How to choose the right stack for your MVP app

Do you know what the ultimate goal of a virus is? To spread, as far as possible. There's a very short amount of time it spends incubating in its host, but then it has to start spreading. Same happens with business ideas. They start off in your head and then they have to come out of it and start 'infecting' other people. Life, uh, finds a way. It's the virus of success, if you will.

And guess what? Today is your lucky day! If you're questioning yourself which tech stack you should choose for your tech project, it means you're ready for the talk. Don't be afraid, there's nothing scary about it, it's the next logical step in the life of your app idea. You can't and shouldn't figure out everything yourself. There are people for that. Do you know who made everything themselves? Me neither! You don't hear about these people, because in business, success is a collective beast.

Back to the topic of the ideal tech stack for your app – this is a question only a good developer will be able to answer. You might be anxious, reluctant and even scared, but trust me – speaking with an experienced developer early on is the best decision you can make now. Also, at this point, a good idea might be to speak with a full stack developer as they will give you a more complete overview of your current possibilities, but more on that later.

And to help you take this step, we'll show you a quick overview of how this conversation may go – a simple dialogue for you to be prepared. Alrighty, here it goes:

Beep-beep, xX_demonSlayer89_Xx has joined the meeting

– Hey! I'm starting a tech project but honestly I'm a bit lost when it comes to choosing the right tech stack for my MVP. Can you help me out?

– Sure thing! Okay, let's start with the basics: what's the core functionality of your app?

– Let me see... I've thought about a social networking app for pet owners, where users can create profiles for their pets, share their photos, connect with other pet owners. Think Instagram, but for pets and their owners.

– Oh, cool! Isn't that something guys at Petzbe are doing?

– Are you trying to judge me? Are you accusing me of intellectual property theft?

– Oh, not at all! Forget it. For a project like this, we'll need a robust tech stack that allows for quick development. Are you somewhat familiar with programming languages?

– Well, I've heard of Python and JavaScript, but that's about it.

– Okay, I'll try to break it down for you. Python is great for web development, and JS is essential for creating interactive user interfaces. We can use a combination of these two.

– Cool! What about all that database stuff? Again, I don't know much about it, so bear with me.

– Yeah, that's a good question! In your case, the databases will store all the information about users, their pets, and their interactions with the app. For your MVP, we can go with a relational database like PostgreSQL – it's reliable and works well with Python.

– Got it, something about snakes and post-ogres, whatever the hell it means. What about the frontend? The app should be sleek.

– Gotcha. For the frontend we can React – a JS library. It's not complicated to make an app look good, the difficult part is getting it to run smooth, and React allows just for that.

– Okay! Do I, like, buy a server for that or something? Do I rent it?

– Yeah, kind of. The server is where all the information is processed and requests are handled. We can use a framework called Flask, which works seamlessly with Python. It'll be the backbone of your app.

– Aha, ogres, flasks... Writing a dark fantasy novel here, I see. What else?

– Not much, to be honest! That's full-stack development for you. We'll use Python for both the frontend and backend, and the other pieces, such as React, Flask and PostgreSQL, will fit together.

– Well, that's starting to make sense, thank you!

– You're welcome, good luck with your app!

xX_demonSlayer89_Xx has left the meeting

See? Nothing scary about it. And notice how you didn't have to expose any sensitive info about your future app. No pressure, no unnecessary tech talk. Just a quick intro call to make things make sense. Being open, honest and polite goes a long way. And hey, no cheating! What you've read above is just a simple example, and your particular idea might require for other languages, frameworks or an entirely different approach altogether.

As I've said, there's no magic cure or one definitive answer to rule them all – it all depends on your specific case. Are you building a food delivery app? A social network? A new generation rental app? The development landscape is wide and rocky, and there are many, many ways to solve one problem.

Are you ready for the talk? If so, at Match.dev we connect you with top talent, quickly and affordably. And keep in mind, you're not outsourcing a dev – you're getting a full-fledged team member who seamlessly integrates into your project management ecosystem and works in line with your product strategy. Drop us a line and let us help you find the right developers! team@match.dev

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