Ship a micro-SaaS in a weekend with Cursor + Claude Code and charge $9–$49/mo

Open [Cursor](https://cursor.com) and start with a blank Next.js project. Cursor's AI understands your full codebase — tell it in plain English what to build: *"Build a [description] web app. Start with the core feature — [one thing]. No settings page, no user profiles, no onboarding. Just the thing that creates value."*

For architecture decisions, ask Claude: *"I'm building [description] for [audience]. Should I use Supabase or SQLite for the database? How should I handle auth? What's the simplest stack that gets this to production without tech debt?"* Let AI make the infrastructure decisions. You focus on the product logic.

MVP rule: one core feature, working correctly, deployed to a real URL. Everything else is a distraction. The first version of your SaaS should embarrass you slightly — if it doesn't, you over-built it.

Set up [Stripe](https://stripe.com) Checkout — it handles card processing, webhooks, receipts, and free trials with minimal code. Ask Cursor: *"Add Stripe Checkout to this Next.js project. When a user clicks Subscribe, create a checkout session for [price_id] and redirect to /success. On /success, mark the user as paid in the database."*

Start with one price tier at $9–$19/mo. Don't optimize pricing at launch — your first 10 customers validate willingness to pay, not the optimal price point. You can adjust prices on any Stripe plan after launch.

Deploy to [Vercel](https://vercel.com) — connect your GitHub repo and Vercel builds and deploys on every push. Free tier handles everything until you have serious traffic. From git push to live URL is under 5 minutes.

Use Claude to write your Product Hunt copy: *"Write a Product Hunt tagline and description for [product]. Lead with the problem it solves, not the features. Under 60 words for the description. Make the first sentence impossible to scroll past."*

Launch on a Tuesday or Wednesday — these days have the highest vote traffic. Comment on every reply in the first 2 hours; engagement rate affects ranking. Ask 10 friends to upvote it at launch (this is allowed and expected).

Post in the niche communities where your target users hang out — specific subreddits, Discord servers, Slack groups. Frame it as 'built this to solve my own problem, curious if others have it too' rather than a product launch post. Community posts convert better than Product Hunt for niche tools.

Email every free trial user who hasn't converted after day 5: *"I noticed you haven't upgraded — did [feature] not solve the problem? Happy to jump on a 15-minute call to understand what's missing."* This converts at 20–30% and gives you the best product feedback available.

Your first 10 users are your most valuable. Offer them a 'founding member rate' — 30–50% off forever in exchange for weekly feedback. Most will take it, and the feedback shapes every feature you build next.

Track every piece of feedback. Use Claude to find patterns: *"Here are 8 pieces of user feedback from my first week: [paste]. What are the top 3 things I should build next? What should I cut?"*

At 10 paying users you have a product. At 50 you have a business signal. The path from 10 to 50 is almost always the same: (1) find the 2 channels where your users actually heard about you, (2) double down on those channels exclusively, (3) ship the one feature every paying user has asked for.

Monthly MRR compound growth of 20% — which is achievable for a focused product — means $100/mo becomes $600/mo in a year. The magic isn't viral growth; it's low churn. Build for retention, not acquisition, and the numbers compound.

At $1,000/mo MRR, list on [MicroAcquire](https://acquire.com) for a price check. Profitable micro-SaaS products typically sell for 3–5× annual revenue — $1,000/mo in MRR is a $36K–$60K asset.