The saas startup stack
Early SaaS stacks fail in one of two directions: too thin to sell repeatably, or a full go-to-market suite bought before there is anything to take to market. The useful middle is four or five tools.
The layers that matter
01
Build
Ship and iterate on the product itself. Everything else is downstream of shipping.
02
Pipeline
One record of who you're talking to, shared by everyone who talks to customers.
03
Outbound
A deliberate acquisition channel so growth isn't only inbound luck.
04
Payments
Billing you don't maintain. Rolling your own is a quarter you don't get back.
Add in this order
Build first, then whichever of acquisition or payments blocks revenue soonest. If people already want it, take payments. If nobody knows about it, do outbound. Do not do both in the same month with a two-person team.
Signals you've outgrown the lean version
Add the next layer when one of these is true, not on a calendar:
- Deals are getting lost because context lives in someone's inbox.
- You're answering the same support question by email more than twice a day.
- Manual invoicing takes more than an hour a week.
What this usually costs
Most two- to five-person SaaS teams run a complete stack under $200 a month. Above that, check whether you're paying per seat for tools only one person opens.
What it costs
$50–$200 a month is typical before the first sales hire.