For my last 2 companies (both SaaS), the stack made a difference in 2 ways: 1. Because we knew it well, it stayed out of the way. We usually knew how to accomp

For my last 2 companies (both SaaS), the stack made a difference in 2 ways: 1. Because we knew it well, it stayed out of the way. We usually knew how to accomplish what we needed to. 2. We enjoyed using it. Work didn’t feel as much like, er, work, and we did it more. Our stack may or may not have been the best, but even if it was, objective quality wasn’t what made the difference. To use an analogy, imagine a painter who knows their current paints and brushes very well. We used good supplies that we knew and liked, even when they weren’t the one that the art store was marketing. Our goal was to finish a painting (MVP), not re-learn how to obtain the texture we want with “the best” brushes. For a typical small business or tiny new startup, I’d use whichever modern stack let the team work most efficiently (including hiring/staffing, if that’s in the plan). The difference between “any great modern stack” and “the best stack” is smaller than the gain from the 2 benefits above. (Tiny nit: rather than “ROI,” I think the term you want is enterprise value, revenue, or profit)