I built a Micro SAAS using ShipFast from Marc Lou... (ShipFast Review)

Watch my follow-up video here: • I Tried Building A Saa...
In this video, I dive into the world of Micro SaaS and explore the ShipFast community’s strategy of building and shipping software as quickly as possible. If you’ve ever wondered if you can make money with minimal coding experience, this is the video for you.
I put Marc Lou’s ShipFast template to the test, which promises to simplify the process of creating a SaaS product by providing essential features like user authentication, payment processing, and basic SEO. I share my journey from setting up the project to launching my software and reveal whether ShipFast lives up to the hype.
Follow along as I navigate challenges, utilize make.com for backend processes, and create a landing page for my product. I also discuss the economics of my project, including costs and profits, and share insights for aspiring entrepreneurs considering using a boilerplate for their own ventures.
Should you be interested in any of the mentioned products:
*ShipFast: shipfa.st/?via...
*make.com: www.make.com/e...
Marc Lou's channel: / @marc-lou
*These links are affiliate links, which means that I get a small commission if you register via my link. You don't pay more - and you can just search the products on Google, if you don't want me to get a commission :)

[@steffenj]

Watch my follow-up video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3rHanltecalnpY

[@rotrixxplays]

As a developer, I can say that the best way to ship fast is using tech stack that you already know and are comfortable; and also just coding all the stuff, no-code is too complicated for me 😅

[@steffenj]

If you know how to code, I also think coding the stuff yourself is the best way. However, especially in the beginning, No-Code can speed up the process and help you validate the idea before putting in more effort (assuming that using No-Code is actually faster to build, of course)

[@Brocollipy]

Defo agree with this. I keep watching the tech stack vids to see if they are as fast / easy as they seem. Often we ignore the fact they’ve previously written 20 other apps in their chosen tech stack so it’s not surprising they can churn out something in days.

[@steffenj]

That's true. Even with no-code, there is a learning curve, and you need to know some programming principles. For normal programming, you have libraries and ChatGPT, so in the end, I think the fastest way is always to use the stuff you already know. Sticking to one option will speed up the process the most.

[@petercsipkay]

Hey Dude, be proud of yourself! You've accomplished something that 95% of the population can't -- code. As a programmer myself, I don't laugh at that, you did great! Go ahead and explore. 👍🏻

[@steffenj]

Hey man, thank you so much for the inspiring comment 🙏 I really appreciate it!

[@dominicreynolds6856]

Great video, it's interesting to see how you found it using ShipFast with pretty much no coding experience. For the number of subs you have, this is a really high quality video. I've subbed, your channel will definitely take off if you keep making high quality videos like this

[@steffenj]

Thank you, man! I appreciate the support :)

[@megham_]

Great video Steffen. I'd have just suggested you to use open source templates and boilerplates instead, to keep your initial cost almost zero(~$5 for domain) They are free, you get more choices, easy to customise, and you get more flexibility over stack I've built a few open source ones myself, and one of them looks to some extent just like ShipFast

[@steffenj]

Thank you, man! That's a good idea, and I experimented with other libraries as well lately. But I am still new to all of this, and it was a good start, never the less. Do you have any recommendations on templates or libraries? (I started using shadcn two weeks ago)

[@megham_]

​@@steffenj kudos for getting started man! I also used shadcn recently for one of my projects I'd love to give you some recommendations it's just that youtube doesn't allow links in comments

[@steffenj]

@megham_ oh ja, that's a problem haha. You can just tell me the names, and I can try to find it myself. That would be very nice :)

[@creatornatt]

Congratulations! I am looking forward to look at your project 😊

[@megham_]

@@steffenj I've posted a detailed comment twice now, one with links and one without links, and it gets deleted every time for some reason

[@steffenj]

Let me know what you think about ShipFast :)

[@8colly8]

Marc Lou and others are taking advantage of the fact that developers lack business skills because in any other community this would have been mocked as one of the most SELF DESTRUCTIVE ways of doing business . The level of waste and confusion that will come from running 24 businesses , the level of mistrust you will get from your customers because you will appear not serious with your startups because every two weeks you have a new one

[@symbol767]

@@8colly8 You sound like someone with no real experience running apps

[@8colly8]

@@symbol767 you would be suprised my friend

[@z4mbon]

you deserve more subs keep going brotherrrrrrrrr

[@steffenj]

Thank youu, man!

[@Dom-zy1qy]

Shipfast is basically a pyramid scheme, people are making these reviews because of the referral system, or direct sponsorship. Mark makes %90 of his revenue off of Shipfast, which is just repackaged OSS with documentation. This is only useful for people who don't know how to code. You can just spend 1 week and make your own boilerplate that is significantly better as you'll understand the tooling better; and have an easier time updating things. If you don't know how to code, then you should probably use a dedicated no code platform. Seriously, don't buy into this hype. Mark is selling you a dream, not an actual product. I don't get how this isn't being criticized more. Its literally a fkn git repository with free software that he's selling.

[@steffenj]

Hi there, that are some valid points you are making. I was exactly that person that didn't know how to code and now I am learning it (and actually also building out my own codebase for my next project - ditching ShipFast haha). For me, ShipFast was a great starting point, but (as I mentioned in the video as well) there are other boilerplates out there that do the same job and there is always the option to build one yourself. I did not try to promote ShipFast as the "holy grail" of boilerplates, but it worked in my specific situation and I wanted to share that. The reason I don't use something like bubble is that you don't own the code afterwards, so there is no perfect solution. (Well, learning how to code and to properly do it yourself might be...but that does not happen over night :)

[@8colly8]

I talked about this my channel its sad they are taking advantage of developers without business skills because if you have even an ounce of business skills you would be able to see the madness of launching 24 startups in 3 years, and he confessed he is making most of money from the template and not his other startups and that should tell you something, take care guys

[@steffenj]

That's true! Also, having an audience helps massively with marketing and driving attention (and customers) to your product...nothing that can be easily replicated.

[@8colly8]

@@steffenj thank you so much for understanding this, I wish you success in your startups brother , developers lets learn some business skills and make real money

[@steffenj]

Thank you, man! I wish you all the best as well!

[@Investmentpunk1]

Hi nice video! I am a data scientist and I am starting to get into Web and Software development. Can you tell me what I need to learn to use ship fast effectively? For example - I am very proficient in Python - can i build the backend / API in Python and still use ship fast?

[@steffenj]

Hi, I am not quite sure if you necessarily need shipfast or if you could just use a (free) boilerplate for Python then. Shipfast uses Javascript or Typescript, and I don't know if mixing them works. Also, if you are already familiar with Python, you can use a Framework like Django and build it yourself (or find a github repo you can clone). ShipFast is great if you have no prior experience in web development or coding in general. However, I am also just a guy on the internet who started learning this stuff a few months ago. So probably not the most reliable source hahaha _-_ Feel free to ask further questions if you have any :)

[@Investmentpunk1]

@@steffenj Alright, thanks for the quick reply :)

[@Lukas-dl5hb]

Marc Lou liked this video

[@steffenj]

Hahaha, I hope you did as well :)

[@igorcodes]

nice video bro! Keep it up

[@steffenj]

Thanks, man!

[@sergioleis]

Great review brother

[@steffenj]

Thank you, appreciate it 🙏

[@berkerdemirer7982]

Well, in my opinion it does not worth the money. I bought it but its really barebones. However, it pushed me to create my own boilerplate and gave me a different perspective on things and how to earn money in this app boom period. - Documentation lacking, you have to do lots of back and forth when you follow doc to set up your mailing, auth etc. - Typescript support is close to non-existent because strict type check is not enabled by default. - Discord support is close to non existent, Marc rarely takes time to reply stuff there. You see some people trying to help but its mostly some people who have no idea what they are doing. - You actually don't get any re-usable components. + You get few out of the box tailwind UI components to put together your landing page. + Nice SEO config It just kind of feels like he sold his story and previous experiences nicely but this is nowhere near a complete boilerplate and price is absurd for the value. But anyways, it is a free market I wish him the best.

[@steffenj]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience with ShipFast! For me, it was a good starting point, but your points are absolutely correct. Marc Lou has a great marketing strategy and can sell the dream of a Micro SAAS to his online following. However, there are probably alternatives that have greater value / cost. In my case, using ShipFast forced me to learn more about coding, which will help me for future projects (that I will probably build without using ShipFast, as building something yourself is even more fun, better for debugging, and more flexible in terms of structure and integrations). Have a great day! :)

[@my_yt666]

Better get Achromatic dev if you are serious about building a SaaS.

[@steffenj]

Hi, I just looked into it a bit. It seems like a great solution. Maybe I'll start the next project using this boilerplate, thanks :)

[@my_yt666]

@@steffenj Cool :) Ty for the nice response. I update it all the time, adding atm mostly application components like TreeView and stuff. But also features like Multi-factor auth and advanced billing is coming soon.

[@13clucky]

Hi, thanks for video! Sorry, but where is the link to your microsass?

[@steffenj]

I am currently working on the follow-up video :) You will find it there

[@steffenj]

Hi, I just published the video on the micro SAAS :)

[@ericd8909]

Hey, I loved your video. I'm working on my own A.I that creates entire saas'es based on a prompt. MVP is done and planning on launching 5 different saases this week. Would love it if we could connect and you could give your thoughts!

[@steffenj]

Hey, thank you very much! That sounds very interesting. I have an email address in my Account details / information (only visible on PC). You can write me there, and I would love to exchange ideas :) Please understand that I don't want to post my email address here publicly.

[@shubhamdhumal7578]

i build shipfast alternative but it might not that good bit dose the job

[@steffenj]

That's cool! In the end, you can still improve it until it is even better :)

[@divyv20]

Hey Steffen , very good video . I can do better editing in your videos which can help you to get more engagement in your videos . Pls lmk what do you think ?

[@steffenj]

Hi, thank you for your offer, but currently, I enjoy editing my own videos. Maybe some day in the future :)

[@zireba]

Can anyone tell my why this is better and easier then wordpress?

[@fr0sty823]

It's better because of customization you anyways need to buy themes for premium look

[@steffenj]

Exactly, you can do a lot with Wordpress, but you need Plugins for everything. If you want to create a web app and have a basic understanding of code, I think you can do a lot more with custom development. You don't need ShipFast for that, but Wordpress was initially meant for blogging and not for web applications.

[@zireba]

@@steffenj at some point I think there was statistic that WP taking 70% of web sites out there... ok maybe for blogging or so, but besides WP, there is Joomla, Drupal, and so many other stuff when on few clicks you can have stuff which this template cant integrate in ages. I mean this guy just used another hype after web3 coins and so on. This is just one of the tools which he managed to sell nicely... if you goo bit deeper you can have much cheaper and much better things then this ... but its okay, he earned money congrats for that.

[@zireba]

Quick Facts: WordPress Statistics in June 2024 WordPress powers 43.4% of all websites as their CMS. Around 474 million websites are built on WordPress. WordPress dominates the CMS market with a 62.7% share. There are over 30,000 WordPress themes available.6 Jun 2024 So, I think that people who buying this template are very young and uninformed....

[@iAbhishek_official]

🔝

[@steffenj]

🙏

[@MurtagBY]

Marketing video. Not shipped anything?!

[@steffenj]

Hi, I did not want to make the product public yet. However, I will publish a video about the project in the coming weeks :)

[@steffenj]

just posted the follow-up video :)

[@ankushmaurya1822]

video is bit overexposed u need to work in ur colour grande and add minimalist transition and make better cut ur been watching ur videos from few days content is amazing dude if you need an video editor do lemme know

[@steffenj]

Hey man, thank you for your feedback! Currently, I enjoy editing my own videos, but I will come back to you should I ever need an editor :)

[@lukemarkham6246]

looks fine to me

[@VibronicCow]

Mans is just German, not much sunlight over there 😂

[@steffenj]

@VibronicCow HAHAHA

[@VibronicCow]

@@steffenj i have some German friends, clear as anything to me 😆 Congrats on your 1st internet dollar 🚀

[@chamdarigdall273]

since shovels sell well, shovel accessories should be sold 😂

[@steffenj]

HAHAHA I like how you think