ZERO TO LAUNCH
2026A production-grade SaaS starter kit — in Next.js and TanStack — and the Astro site that sells it
Zero to Launch is a production-grade SaaS starter kit for founders in Europe, shipped in two editions — a Next.js build and a TanStack build — so teams can start on the stack they already know. Each edition includes everything a SaaS needs on day one: authentication, subscription billing, a type-safe Postgres data layer, team and role management, transactional email, an admin area, and one-command self-hosted deployment.
Around the product sits zerotolaunch.sh — a fast, statically generated Astro landing page that does the selling: bilingual, with a waitlist, pricing tiers, an affiliate program, and four free SEO tools. I built both end to end — the product and the platform — from positioning through design to deployment.
The Challenge
Two hard problems at once. The product had to be genuinely production-ready — not a demo — and ship in two parallel editions (Next.js and TanStack) that stay feature-equivalent without doubling the maintenance burden.
At the same time it had to sell pre-launch: no finished-dashboard screenshots, no social proof. The landing page had to build trust, justify the founding price, and turn cold visitors into qualified waitlist signups instead of just looking pretty.
The Solution
The product. Each edition is built stack-first on a typed, modular architecture: authentication (email, OAuth, magic links), subscription billing with webhook-driven plan changes via Lemon Squeezy, a Drizzle/Postgres data layer, team and role management, transactional email, and an admin area — wired so a founder gets from clone to deployed in minutes. A shared core and conventions keep the Next.js and TanStack editions in sync.
The platform. zerotolaunch.sh is a fast, statically generated Astro site with a server-side waitlist on Postgres, tier selection, honeypot, and rate limiting. Four free tools (cron parser, MRR calculator, launch checklist, stack comparison) pull in organic traffic; an affiliate program and transparent 3-tier pricing drive conversion.
Both are bilingual (DE/EN), GDPR-compliant, and performance-first — self-hosted on Hetzner via Coolify with Prometheus/Grafana observability.
Highlights
Batteries-included starter kit in two editions (Next.js and TanStack): authentication, role-based access, and a type-safe Postgres data layer out of the box.
Subscription billing via Lemon Squeezy — EU VAT and invoicing handled by the merchant of record, with webhook-driven plan changes.
Built-in transactional email, an admin dashboard, i18n (DE/EN), dark mode, and GDPR-ready legal pages.
One-command self-hosted deployment: Docker, CI/CD, health checks, and Prometheus/Grafana observability baked in.
100/100 Accessibility (Lighthouse) and performance-first: inline critical CSS, LightningCSS, minimal client JS, stable layouts.
Astro landing page (DE/EN) with a server-side waitlist on Postgres, tier selection, honeypot, and rate limiting.
Conversion engine: four free SEO tools, an affiliate program, and 3-tier pricing (Founding / Pro / Agency).