Over the years, I've launched multiple SaaS startups—some with VC backing, others as a solo entrepreneur. Every single time, I had one thing in mind: deliver maximum value to your customers as fast as possible.
Focus on what matters. Build the simplest onboarding possible and get to value fast. Skip the "basic SaaS features" because they're not the most important thing and they take forever to build properly.
But here's the thing—you end up walking with a pebble in your shoe for months.
You ship fast, but your authentication is held together with duct tape. Users complain about the invitation flow.
Your billing system is managed manually and you compensate with emails. Your multi-tenant architecture is a mess of if statements.
You know these things need to be fixed, but there's always something more important, something that brings more direct customer value.
The Realization
As I'm planning several new SaaS projects for the coming year, I decided to break my own rule—but in an extreme way. I'm going to deliver all the value of a well-built B2B SaaS without delivering ANY business value.
This is Dopamine: a production-ready SaaS foundation that includes everything you wish you had built properly from day one, but never had time for.
What's Inside
Dopamine isn't just another boilerplate. It's weeks of work, available with a git clone in seconds:
- Multi-tenant, multi-social authentication that just works
- Per-seat billing with Stripe integration and automatic prorations
- Team management with invitations and workspace isolation
- Email system with React Email templates and Resend integration
- Type-safe database with Prisma and proper migrations
- Modern UI with Shadcn/UI and responsive design
- Production deployment ready in one command
Every feature is built to production standards, not MVP standards. This is the foundation I wish I had for every startup I've launched.
The Principles
Every technical decision in Dopamine follows these core principles:
1. Simplicity is King
Complexity kills startups. The value you deliver should grow 10x faster than the complexity of your app.
I handle authentication in the starter kit so you never have to think about it again. I structure the API in simple layers without complex architecture. This follows Occam's razor—the simplest solution is usually the best solution.
No microservices. No over-engineered patterns. No premature optimization. Just clean, simple code that scales with your business.
2. Living Ecosystem
Great products are built on the shoulders of giants. Dopamine leverages a thriving ecosystem to give you the best tools available:
- Shadcn/UI for beautiful, accessible components
- React Email for professional email templates
- Stripe for world-class billing infrastructure
- Prisma for type-safe database operations
- Auth.js for battle-tested authentication
- Resend for reliable email delivery
Why reinvent the wheel when the best wheels already exist?
3. Easy to Deploy
A SaaS only exists if it's in production. The path to production should be as short as possible.
Dopamine consists of just two simple services with a straightforward Turborepo build. Deploy with one command. No complex infrastructure. No deployment nightmares. Just ship.
Who This Is For
Dopamine is built for founders who want to move fast without cutting corners:
- Solo entrepreneurs who don't want to rebuild the same foundation for the 5th time
- Startup teams who need production-ready infrastructure from day one
- Agencies building client projects with consistent, professional standards
- Side projects that deserve better than weekend hackathon quality
The Promise
With Dopamine, you start with the infrastructure of a successful SaaS. Multi-tenant architecture, proper authentication, billing that works, emails that don't go to spam—all the things that usually take months to get right.
You can focus on what makes your product unique instead of rebuilding the same foundation everyone else has already built.
This is the starter kit I wish I had for every startup. Now it's yours.