❦ STACK GUIDE · No. 001 · By founder stage
First-time founder
Just incorporating. Pre-product. Solo with savings runway.
You've decided to build. The entity isn't set up yet, there's no product, no customer, no revenue. The job for the next six months is to ship something a real person will pay for — without burning runway on tools you don't need yet.
❦ The stack, at a glance
$0–60
7
13
$0–60/mo + one-time incorporation
Who this is for
- ●Solo founder, savings or day-job funded
- ●Pre-product or pre-revenue
- ●Six months of runway or less
Who it isn't for
- ●Anyone with a co-founder or paid hire — see Team of 2
- ●Anyone already at $5k+ MRR — see Solo + AI
❦ Incorporation
The one thing worth paying for on day one. Set the entity right before you have customers, equity, or a co-founder.
❦ Banking
Keep business money separate from personal day one — your future accountant will thank you.
❦ Hosting & deployment
Free tiers carry most pre-revenue products comfortably.
Vercel
Best deploy DX if you're shipping Next.js. Hobby tier is non-commercial; upgrade to $20 Pro when you charge customers.
Read review →
Netlify
Free tier is commercial-friendly. Better choice if you're framework-agnostic or building Jamstack.
Read review →
Railway
If you need a full backend with a database, $5/mo + usage gets you to a live URL fast.
Read review →
❦ Database & backend
You need a real database, not a Google Sheet — pick one that scales beyond the prototype.
❦ Payments
No setup cost — only pay when customers pay you.
❦ Project management
Sprint planning for one — still worth a real tool over a sticky-note pile.
❦ Accounting
Track every dollar from day one — even if it's $0 in revenue.
❦ A note from the editors
Budget target: $0–60/mo plus the one-time $500 incorporation. Free tiers will carry you to ~$5k MRR if you let them. The pressure to upgrade is mostly internal.
❦ Your stage
See another stage.
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