I've bought 14 boilerplates in the last two years. ShipFast, SaaSStarter, NextBase, you name it. My GitHub is a graveyard of half-modified templates. Here's the thing nobody admits: generic boilerplates are like buying clothes that are "one size fits all." They fit nobody well.
Every boilerplate sells the same dream. "Ship your SaaS in 24 hours!" "Everything you need to launch!" "Save weeks of development!". They're not technically lying. You do save time on initial setup. Authentication works. Payments connect. Database is ready. Then you try to build YOUR app.
That's when you realize the authentication is built for B2C but you're building B2B. The payment system assumes subscriptions but you need usage-based billing. The database schema makes sense for a todo app but you're building a CRM. Now you're not saving time. You're performing surgery.
Let me tell you about my worst retrofitting experience. I was building a developer tool. API-first, needs webhooks, GitHub integration. ShipFast is great, but it's built for typical SaaS apps. User signs up, pays monthly, uses web app. Simple. My thing wasn't simple.
Three weeks in, I'd replaced 60% of the boilerplate. The remaining 40% was fighting me because it expected the parts I removed. My "ship in 24 hours" project took 2 months. The pattern repeats, Talk to any developer who's used boilerplates. Same story, different details.
We all made the same mistake. We thought generic could work.
Generic boilerplates make thousands of decisions for you. Most are wrong for your specific case.
Take authentication. Seems simple, right? But do you need:
A generic boilerplate picks one path. If it's not your path, you're screwed.
Same with payments:
And databases:
Every choice compounds. By the time you've retrofitted all the wrong decisions, you might as well have started from scratch.
We got tired of retrofitting. So we tried something weird. What if the boilerplate adapted to your project instead of the other way around? Instead of building one perfect boilerplate, we built a system that generates boilerplates. You describe your project. Not just "SaaS app" but the real details. B2B or B2C? What kind of users? How do they pay? What's unique about your thing?
Then we generate code that matches. Not generic code with your name on it. Actual architectural decisions based on your needs. Building a marketplace? You get dual user types, escrow logic, and review systems. Building a dev tool? You get API-first architecture, CLI templates, and webhook infrastructure. Building enterprise SaaS? You get multi-tenancy, audit logs, and SAML auth. No retrofitting. No surgery. Just code that fits.
Real examples beat theory
Let me show you what I mean.
When Tom described his financial analytics platform, he mentioned enterprise customers and compliance needs. His generated boilerplate included:
Same framework. Completely different outputs. Because their needs were different.
People ask why BuilderBox costs more than generic boilerplates. Fair question. ShipFast is $79. We're $147. But ShipFast plus 80 hours of retrofitting at $100/hour is $8,079. And that's if everything goes smoothly. We're not really competing with the $79. We're competing with the $8,079.
Who shouldn't use BuilderBox
Let's be honest. BuilderBox isn't for everyone.
But if you're building something real, something specific, something that doesn't fit the mold... then we need to talk.
I think generic boilerplates are dying. Not because they're bad. Because software is getting more specific. Every market has unique needs. Every business model requires different architecture. Every founder has specific requirements.
The future isn't one perfect boilerplate. It's infinite perfect boilerplates, each generated for a specific need. That's what we're building. Not because we're visionaries. Because we got tired of retrofitting.
You've got three options:
I know which one I'd pick. But I'm biased. I've been through the retrofit hell too many times. What about you? Still convinced that generic boilerplate will work this time? Still ready to spend weeks changing "just a few things"? Or are you ready for code that actually fits?
Because your idea is unique. Your boilerplate should be too.
P.S. That ShipFast project I mentioned? I rebuilt it with BuilderBox in 4 hours. It's serving 10,000 developers now. Sometimes weird ideas work.