Ask HN: Common minimal architectures to build SaaS products from pet projects

3 pointslatentdeepspace3y ago4 comments

I have a lot of Deep Learning/Machine Learning related pet projects; for some of them, I think that the public would use them (and maybe even pay for them). Of course, transforming a pet project into a SaaS is not one day of work (if I get this wrong please correct me).

My goal is to create a SaaS for one of my projects, and my main question is, what is a minimal architecture that I could follow to build something like that? And what tools should I use? Can you suggest books, blog posts on the topic?

If you created a SaaS, what are some of the things you would have known before you started?

4 comments

cddotdotslash3y ago

I followed a similar path, turning an open source project I had started into a SaaS several years ago (it has since been acquired).

Two biggest things I learned: use whatever technology you’re most comfortable with and keep everything dead simple.

Your customers don’t care what language or framework you’re using. They will care when you can’t release features quickly enough because you’re stuck figuring out your own infrastructure.

I’ve written on HN previously[1] about some other things I’ve learned as well.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34287685#34287996

latentdeepspaceOP3y ago

Thank you for the advice. Your write up was valuable to me. I also want to have a lean approach to the problem, I am just overwhelmed with the whole architecture which is needed around something which should be simple (as a pet project).

zainhoda3y ago

I'm working on a project that makes it easy to create Python front-ends: https://www.pycob.com/

Do you have any examples of the pet projects posted on GitHub? I could try to take a stab at giving it a front-end, which would probably be the first step in making your pet projects SaaS

schwartzworld3y ago

I used to use express.js with sqlite3. Can't get much more minimal than that.

Recently I tried remix.js and I think it looks quite promising. Most of the workflows I would use with express still apply, but the developer experience is so well thought out.

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