Glossary
Time to Market for SaaS Startups
Time to market is the time between deciding to build and the moment real paying customers can use it. For a SaaS MVP, it's the most important metric you're not optimizing for.
Every week your SaaS isn't live is a week of:
- Runway burned without revenue
- Competitors potentially moving faster
- Assumptions untested by real users
Typical timelines by approach:
| Approach | Time to First User |
|---|---|
| In-house team | 6–18 months |
| Traditional agency | 4–6 months |
| Senior freelancer | 6–12 weeks |
| No-code | 2–6 weeks |
Why AI-augmented development is faster: A senior developer using AI tools can automate boilerplate — auth scaffolding, CRUD generation, type definitions — and spend time on the business logic that differentiates the product. Roughly 2× faster delivery versus a traditional developer at the same quality bar.
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