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Lessons Learned Building a SaaS App for Stripe Users

68 points by Shpigford 13y ago

zrail 13y ago
As the article says, Stripe's API docs are incredible. The article links directly to the API docs and the rest of their documentation is equally great[1]. There are a few weak spots, though, in particular around webhooks. I put together a little guide[2] a few months ago that describes what hooks fire, in what order, and under what conditions. [1]: https://stripe.com/docs https://stripe.com/docs [2]: https://www.petekeen.net/stripe-webhook-event-cheatsheet https://www.petekeen.net/stripe-webhook-event-cheatsheet
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  When I said thanks but no thanks to an invitation to apply at Stripe (not because of them, I didn't think I was of the caliber needed to work there), I specifically mentioned one of the reasons for loving them was their beautiful/elegant API. As Da Vinci said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication".
teleclimber 13y ago
Hey Josh, congratulations on baremetrics. I remember commenting on your Temper.io introduction on reddit a few months back. Both these solutions look very professional and have compelling business cases. I'd love to hear more about your process. Are you in front of a team? Do you outsource a lot? Or sleep little? Cheers!
- Shpigford 13y ago
  Thanks! I'm a one-man show on Baremetrics (no team or outsourcing) and I get a relatively decent amount of sleep. :) I put a big emphasis on shipping fast and frequently. So, push small bits of larger things out the door. Incremental progress over huge features. That sort of thing. "Shipped" is better than "perfect" for me and is the measure for progress. I ship something as quickly as possible, then iterate on top of that after it's in the wild and being used by paying customers.
  - teleclimber 13y ago
    Very cool. Thanks for sharing.
jv22222 13y ago
What a great product idea, and executed very nicely. Congrats.
robotfelix 13y ago
All of the communication methods mentioned in the 'tips' section have proved invaluable for me personally, and really set Stripe apart from many companies. They're fantastically accessible. Need a quick response? Ask on the IRC chat. Think the API isn't right? Have a discussion. Library missing something? Fork it and maybe submit a pull request. The one thing that makes me consider switching is the lack of bank transfers in the UK (which isn't a problem unique to Stripe).
draugadrotten 13y ago
I see baremetrics user testimonials are all from white men in their 30s.

68 points by Shpigford 13y ago

zrail 13y ago

As the article says, Stripe's API docs are incredible. The article links directly to the API docs and the rest of their documentation is equally great[1]. There are a few weak spots, though, in particular around webhooks. I put together a little guide[2] a few months ago that describes what hooks fire, in what order, and under what conditions. [1]: https://stripe.com/docs https://stripe.com/docs [2]: https://www.petekeen.net/stripe-webhook-event-cheatsheet https://www.petekeen.net/stripe-webhook-event-cheatsheet

toomuchtodo 13y ago
When I said thanks but no thanks to an invitation to apply at Stripe (not because of them, I didn't think I was of the caliber needed to work there), I specifically mentioned one of the reasons for loving them was their beautiful/elegant API. As Da Vinci said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication".

teleclimber 13y ago

Hey Josh, congratulations on baremetrics. I remember commenting on your Temper.io introduction on reddit a few months back. Both these solutions look very professional and have compelling business cases. I'd love to hear more about your process. Are you in front of a team? Do you outsource a lot? Or sleep little? Cheers!

Shpigford 13y ago
Thanks! I'm a one-man show on Baremetrics (no team or outsourcing) and I get a relatively decent amount of sleep. :) I put a big emphasis on shipping fast and frequently. So, push small bits of larger things out the door. Incremental progress over huge features. That sort of thing. "Shipped" is better than "perfect" for me and is the measure for progress. I ship something as quickly as possible, then iterate on top of that after it's in the wild and being used by paying customers.
- teleclimber 13y ago
  Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

jv22222 13y ago

What a great product idea, and executed very nicely. Congrats.

robotfelix 13y ago

All of the communication methods mentioned in the 'tips' section have proved invaluable for me personally, and really set Stripe apart from many companies. They're fantastically accessible. Need a quick response? Ask on the IRC chat. Think the API isn't right? Have a discussion. Library missing something? Fork it and maybe submit a pull request. The one thing that makes me consider switching is the lack of bank transfers in the UK (which isn't a problem unique to Stripe).

draugadrotten 13y ago

I see baremetrics user testimonials are all from white men in their 30s.