SaaS and business tool development
We build software that businesses run on: SaaS products, admin platforms, and internal tools. Our case here is Countable, a Canadian SaaS company whose admin and business-operations platform we ran with a team of 20 engineers for more than four years, from October 2021 to December 2025, on Spring Boot and Angular. A typical SaaS first version is a standard web app at $16,000 with subscription billing at $2,500 and an admin panel at $3,500. Internal tools often start lean at $9,000. This page covers the typical first version, the price range, the compliance points business buyers ask about, and how we keep a product maintainable as it grows.
Relevant work
- Countable: admin and business-operations platform for a Canadian SaaS company, 20 engineers, more than four years.
- N3XUS Social: an AI-native social media management platform for creators, teams, and agencies.
- Sapient Industries: a multi-tenant IoT energy and billing platform.
The typical first version
- Workspaces with team invites and roles: owner, admin, member.
- Email and Google sign-in, with single sign-on ready to add later.
- The core workflow your customers pay for, built properly end to end.
- Stripe Billing with plans, trials, upgrades, and invoices.
- An admin panel for your team to support customers.
- Activity logs and exports, which business buyers expect.
Compliance notes
- Data separation. Each customer's data is isolated at the database level, not just hidden in the interface.
- SOC 2. Mid-market buyers ask for it. We build access controls, logging, change management, and backups that make a SOC 2 program straightforward when you start one.
- GDPR and CCPA. Export and deletion on request, a data processing agreement for customers, and a list of sub-processors.
- PCI through Stripe. Card data stays with Stripe; you stay in the simplest scope.
- Single sign-on. SAML or OIDC for enterprise customers, added when the first one asks.
Keeping it maintainable
Long-running platforms like Countable's taught us that the expensive part of SaaS is year three, not month three. We keep a small number of well-known technologies, automated tests on billing and permissions, and documentation that a new engineer can follow in a day. That is what lets a product grow from a first version to a 20-engineer team without a rewrite.
How we work
Every first version starts with a signed plan listing every screen and workflow, then a clickable design you approve on your phone, then the build, then launch. You get a written weekly plan, a daily update, and a demo every Friday. You pay in four equal milestones tied to those stages, and you own the code and the cloud accounts from day one. After launch, a care plan from $1,000 a month or a dedicated engineer at $8,500 a month keeps the product moving.
What we leave for later
The fastest way to a SaaS product that earns its keep is a first version that does fewer things well. These are the items we usually move to after launch, once real usage shows they matter:
- Single sign-on and directory sync
- Usage-based billing
- A public API and webhooks
- Custom report builders
- Mobile apps
Each one is a fixed-price addition later. Leaving them out keeps the first version inside the range above, shortens the time to launch, and means you spend on what customers actually ask for.
Timeline and team
A lean first version ships in about 5 weeks, standard in about 8, and large in about 12. A typical team is a product designer, two or three engineers, and a delivery lead you talk to every day, with a senior engineer reviewing every change. You see the work every Friday, and you can stop after any milestone with the code and designs in your hands.
Questions founders ask
How much does it cost to build a SaaS product?
Most first versions run $16,000 to $26,000, plus billing and an admin panel, at a fixed price.
Can you staff a long-term team?
Yes. We ran Countable's platform with 20 engineers for more than four years. Dedicated engineers are $8,500 a month each.
Will you help with SOC 2?
We build the software controls SOC 2 looks for; your company runs the program with an auditor.
Do you build internal tools?
Yes. Most start as a lean web app at $9,000, often with one integration.
How fast can we start?
Usually within two weeks of a signed plan. The first week is design, and you see screens by the end of it.
Can you work alongside our own engineers?
Yes. Many clients keep an in-house lead and add our engineers to the same repository, stand-ups and review process. We follow your conventions, document what we build, and hand over cleanly whenever you want to take a piece of work in house.
Do you sign an NDA before the first call?
Yes, on request. Several of our clients, including a consumer AI company, work with us under NDA, and we never show their work without written permission.
What happens after launch?
Most clients move to a care plan from $1,000 a month for fixes and small features, or keep one or two dedicated engineers at $8,500 a month each.
The Idea Lab turns a two-sentence idea into a build plan: why it could work, what to get right first, the first version worth building and its price. Two minutes, from our published rates.