Presentation for All Things Open Conference on "How to bootstrap SaaS startup using Open Source Tools"

1. How to Bootstrap your SaaS Startup with
Open Source Tools
By Ramu Pulipati, CTO @Botsplash

2. About Ramu Pulipati
• Co-founded Botsplash, Omni-channel
Messaging platform for Enterprises
• Bootstrapped with open source tools
and contribute to community

3. Why SaaS?
“Software as a Service” on Rise YoY since 2013
And expect to rise
source: SaasStr / TechCrunch

4. Companies built with Open Source

5. Typical SaaS Framework
• Front End Engineering
• Web APIs
• Backend Services
• Analytics & Data Modeling
• Mobile Apps
• Infrastructure and DevOps Goolge Cloud Reference Diagram:

6. Front End Engineering
Public Website Web Applications
Landing Pages Mobile Apps
Brand & UX

7. Front End Frameworks
Websites &
Landing Pages
Web Applications UI Frameworks

8. Web APIs
• APIs are first class citizens
• Use Performant frameworks
• Isolated Web APIs
• Web App APIs
• Partner APIs
• Open APIs

9. Backend Services
• Long running Tasks
• Queue based Event Processing
• Batch Jobs Scheduling

10. Databases
• RDBMS or No SQL
• High Read vs High Write
• Time Series & Search Indexes

11. Analytics & Data Modeling
• Reporting Services
• Big Data & Streaming Analytics
• Machine Learning
• Natural Language Processing

12. Mobile Apps
• Native Apps with Best Experience
• Bundled Web Technologies
• Hybrid Mobile Apps
• Cross Platform to Mac & Windows

13. Infrastructure & DevOps
• Continuous Deployment
• Infrastructure Scripting / Scaling
• Modularization & Containers

14. Choosing Technology Stack
• Proven & Reliable Technologies
• Abundance of Developers
• Easy to learn and Manage
• 3rd party support and Integrations
• Specialized tools/frameworks
Robin Lefler laws: 36. You gotta go with what works!
Source: Stackoverflow Survey

15. Technology focused on Customers
Enterprise / B2B / B2B2C Small Business / B2B Direct To Consumer / B2C
• Multi-tenancy: Cloud based
instances
• Hosted Solutions
• Complex Onboarding and
Integrations.
• Software as a Service model
preferred
• Limited features with Ease of
Use design
• Inbound Sales Operations
• Instant Gratification &
Gamification
• Marketing and partnerships
focused development
• Fast pace

16. Choosing Open Source Packages
• Package licensing model
• Recent commits with Lead
• Active community
• Open Issues and resolution timeframes
• Number of stars (sometimes it’s a false indicator)
• Clean Dependencies

17. Open Source Challenges
• Monitor security notices / patches
• Upgrades without backward compatibility
• Managing alternate forks and upstream syncs
• Sponsoring the features
Robin Lefler laws: 17. When all else fails, do it yourself.

18. When to use 3rd party services
• Development Tools & Infrastructure
• Evaluate Buy vs Build
• Reliability and Maintenance are a hassle

19. Avoid Hypes
• Avoid Experimental / Hype Technologies
• Calculate hosted services cost over scale
• Do not compromise Developer Productivity
• Restrain from Technology pivots
Boring technologies are good for Business!

20. You are not Google or LinkedIn or Netflix
• They still runs monolithic code bases
• Your business will grow slowly, painfully slow
• Leave all buzzwords at the conference
• Pick and choose what works for your Business Problem!
2017: https://blog.bradfieldcs.com/you-are-not-google-84912cf44afb
2019: https://thedatascientist.com/you-are-not-google-linkedin-or-amazon/

21. Explorations @Botsplash
• Timely application package upgrades
• Transition from hosted analytics to ClickHouse
• Self host key services
• Build, Scale and REPEAT!

22. ramu@botsplash.com
www.botsplash.com
Be Where Your Customers Are
Thank You!