For the last few months, I've been working on a side project called BuildVoyage.
The idea is simple: a SaaS directory that tracks the entire journey of a product milestones, pivots, and especially the tech stack.
I got tired of directories that are just graveyards for "launch day" posts. I wanted to see the living story.
When it came to building it, I had a million choices. But as a solo dev, my main goal was speed of iteration. Here's the "boring" stack I chose, and why.
The Stack
- Backend: Laravel
- Frontend: Blade with Livewire & Tailwind CSS
- Database: PostgreSQL
- Hosting: VPS on Hetzner
I know the Node.js/Express/Next.js world is hot right now, but for a solo builder, Laravel feels like a superpower.
The ecosystem is mature. Authentication, queues, notifications... it's all baked in.
I didn't want to spend a month wiring up boilerplate; I wanted to build features.
Livewire, in particular, lets me create dynamic interfaces without writing a bunch of JavaScript, which is a massive win for productivity.
Why Not a Separate SPA?
I considered a React/Vue frontend, but that meant managing two codebases, two deployment pipelines, and a lot more complexity around state management and API authentication.
Using Livewire with Blade files keeps everything in one place. (perfect!)
The biggest lesson has been this: Your tech stack is a feature, but productivity is the main benefit. Choosing boring, well-established technology has allowed me to focus on the product itself instead of fighting with my tools.
The Shameless (but relevant) Plug
The whole point of BuildVoyage is tech transparency. So, naturally, the platform itself is listed on the directory. You can see the full stack details there.
It's still super early and there are only a handful of us on there. But if you're a builder and believe in tech transparency, I'd be honored if you'd consider adding your project. Let's build a real-time map of what our community is actually building with.
You can check it out at buildvoyage.com. Thanks for reading!