HN Explorer

How to Build and Launch Fast

7 points by ragmurugesan ↗ HN
I want to learn building web-apps and launch it fast like in few hours. I want to become a pro at this so that building stuff won't be a blocker for launching & evaluating new ideas.

What are some learning resources I can use to get there? How did you guys build something in a day?

6 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 17.4 ms ] thread
Jugurtha
Pick one stack and don't think about the stack when launching a product. I see a lot of people get an idea and then start exploring a new framework or library "to be more efficient".

Do you want to ship something or learn a framework ? Nothing wrong with either, but you must know the answer. Nothing is wring with learning a framework by building something either, but here you're using the product to learn a framework/stack, and not using the framework/stack to build the product. Grosso modo: don't lie to yourself about what you're doing.

Strip everything that does not invalidate your idea. Spend zero time on password reset flows or automated emails. Do things manually. Just get the email address and get into a conversation.

Doing more projects to gain skills so building the prototype is not the bottleneck because you're efficient. Do things better.

Doing fewer projects by validating with the minimal thing you can ship so building the prototype is not the bottleneck because you're effective. Do better things. Validate beforehand. Talk with people earlier. All these don't require you to build things.

prohobo
I'd say research different stacks before you start the prototype, pick the best one from your initial perspective, and if it's not working then branch to an alternative and see if it's better for your use case. If you don't do this, then you might end up ramming a square peg through a round hole and will need to rewrite later.

Basically, stick to your core competencies, but don't be afraid to try new things that will clearly (hopefully) improve your product. Fail hard and fast instead of dragging it out 6 months :)

This isn't about learning a framework at the expense of the product, it's about building something new that you might not have experience creating solutions for yet.

jimhi
I agree with the other comment and go further. Pick a stack and a deployment and just get really familiar with how it works so you can copy and paste for each project.

If you need a suggestion - Django with Postgres on Heroku is consistently the top prototyping stack of choice when it comes to Y Combinator companies.

prohobo
Most of what you need for any web app is:

1) A frontend: pick a framework/lib (or none) that works for you. Whatever lets you easily build the layouts and interactivity you're happy with.

2) An API: connect a server to your frontend (REST, GraphQL, websockets, etc.). This is where all the secure communication happens.

3) A database: pick a DBMS (usually SQLite or Postgres) and hook it up to your API. This is where you organize data to be displayed on your frontend, or run through business logic on the backend before displaying on the frontend.

Learn how to setup a project with all three quickly and efficiently, then you can build whatever you want. More complex stuff just means adding onto this stack.

As for choosing the stack for all of this, do searches like "what's the best frontend framework", "go vs node for backend", etc. and read everything with a pinch of salt - after some reading it should become clear what everyone thinks about all the various tech that's available. After you think you have some idea, just try it.

aregsar
A beginner friendly stack if you like (modern) php 8 is Laravel. You can use Laravel sail to develop using docker without having to install anything on you local machine except for docker of course. You can add in laravel breeze for basic authentication and add laravel Livewire and alpinejs to avoid having to use JavaScript. You can easily launch this stack either on laravel forge or use the digital ocean app platform to avoid high costs of Heroku or complexity of aws. There are many resources for laravel. I’d start with free YouTube videos. I have found codecourse.com a very good source of how to build a verity of decently complex laravel applications
ragmurugesan
Fellow Hackers, Thanks for such great guidance. This is super useful and inspiring. I see a pattern among the suggestions for the backend. For the front-end, what's the typical YC stack? Is react still being used?

Did you follow some book/learning resource recently that you found valuable that you would recommend on this topic?