I'm a non-technical founder who built a Slack approval tool. Here's what actually broke first.

I have no CS degree. I have no co-founder. I have no prior SaaS experience.

Three months ago I decided to build TeamAutomation — a Slack-native approval tool that lets teams approve or reject requests directly inside Slack, with automatic reminders and an audit trail.

Here's what nobody tells you about building your first SaaS as a non-technical founder:

The product is the easy part.

Getting Slack's API approved took longer than building the first version. Writing documentation for a directory submission when you don't fully understand every technical detail is humbling. Setting up Stripe, Supabase, and deployment pipelines with zero prior experience means every small win feels massive.