Chapter 4: Choosing Your Tech Stack (Non-Technical Guide) 🛠️

"Technology is best when it brings people together." - Matt Mullenweg, WordPress founder

Many low-code tools allow you to quickly build a proof of concept (POC), but they fall short when it comes to scalability, flexibility, and iteration speed.

If you're serious about building a product that can grow and evolve, you need to own your codebase—your secret sauce.

I know it can feel overwhelming if you have zero coding experience, but today's AI-powered coding tools (Lovable, Cursor, Bolt, Claude) make it easier than ever to write and deploy production-grade code.

🚀 Goal: Equip you with a simple, scalable tech stack and show you how to build it using AI tools—even if you're not a developer.

1️⃣ Understanding the Basics: Frontend, Backend & APIs

Before choosing a stack, you need to understand the three core components of any app:

🖥 Frontend (FE) – The User Interface

• This is what users see and interact with (buttons, forms, pages)
• Example: The Instagram app, a website's homepage

🖧 Backend (BE) – The Logic & Database

• This handles data processing, authentication, and business logic
• Example: When you log into Instagram, the backend checks your credentials

🔗 API – The Bridge Between FE & BE

• APIs allow different parts of your app to communicate and connect with external services
• Example: Instagram's API fetches your profile details from the backend when you open the app

2️⃣ Choosing the Right Tech Stack for Your MVP

📌 Recommended Stack for Different Product Types:

Product Type	Frontend (UI)	Backend (Logic & Database)	APIs / Integrations	Hosting & DevOps
Web-Based SaaS (B2B / B2C)	React (Next.js) / Vue.js	Supabase / Firebase	Stripe (Payments), OpenAI (AI), GA (Analytics)	Vercel / Render / Netlify
Mobile App (iOS & Android)	Expo (React Native)	Firebase / Supabase	RevenueCat (Payments), PostHog (Analytics)	Expo Go
API-First Product	Minimal UI (if needed)	Node.js + Supabase	OpenAI, Claude, Replicate (AI APIs)	Railway / Render
Chrome Extension	Manifest V3 (React / Vanilla JS)	Firebase (if needed)	OpenAI (for AI features)	Chrome Web Store

💡 Why This Stack?

• ✅ Proven & Scalable – Used by top startups
• ✅ Fast Iteration – Works well with AI tools for coding
• ✅ Simple to Deploy – No complex DevOps needed

3️⃣ Deep Dive into Each Tech Component

🖥 Frontend (User Interface & Experience)

• React (Next.js) – Best for web-based SaaS apps
• Expo (React Native) – Fastest way to build cross-platform mobile apps
• Vue.js – Alternative to React for web apps
• Manifest V3 – For Chrome extensions

🖧 Backend (Logic & Database)

• Next.js (Server Actions) – Best for full-stack SaaS
• Supabase – Open-source Firebase alternative (PostgreSQL-based)
• Firebase – Google's managed backend (auth, database, storage)
• Node.js + Express – If you need custom backend logic

🔗 Payments & Subscriptions

• Stripe – For web-based SaaS & API products
• RevenueCat – For mobile app subscriptions (iOS & Android)

📊 Analytics & Tracking

• PostHog – Privacy-friendly product analytics
• Google Analytics – Popular, free web analytics platform

🧠 AI APIs & AI Features

• OpenAI (GPT-4, DALL·E, Whisper) – AI-generated content & chatbots
• Claude – Alternative AI for text-based tasks
• Replicate – Deploy AI models via APIs

☁️ Hosting & DevOps (Deployment & Scalability)

• Vercel – Best for Next.js (auto-scaling)
• Netlify – Easy frontend hosting
• Render / Railway – Backend & database hosting

4️⃣ AI-Powered Coding: Build Faster with AI

The biggest challenge for non-technical founders is writing code—but AI tools have changed the game.

📌 Top AI Coding Assistants:

• ✔ Cursor – AI-powered IDE for coding in React, Next.js, Node.js
• ✔ Bolt / Lovable – Auto-generates full-stack applications
• ✔ Claude / ChatGPT – Helps with code debugging & explanation

🎯 Action Step:

👉 Pick one of these tools and use it to write your first piece of code!

📌 Summary (TL;DR)

• ✅ Low-code tools are good for POCs but bad for scaling. Own your code
• ✅ AI coding tools (Cursor, Bolt, Claude, etc) make coding easy—even if you're a beginner
• ✅ Choose a scalable tech stack: React / Expo (Frontend), Next.js / Firebase / Supabase (Backend), Stripe / RevenueCat (Payments)
• ✅ Use AI-powered tools to build your MVP faster

🚀 Next Chapter: Building & Launching Your MVP! (A hands-on guide to coding & deploying your first product)