PayLoop: from idea to a payments SaaS MVP in 12 weeks
The challenge
PayLoop's founder, Priya, had a vivid idea: subscription billing for early-stage SaaS companies, priced fairly, with checkout that actually rose conversion. She had customers lined up and a deadline with a seed investor. What she didn't have was product certainty or a technical team.
She brought us two requirements: an MVP in 12 weeks, and a platform that wouldn't need a rebuild six months later. No templated landing page — a real billing product with the docs and compliance basics to build trust.
What we did
1. Discovery and scoping (week 1)
We prioritized around a single needle: getting a merchant through a checkout in under four minutes. We planned user flows, wrote the lean spec together, and fixed the scope against a firm price. Beyond the core checkout, everything was explicitly a later iteration.
2. Product design (weeks 2–4)
UX flows and UI in Figma were tested with the waiting list of merchants. Crucially, we designed alongside the engineering decisions — data model, billing engine, and API boundaries — so nothing needed redrawing at build time.
3. Build in sprints (weeks 4–10)
We shipped a working product at the end of the first sprint, then added subscription plans, proration, and webhooks weekly. Every sprint ended with a live demo to Priya, so the finished product was never a surprise.
4. Hardening and launch (weeks 11–12)
Penetration-style review, payment gateway certification assistance, load testing, and a runbook. Built the whole stack on CloudyDeploy pipelines so Priya's team could deploy safely from day one.
Technologies used
TypeScript, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL (with encryption at rest), Stripe and Razorpay integrations, AWS, Kubernetes, CloudyDeploy for pipelines, and CloudyMetrics from day one to track activation.
How it was priced
Fixed scope, milestone-based payments, and weekly demos. Turnaround was predictable because the scope was. You can compare similar models on our pricing page or discuss a dedicated-team model for your own product.
Related
Custom SaaS development
The service that built this product.
SaaS architecture guide
Why we built it as a lean services-based app, not a microservice zoo.