Interview: Supastarter, the latest SaaS tool to supercharge developer work

Building and launching scalable web apps is a hard and long process. Whether you're looking to experiment or trying to kickstart an ambitious commercial project, a boilerplate can be extremely useful. In fact, SaaS building tools are swiftly emerging as the perfect solution to save developers time, money, and resources so they can fully focus on their product's potential.

At Localazy, we're happy to have teamed with Supastarter for an integration that seamlessly combines the power of code repositories with localization. This German startup offers the whole package for any aspiring developers and entrepreneurs, as it allows them to build their site on top of Supabase and Next.js by adding features like authentication, mail templates, and data fetching tools. Today we speak to its founder, Jonathan Wilke, about the present and future of developing and the importance of localization for SaaS applications.

💭 A developer's dream 🔗

Hi, Jonathan! Can you introduce yourself and Supastarter?

Hello there! I’m a 25-year-old full-stack developer from Germany. 👋 Web development has been part of my life basically forever, and I started freelancing at 16. I'm currently working on a full-time job while I build Supastarter as my side project.

Awesome! What was your motivation to create and launch it?

In my opinion, people should be able to start new applications/SaaS easily and quickly. Supastarter enables just that. It gives people the opportunity to ship a ready-to-use application within hours. That way, developers and founders don’t have to build the basis themselves but rather focus on providing value to their users.

What problems does Supastarter solve?

The main idea of Supastarter is to give developers a head start when developing their web application/SaaS and save valuable time. The starter template is built upon Supabase and Next.js and comes with all the common features you need to build a scalable SaaS: authentication, internationalization, mail templates, landing page, blog, and more.

The stack and tools have been chosen with flexibility and scalability in mind. Our philosophy is that developers should only focus on their applications' core features instead of having to rebuild things (like auth) over and over again. That is also the reason why we chose a serverless stack with Vercel and Supabase as the main drivers so that it’s easy for someone who's just getting started with web development to ship applications fast. 💭 ➡️ 💻 Plus, they won't have to worry about the security and scalability of their servers/databases.

"With Supastarter, developers and founders don't have to build the basis themselves but rather focusing on providing value to their users"

Who are your customers?

Right now, the customers are mostly solo developers who want to start a SaaS or a web app. They are often referred to as indie hackers or bootstrappers. 🧠 But Supastarter is also a great stack for larger companies since it scales well, so we are working on bringing more features and support to become more attractive to enterprises.

Care to mention some of the obstacles solo developers encounter?

Sure! There are some key elements every web app or SaaS needs, like authentication, data fetching, mail templates, and so on. We include all that and more. For example, Supastarter comes with internationalization to enable scaling your SaaS internationally.

Furthermore, we also have features like a blog and a small dashboard example, so you don’t need to do the research and build it yourself. All features can be experienced in our demo application at https://demo.supastarter.dev

Brilliant! So, what is the pricing structure?

Right now, it is a one-time purchase for either 3 months or 1 year of access to the repository. With the updates we are currently working on, this will change towards a feature-based pricing structure. So you will be able to get the basic boilerplate for free 💸 and then choose the additional features (blog, authentication, i18n, etc.) and only pay for the ones you need.

How are you funded, and what are the biggest current risks & challenges for Supastarter?

I am not funded in any way and don’t plan to be right now. The biggest challenge is to make Supastarter more flexible and keep up with the pace of the development of the tools it includes always to stay up-to-date.

🏗️ Building the future of web development 🔗

What is your vision?

The great vision for Supastarter is to become a platform that enables developers to start a new web app or SaaS within minutes by simply picking the tools they like and getting a ready-to-use, or even already deployed, web app generated for them.

And what do you think – how will your industry look like about 10 years from now?

I am already experiencing a shift in the industry. It's getting away from big companies and aiming toward smaller niche products that are often built by bootstrappers or solo founders. The growing landscape of tools for developers, like the ones we chose for Supastarter, enables more and more people to bring their ideas to life and run businesses worldwide. ✌️ Another great win is the increasing importance of UX, making products more accessible and more fun to use.

Do you think that more people are going to be able to develop in the future without needing expert knowledge?

Yes, definitely. And that’s a great thing. It will result in more helpful tools for everyone and will also create a broader range of choices so every niche can be served.

💪 Challenges & Competitors 🔗

Let's talk about the market Supastarter is in. Are there any alternatives to what you're offering? What is your unique value proposition?

Yes, there are a lot of alternatives. ShipSaas and Bedrock are two really great examples. Right now, we set ourselves apart with great UX out of the box, customizable mail templates 📩 and integration with some popular libraries, like react-hook-form and tanstack-query.

In the near future, our goal with the boilerplate generator is to become a place for developers to go to, start their application and be able to use exactly the tools they want.

"We set ourselves apart with great UX out of the box, customizable mail templates and integration with some popular libraries."

Would you like to highlight other services or products you like to use on your own?

Unsurprisingly, I love Vercel and Supabase as tools to build and ship your application on. Beyond that, I have to give credit to Localazy, which is an awesome tool for translating web apps. Thanks to their generous free tier and the auto-translate feature, I was able to translate my boilerplate and the Supastarter landing page within minutes.

What are the next steps for you and Supastarter?

I am currently working on the generator tool that will allow developers to select the tools they want and generate a boilerplate out of that within a few minutes. After that, we will integrate more tools and services. On the list are Nuxt, Prisma, and TRCP... just to name a few!

🎉 Supastarter + Localazy 🔗

We are happy that Localazy is among the first on your blog. Please tell us more about the Supastarter and Localazy integration. Why do you think localization is important for SaaS makers?

Today you are able to start an online business from every place on earth and make it available to everyone. This comes with the challenge of making the app accessible to people in many countries and languages, and therefore localization is the key factor. Being able to translate your app easily and by utilizing the auto-translate - even into languages you maybe don’t even know yourself - is such a great win for every startup founder.

Which languages have you translated your boilerplate to so far? Are you planning to expand to specific markets where localization will be needed?

So far, we have included 🇬🇧 English and 🇩🇪 German. For now, we do not plan to add more translations, but we have a tutorial in our documentation on how to translate your app into every language you like easily. Using Localazy makes this even easier!

Learn how to localize your site or app in this Supastarter guide.

Is there something else you would like to say?

I strongly believe that it’s our job as a developer to build things that make people’s life easier and more enjoyable. We do our best to make Supastarter a tool that enables more developers and founders to make this a reality, and we are thankful to everyone who supports this vision.

Thank you for your time and insights, Jonathan!

Would you like to know more? You can find Supastarter on:

🚀 Try Supastarter today! 🔗

Liking what you've seen so far? Take a look at what Supastarter has to offer by using their demo! You'd be surprised at how easy it is to build your web app without complications - and for an affordable price.

As a Localazy user, with the partner offer you can get $20 off for the supastarter starter plan!

You can also read the tutorial article by Mary Okosun - Guide To Supastarter & Localazy: Make a multilingual e-commerce app and see how you can use supastarter with Localazy.

🏆 Get featured on the Localazy Blog 🔗

Do you love Localazy? Would you like to share your own success story? Head to the community section and apply for an interview now! We will promote your product on our blog, and you'll get rewarded for it! 😉