Dev.to
7/22/2026
The original title is: "Solo founder's 16-month SaaS journey: why the final 10% of polish takes the longest"
Original: I Spent 16 Months Building My Own SaaS Solo — Why the Last 10% Takes Months
Short summary
A solo founder recounts 16 months building LaizyNote, a business OS for freelancers combining notes, tasks, time tracking, and an AI assistant. The hardest part wasn't building features—it was the last 10% of polish: edge cases, access control for shared workspaces, i18n, and manual testing for anything involving real money. The AI assistant asks for confirmation before every write action, showing previews before executing.
- •16-month solo SaaS build: the last 10% (edge cases, polish, access control) takes the most time
- •Server-side access rules are essential when handling other people's data—never trust the browser
- •AI assistant confirms before write actions with previews, a pattern worth adopting
Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.
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