I slowed down before the build: researching fast-growing SaaS businesses, reviewing the architecture and working through the features for the customers we intend to serve.
Then came four days of committed building: several hundred commits and more than 30 features running internally. Still behind the wall, still invite-only. The next job was to make the interface easier to use.
- 245
- git commits
- 30+
- features running internally
- 2
- startup spaces joined
From the original weeks 2-4 log. These figures describe the build at the time.
The workspace
A real desk
- Startspace induction was done, and my application to Stone & Chalk was approved.
- Two Melbourne startup spaces, with desks, mentors and people to learn from.
- The rule for the fortnight: build the MVP.
- Enough reading about Y Combinator.
The runway
Credits, and year-end admin
- AWS Activate founder credits approved. I also had a trial day at Stone & Chalk.
- Then EOFY accounting and tax updates.
- The prize for incorporating two weeks before the end of the financial year.
The platform
Build from anywhere
- First day and induction at Stone & Chalk.
- Both workspaces were now available.
- I set up a disposable development workstation on AWS Lightsail, a single GitHub monorepo and CI checks on every change.
- The public Cloudflare site moved to automated deploys.
The second opinion
Twelve agents on review duty
- I used 12 AI subagents to research and review the stack and progress against YC-grade buildouts.
- The review found no need to change direction, but left 47 minor implementation notes.
- The original log estimated the equivalent usage-based spend at about $100 once that pricing became available.
The product
The application flow works
- The core application flow ran end to end. Invite-only, behind the wall: Vercel for the app, Supabase in Sydney for data, AWS Bedrock for AI, with monitoring, alerts and automatic checks.
- The public site gained terms, privacy, search and AI-crawler groundwork, and the first build log.
The practical bits
What we were working with
- Credits
- AWS Activate · OpenAI credits · Stripe for Startups
- Spaces
- Startspace · Stone & Chalk
- Build
- AWS Lightsail · GitHub CI · Monorepo · Automated deploys
- AI
- AWS Bedrock · Anthropic · OpenAI · Claude Fable · Review agents
- Operations
- Sentry · Better Stack · Slack ChatOps · 1Password · Tailscale
At the end of weeks 2-4
Next: the interface.
The MVP was working. The interface was still a wireframe. Next came the landing page, the user journey and, after polishing the flow, the first invited testers.