform—I write it down. If I hate it, 1,000 other people probably hate it too. That list is my gold mine.
For a masterclass in finding these “tiny” ideas, check out “The Embedded Entrepreneur” by Arvid Kahl. He advocates for finding the community first, listening to their complaints, and then building the solution.
Step 2: The Build (Using AI as Your Dev Team)
Now comes the part that used to stop everyone in their tracks: Writing the code.
But you, my savvy crew, already know the secret. You don’t write the code. You manage the AI that writes the code.
Refer back to Monday’s dispatch: Best AI Coding Assistant for Beginners (Cursor vs Replit). (That’s the link you need).
The Workflow:
- Open Replit (or Cursor): If you want the easiest path, go with Replit.
- The Prompt: Be extremely specific. Don’t say “Make a bank tracker.”
- Say: “Build a React web app with a simple dashboard. It should have a form to add a ‘Bank Account’ with fields for ‘Bank Name’, ‘Bonus Amount’, ‘Deposit Requirement’, and ‘Date Opened’. Display these in a list. Add a ‘Calculate Total Bonus’ button at the top.”
- Iterate: The AI will get it 80% right. You simply type: “Change the background to dark gray” or “Add a delete button next to each item.”
You are not coding; you are sculpting. You are chipping away at the marble until the statue appears. For specific tips on how to phrase these requests, I highly recommend browsing OpenAI’s official prompt engineering guide, which gives excellent examples of how to instruct models for logical tasks.
The “MVP” Mindset (Minimum Viable Pirate):
Your goal is not perfection. Your goal is functionality. Does it solve the problem? Good. Ship it. If the buttons are ugly, who cares? If the logo is a generic icon, who cares? You can fix the paint after you have verified that the ship floats.
💡Personal Note: I once spent three weeks perfecting the CSS animations on a landing page for a tool that zero people ended up buying. I learned my lesson. Now, I launch with standard Bootstrap or Tailwind CSS components. If people complain about the design, it means they are using the product enough to care. That’s a good problem to have.
Step 3: The “Database” (Keep it Stupid Simple)
Most developers overcomplicate the database. They try to set up PostgreSQL or Firebase with complex authentication rules.
For a Micro-SaaS MVP, you often don’t even need a database.
- Local Storage: You can build the app so it saves the data to the user’s browser cache. It’s free, it’s instant, and it requires zero setup.
- Google Sheets: You can use a Google Sheet as your backend. Tools like SheetDB allow your app to read and write rows to a spreadsheet. It’s hacky, but it works for the first 100 users.
Why this matters for Speed:
Setting up a secure user login system takes time. Building a tool that just “works” locally takes minutes. You can always add the fancy “User Accounts” feature later once people are actually paying you.
For inspiration on just how simple you can start, read Indie Hackers’ “Start Here” guide. It is full of stories of people who launched businesses using nothing but Typeform and Zapier.
Step 4: The Payment (Collecting the Booty)
You have an idea. You have an ugly app that works. Now, you need a way to capture the gold.
In the old days, integrating payments meant weeks of security compliance and coding backend webhooks. Today, if you spend more than 15 minutes setting up payments, you are doing it wrong.
The Solution: Stripe Payment Links
You do not need to code a “Checkout Page.” You just need a link.
- Go to Stripe.com (or Lemon Squeezy if you are dealing with global tax headaches).
- Create a “Product” (e.g., “Bank Bonus Tracker – Lifetime Access”).
- Set the price (e.g., $19).
- Click “Create Payment Link.”
Stripe gives you a URL (e.g., buy.stripe.com/123xyz). You take that URL and paste it into your Replit code on the “Get Access” button.
When the user clicks it, they go to a secure Stripe-hosted page. They pay. Stripe sends them back to your app. Done.
The “Merchant of Record” Advantage:
If you are worried about sales tax in 50 different countries (and you should be), I highly recommend using Lemon Squeezy. They act as the “Merchant of Record,” meaning they handle all the tax compliance for you. You just get a payout. Lemon Squeezy’s guide to Merchant of Record explains why this saves you from prison.
💡Personal Note: I use a “Lifetime Deal” (LTD) for all my new Micro-SaaS launches. Asking for a subscription ($5/mo) is hard because it feels like a commitment. Asking for a one-time payment ($29) is easy. It gives you immediate cash flow to buy ads or beer. You can always switch to a subscription later.
Step 5: The Distribution (Where to Find the Crew)
You have built the ship. You have rigged the cannons. Now, you need to find a fight.
The “Build it and they will come” mentality is a lie. You can build the greatest tool in the world, and if you don’t shove it in people’s faces, it will rot.
For a 48-hour launch, we use the “Cold Start” strategy. We aren’t trying to rank on Google (that takes months). We are trying to find 50 people today.
1. The Reddit Sniper Method
Reddit is the best place to find your first users, but it is also the most dangerous. If you spam, they will keelhaul you.
- Find the Subreddit: Go to r/churning (for our bank example) or r/realestate (for the PDF tool).
- The “Trojan Horse” Post: Do NOT post: “Check out my new app!”
- Post this instead: “I got tired of losing track of my bank bonuses, so I built a simple calculator to track dates. It’s free for the first 50 people. Here is the link. Roast me if it sucks.”
By framing it as a “project” rather than a “product,” you lower their defenses. You are asking for feedback, not money. But if the tool is good, they will pay.
2. Product Hunt (The Public Square)
Product Hunt is where the tech enthusiasts hang out. Launching here can get you your first 100-500 visitors in a single day.
- The Secret: You don’t need a fancy video. You just need clear screenshots and a funny tagline.
- The Goal: You aren’t trying to be #1. You are just trying to get indexed and get your first backlinks.
Check out Product Hunt’s Launch Guide for a checklist of exactly what assets you need.
3. Cold DMs (The Hustle)
If your tool solves a business problem (B2B), just message them.
Find 50 real estate agents on Twitter (X). DM them: “Hey, I noticed you post a lot of listings. I built a tool that turns Excel sheets into listing PDFs in 1 click. Want to try it for free?”
If 50 people say “No,” your product is bad. If 5 people say “Yes,” you have a business.
💡Personal Note: My best launches didn’t come from ads. They came from me searching Twitter for people complaining. I search for “I hate [Problem X]” and then reply to their tweet with, “I built a tool to fix exactly this.” It has a 100% conversion rate because you are solving a pain they felt seconds ago.
The Exit: Selling the Ship
This is the final piece of the how to start a micro saas puzzle.
Let’s say you get your app to $500 MRR. You are bored. You want to move on to the next idea.
You don’t just shut it down. You sell it.
Marketplaces like Acquire.com (formerly MicroAcquire) allow you to sell tiny SaaS businesses. A business making $500/mo can easily sell for $15,000 – $20,000.
Think about that. You spent a weekend building it. You spent a month marketing it. You walked away with $20k. That is the power of the Micro-SaaS lifecycle.
Read Acquire.com’s guide on valuation to see what your weekend project might actually be worth.
Conclusion: Stop Overthinking. Launch it Ugly.
The only difference between you and the “Tech Bros” you see on Twitter is that they hit “Publish.”
They didn’t have a better idea. They didn’t have better code. They just had the guts to ship something that wasn’t perfect.
Your challenge for this weekend:
- Friday Night: Pick a “Boring Idea” from your Hate List.
- Saturday: Use Replit/Cursor to build the ugly MVP.
- Sunday: Connect Stripe and post it on Reddit.
If it fails, you lost 48 hours. If it works, you gained an income stream for life.
The winds are rising, Captain. The horizon is clear.
Launch the ship.
For those looking for a community of fellow builders to keep you accountable, Indie Hackers is still the best tavern on the internet for swapping stories and strategies.
