My First SaaS Failed. Here's What I Learned (And Why I'm Making It Free)

My first SaaS failed. Completely. Zero users. After months of work, Supabase shut it down due to inactivity. But instead of letting it die quietly, I decided to make it free and share what I learned.

What I Built: DP's Templates

DP's Templates was supposed to be my first successful SaaS product—a modern Next.js component library that would help developers ship faster. The offering was solid:

40+ pre-made UI components - Buttons, forms, navigation, cards, you name it
4+ complete landing page templates - Ready-to-deploy designs for different use cases
Built with modern tech - Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Developer-friendly - Clean code, easy to customize

On paper, it looked great. I spent months designing components, writing documentation, setting up the infrastructure with Supabase for authentication and payments. Everything was polished and ready to go.

The Reality Check: Zero Users

Here's the hard truth: I got no users. Not "a few users," not "some traction." Literally zero paying customers.

The silence was deafening. I'd launch on Twitter, post in communities, try to generate interest. Nothing. The landing page got some visitors, but they'd bounce immediately. No signups, no trials, no feedback.

Eventually, Supabase's automated system did what it's designed to do: it shut down inactive projects to free up resources. And just like that, my first SaaS was dead.

What Went Wrong

Looking back, I can now see the mistakes clearly. Here's where I went wrong:

1. I Built in a Vacuum

Never validated the idea with potential users
Assumed developers needed "yet another component library"
Didn't talk to a single potential customer before building

2. The Market Was Oversaturated

shadcn/ui was already dominating
Dozens of other component libraries existed
I had no unique differentiator or compelling reason to switch

3. No Distribution Strategy

"If you build it, they will come" doesn't work
I had no audience, no marketing plan, no growth strategy
A few tweets and posts weren't enough

4. Wrong Problem, Wrong Solution

I built what I thought was cool, not what people needed
The "problem" I was solving wasn't painful enough
Developers already had free alternatives that worked great

The Decision: Make It Free

After the initial disappointment wore off, I had a choice to make:

Let it die quietly and move on
Try to revive it as a paid product
Make it completely free

I chose option 3.

Why? Because even though it failed as a business, the work itself isn't worthless. Those 40+ components and landing page templates could still help someone build faster. And more importantly, I could turn a private failure into a public lesson.

What You Get (For Free)

If you want to use DP's Templates, it's all yours:

✅ All 40+ UI components
✅ All 4 landing page templates
✅ Full source code access
✅ Documentation and examples
✅ No attribution required

[Link to project repository would go here]

Key Lessons from Failure

Failure is only truly failure if you don't learn from it. Here's what this experience taught me:

1. Validation Before Building

The biggest mistake was building without validating demand. Next time, I'll:

Talk to at least 10 potential customers before writing a single line of code
Create a landing page and gauge interest before building
Look for signs of real pain points, not just nice-to-haves

2. Distribution > Product

A great product without distribution is worthless. The formula is simple:

Great Product + No Distribution = Zero Users Decent Product + Great Distribution = Success

Next time, I'll build an audience first, then build a product for that audience.

3. Differentiation Is Everything

"Better features" isn't a differentiator if 10 other products already exist. I needed to answer:

Why would someone switch from their current solution?
What can I offer that literally nobody else can?
Is this 10x better, or just 10% better?

4. Start Smaller

Spending months on a v1 without user feedback is a recipe for failure. Better approach:

Build the minimum viable product in a week
Get it in front of users immediately
Iterate based on real feedback
Only invest more time once you have traction

5. Market Timing Matters

Even a good idea can fail if the market is already saturated or if you're too early/late. I entered a crowded market with no clear advantage. That's like opening a coffee shop next to Starbucks and hoping for the best.

Moving Forward

Here's what I'm doing differently with my next projects:

✓ Talk to users first - At least 10 conversations before building ✓ Build an audience - Growing my Twitter/X presence and email list ✓ Ship smaller, faster - MVPs in days, not months ✓ Find underserved niches - Look for gaps, not crowded markets ✓ Distribution plan from day 1 - Know how I'll reach users before I start building

I'm sharing this failure publicly for a few reasons:

Someone else might avoid the same mistakes - If my experience helps even one person validate before building, it's worth it
Normalize failure in public - Too many people only share their wins; failures are where the real learning happens
Turn a loss into a win - The SaaS failed, but the lessons are valuable

Your Takeaway

If you're building a SaaS or thinking about it, here's what I want you to remember:

Validate first. Build second. Launch often. Iterate always.

Don't spend months in your cave building the perfect product. Get something basic in front of users as fast as possible, and let their feedback guide you.

And if it fails? Learn from it, share the lessons, and move on to the next thing. Every failure gets you closer to success—if you extract the lessons.

DP's Templates Is Now Free Forever

I spent months building it. You can benefit from it in minutes. That feels like a win to me.

If you want to ship your next landing page faster, grab the templates. If you're building a SaaS, learn from my mistakes. Either way, I hope this helps you move forward.

Building in public and learning from failures. Follow my journey on X/Twitter where I share what I'm working on and what I'm learning.