Process

One of the most common questions we hear is: What does a typical roadmap for building a SaaS product look like? The truth is, there's no one-size-fits-all approach. The path depends on many factors - how clearly objectives are defined, the security and compliance requirements of the environment, the scale of the product, and much more.

A possible roadmap for your future product...

Is this your path? Probably not. However, this illustrates a desired path for many people we work with. All projects are different, but the general process is the same. Timelines differ. Finances and team structures differ. However, the core principles are the same.
Building a product involves many factors, such as scale and complexity. C onsider the difference between a product designed around a single, focused function and one that must integrate with external systems (e.g., QuickBooks, Facebook) while also supporting localization across languages, currencies, and data residency requirements. Clearly, these two scenarios present very different challenges and also require different teams or skills.
If we are building a product like Pentane, the developers need to have various skills standard CS developers might not have. They need to be extremly well versed in mathematics, understand financial concepts and understand how that correlates to programming. They also need to recognize the importance that code is of the highest quality. This is also an example of a product where "vibe" programming will not work.

Year 0 - Foundation & Validation

Get to know each other and understand what you want to do...
Ideation and interactions
Proposal process
Establish pricing and contracts
Idea & Market Research
Identify customer pain point(s) and validate demand.
Competitive analysis of existing SaaS tools.
Proof of Concept (PoC)
Build a lightweight prototype or clickable demo.
Conduct early user interviews for feedback.
Pre-seed Funding (if applicable)
Secure angel or friends & family investment.

Year 1 - MVP Development & Launch

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Core features developed (e.g., authentication, dashboards, core workflows).
Establish infrastructure (AWS, Databases, Monitoring, Backups, Security, Source Control, ...).
Early attention to security & compliance (SOC2, GDPR readiness).
Closed Beta
Define integrated payments plan.
CI/CD pipelines, automated testing.
Invite first cohort of users (friendly customers or pilot partners).
Implement analytics & error tracking (Mixpanel, Sentry, etc.).
Launch v1.0 (Public Beta)
Start marketing campaigns. (can start considerably earlier - all depends on your team and objectives)
Onboard first paying customers.

Year 2 - Product-Market Fit

Iterative Feature Development
Add extra integrations (APIs, 3rd party tools).
Improve UX/UI.
Strengthen onboarding & customer success.
Possible scalability upgrades
Performance optimizations for growing usage.
Customer Validation
100-500 paying customers.
Gather NPS (Net Promoter Score) and feedback loops.

Year 3 - Growth & Expansion

Version 2.+ Release
Significant new features based on customer feedback.
Advanced analytics/reporting tools.
Team Growth
Expand engineering, product, sales, and customer success teams.
Series A Funding (if VC-backed)
Fuel sales, marketing, and hiring.
Geographic Expansion
Multi-region hosting for performance & compliance.

Year 4 - Scaling & Maturity

Enterprise-Ready Features
Single Sign-On (SSO), role-based access control, audit logs.
Enhanced security (penetration testing, compliance certifications).
Partner Ecosystem
Build marketplace or partner integrations.
Customer Base
Thousands of users, diverse customer segments.
Operational Excellence
SLA guarantees, support escalation processes.

Year 5 and Beyond - Continuous Evolution

Global Reach
Localized product (languages, currencies, data residency).
AI & Automation Enhancements
Predictive features, AI-driven recommendations.
Product Diversification
New modules, vertical-specific editions.
IPO or Acquisition (optional milestone)