Can a non-programmer launch SaaS startup with LLMs help? (Spoiler: yes I can)

In past two years we have seen unprecedented level of LLM progress. And while programmers around the world find simple code completion useful, what can a simple person do with LLMs right now?

Today (well, actually the day before yesterday), I launched my first “proper” SaaS. Yes, SaaS is an overused word these days, but let me tell you about my long game. Please welcome to the world my little baby, Website Schema. I didn’t use Bubble or any other “app builders.” It’s written in Python and hosted on Hetzner. It has a database, Redis queues, and Stripe integrated—that’s why I said “proper.”

Now about me: Originally, I’m a UI designer by trade, but I dabble in management as well—you know the type. My experience with programming? Not much. I never went to school for programming, I don’t hold a CS degree, and I never even finished an online course on it. My only experience in writing code was basic HTML and CSS from working with front-end engineers and writing really small Python scripts in Jupyter notebooks during the COVID lockdown. I never had a job where I wrote code all day long. The longest Python script I wrote was probably less than 100 lines, and maybe I wrote about 10 of them total.

Not a total noob, but kind of a guy “who knows what programming is but never actually shipped anything before.” So, jumping ahead and asking myself: Could I launch this thing without the help of LLMs? Absolutely not. But is it a game changer for “regular” folks with no coding experience? It’s getting there, but today you still need persistence, and by the end of the journey, you’ll be coding like a noob.

I plan to write a series of blog posts detailing what you’ll need to launch your SaaS today—no cutting corners or ambiguous advice.

So, what does it take to write a SaaS in February 2025 by yourself from scratch?

Let’s start:

• Do you still need to know how to code?
  The answer is a definitive yes. You might not know how to code at the start of your journey, but you’ll certainly know some by the end. For those who’ve never written a line of code, the learning curve will be still steep. For those who’ve dipped their toes in coding but never wrote anything substantial, it’ll be slightly easier—but not by much. Today, I don’t see a way to do what I did without understanding code. It’s just not feasible.

• Which LLMs did you use?
  When I started in October, I used ChatGPT 4. I never paid for any LLM—everything was on a free tier. Then, a month ago, we got Deepseek R1, which has been great. Now I use ChatGPT o1.

• Which programming language did you use?
  As mentioned, I used Python, the only language I had any experience with. I suggest you do the same. Why? Python is widely supported, but most importantly, LLMs know it very well.

• Besides Python, what else do you need?

  Now we’re getting to the sneaky part that no one tells you. My backend is a Python app, but to build the rest of the app, I also needed to learn and use:

  1. Basic JavaScript for simple tasks like opening popups. You’ll rely on LLMs a lot here, reading basic JS and debugging will come handy.

  2. HTML and CSS. Most people can pick up HTML in a day or two, but CSS is tricky. I used Tailwind, which has a learning curve. Even now, I sometimes pull my hair out over flexbox properties or trying to remember class names. TailwindUI and PageDone’s free components were lifesavers. As a designer, I recommend sticking with free ones—95% of your interfaces will be covered. I noticed that LLMs are really not great at designing, so most of things you’ll have to write yourself.

  3. General database management and writing simple SQL queries. I used Supabase, which is great, though its Python documentation can be lacking. Expect some frustration. You’ll use LLM a lot, just general setup, writing a SQL queries, setting cron jobs (tasks that repeat periodically, for instance procuring credits to users every month).

  4. A Stripe account to receive payments. While stripe is great, I couldn’t find a simple “go to” template for handling webhooks and connecting everything with Database, I’ll be writing about it more.

  5. Basic terminal commands to navigate a remote server. I rented the cheapest unit from Hetzner ($5/mo) based on a friend’s recommendation. You’ll rely on LLMs a lot here: running the commands like journalctl to debug things, checking if processes are running, etc.

  6. A Cloudflare account and a domain name. You’ll need to manage your domain and do some basic setup.

  7. Basic deployment files (.YAML and systemd) to transfer and launch the app. ChatGPT helped me a lot here, I had no idea about any of it.

  8. A GitHub account and basic Git commands.
     

  This is the minimal stack I suggest. Avoid overcomplicating the front-end unless necessary. I don’t know any front-end frameworks because choosing one alone can take days of YouTube research.

Timeline:

• Started: End of October 2024

• Launched: February 17, 2025

How much time did I dedicate?
I don’t have a full-time job, but between walking my crazy border collie twice a day and taking care of house chores, I spent 2-3 hours daily on the project. Most weekends, I didn’t work on it. I procrastinated a lot—some days were up, some were down. With more discipline, I could’ve finished a month earlier.

Reflecting:
Is it worth it? Yes, 100%. First few weeks are hell though. Imagine you got a blindfold on and trying to find a way out of a labyrinth. This is how it feels like. You hitting every wall. I used LLMs to solve both high level and low level issues: where do I proceed from here? how to run an app on Hetzner?

Whatever code LLM would give me, I would double check before pasting it in, making sure I really understand what’s going on. It cannot be 100% trusted. Most of time you’ll need to read code, understand it and adjust it. You don’t need to be an experienced developer to write a simple app, whatever concepts you don’t understand, you can always ask from an LLM.

My plan now:
There are half a dozen known bugs and features I want to add—then comes the dreaded marketing. I have a plan, and I’ll write about it too.

Bottom line:
Can you launch a SaaS startup today, alone, with no prior coding experience, using LLMs? Yes, you can! In fact, it’s the best time to try if you’ve ever wanted to.

Will you make money? ReferenceError: not defined