From Idea to App in 30 Days — Our Rapid Product Development Framework That Scales
A battle-tested 30-day playbook to go from zero to a production-ready app — with quality, analytics, and scale built in from day one.
What “30 Days” Really Means
This isn’t a hackathon MVP that collapses after demo day. Our 30-day framework ships a production-ready slice: auth, core feature, observability, and a growth loop. We constrain scope, not quality. By standardizing tech choices and decision patterns, we trade endless debates for focused delivery — and leave a clean path to scale in months 2–6.
Day 1–3: Alignment & Proof of Value
We run a 3-hour Product Sprint to lock the problem, users, and measure of success. Outputs: one-page PRD (jobs-to-be-done, constraints), North-Star KPI, and a storyboard of the “happy path.” In parallel, we build a throwaway technical spike to validate the riskiest assumption (e.g., data ingestion, AI feasibility, or a third-party API rate limit). No code survives unless it proves value.
Day 4–7: Rails, Not Roads
We scaffold the app with our opinionated stack: Next.js + React, TypeScript, Postgres (via Prisma), Auth (Passkeys/SSO), serverless functions, and edge caching. Design system comes from our token set (spacing, color, type ramps) and prebuilt components. We wire feature flags, telemetry (events, traces, logs), error reporting, and CI/CD gates. This is the “rails” that keep week 3 fast and safe.
Day 8–14: Core Slice & Data Model
We implement the single most valuable user journey end-to-end: create → use → value → return. The data model is versioned, migration-safe, and documented in the repo. Background jobs (queues) handle slow work. For AI features, we add prompt/version registries, eval harnesses, and guardrails (rate limits, PII redaction). We keep “nice-to-haves” behind flags.
Day 15–20: UX Polish, Payments, and Admin
We remove friction: empty-state content, loading skeletons, optimistic updates, and accessibility checks. If the business model needs it, we integrate subscriptions and entitlements. Lightweight admin (feature toggles, user search, exports) goes in now so Ops doesn’t drown after launch.
Day 21–26: Security, QA, and Scale Readiness
Hardening pass: role-based access, input validation, secrets hygiene, and rate limiting. We add contract tests for APIs, happy-path E2E tests, and synthetic monitors. Observability dashboards (latency, error budgets, conversion) ship with alerts. We run a load test on the critical path and capture cost curves so there are no surprises at 10× usage.
Day 27–30: Launch, Learn, and Loop
We soft-launch to a pilot cohort, watch metrics and session replays, and triage issues within 24 hours. A “Week-2 Plan” is prepared before launch: the next two high-leverage features, success thresholds, and a rollback path. We hand over a living runbook: deployment, on-call, data backups, and a checklist for adding new modules without breaking the core.
The Principles That Make It Scale
Bias to vertical slices: ship value end-to-end, not layers. Guardrails over gates: use automated checks instead of committee reviews. Telemetry first: every screen and job emits signals. Feature flags everywhere: iterate without redeploy risk. Cost visibility: track unit economics early so growth doesn’t kill margins.
Starter Kit (What We Actually Use)
Next.js + TypeScript • Prisma + Postgres • Auth with passkeys/SSO • Queue/Jobs (e.g., serverless workers) • Object storage + CDN • Event analytics & product analytics • Error tracking • IaC with preview environments • Playwright for E2E • Lighthouse + a11y checks • Feature flag service • Prompt/eval registry for AI use-cases.
A One-Page Owner’s Checklist
1) PRD fits on one page. 2) One KPI to win the week. 3) Data model diagram checked in. 4) Flags on risky features. 5) Observability dashboards linked in README. 6) Rollback documented. 7) Admin page exists. 8) Synthetic monitor green. 9) Cost dashboard active. 10) Week-2 plan approved.