·5 min read
Shipping a SaaS MVP with AI in 30 days
A realistic 30-day plan for taking an AI SaaS idea from blank page to paying users — scope, stack, and the cuts you have to make.
SaaSMVPAI
The 30-day rule
If it doesn't ship in 30 days, the scope is wrong, not the timeline. Cut features until it fits.
Week 1 — scope and spine
- One job to be done, written in one sentence
- 5 hand-picked design partners committed to trying it
- Auth, billing, and a single happy-path screen wired up
Week 2 — the AI feature
- One AI workflow doing the core job
- Evals on 30 realistic inputs
- A way to log every prompt, response, and user reaction
Week 3 — usable product
- Onboarding that gets a user to value in under 5 minutes
- Empty states, errors, and a help link
- A pricing page with one or two plans
Week 4 — paying users
- Design partners in, feedback collected daily
- Stripe live, first invoices going out
- A roadmap shaped by what they actually asked for
What we cut every time
Settings pages, an admin dashboard, dark mode, integrations beyond the one most users need, and any feature that isn't the core AI job. They come back in month two — if usage justifies them.
