Laura Villeda

Dessert artist → SaaS founder. Building Sweet Setup. Documenting the messy middle in Shipped Anyway.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

I had the one thing every SaaS founder would kill for.

An audience.

And not just an audience. The exact audience I was building my SaaS for.

Then I got so busy building the product that I stopped showing up.

I thought they’d still be there when I came back.

The algorithm had other plans.

Now I’m rebuilding the audience while building the company I nearly sacrificed it for.

And I’m documenting what happens while I do.

Issue V.001, with all the receipts:
https://t.co/eHQWeK6xxZ

Built on @beehiiv

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

I’m building Sweet Setup. A business platform for dessert business owners.

I built it because I was the customer. I was running my own dessert business, piecing together tools that technically worked but never really fit the way I worked or the business I was building.

Eventually I stopped waiting for the thing I wanted to exist and built it.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@Creativemarggie @marieolivie This is such an interesting path. It’s so difficult to get ai to move people on its own. It takes a lot of data, Brand building and practice.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@cloneismin It wasn’t so much as a design change as learning about taste and then trying to pretend like I had some. My original V2 bordered on Pixar and I genuinely thought it was incredible. So… growth.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

I came to X and realized my app was AI slop. Very humbling. Also very motivating.

I still have SO much to learn about design and taste. But it’s a step in the right direction.

I’m learning. I’m building. And I’m getting better.

V1 → now. Still climbing.

And shoutout to @IsJenProduction — your V1 → V2 post made me realize my baby was ugly and inspired me to actually do something about it. https://t.co/TSN1lEYNty

[Isabella Bond @IsJenProduction]

Morning Builders & Creators!

The thing I love about design is that if you step away from a project and then come back to it with fresh eyes (and a new model), the difference can go from good to great.

A database project I was previously working on came back to fruition recently, and utilising GPT‑6 Astra completely changed the outcome of the project.

Fresh eyes, combined with using every new model they throw at us... It just makes sense!

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@Creativemarggie I’m new to X, but this is something building an audience elsewhere taught me over and over. Reach tells you how many people saw something. Understanding tells you why they cared. The second one is a lot more valuable and much harder to earn.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@danellisona It feels like possibility. I’ve built from zero before, so there’s something liberating about getting to do it again and getting to explore completely different sides of myself on different platforms. On Instagram, I’m pretty and polished. On X, I’m raw and slightly unhinged.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@Creativemarggie This is exactly it. Exposure will change your entire definition of what’s possible for you.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

Nothing motivates you quite like discovering there’s an entire internet full of people building at a level you didn’t even realize you aspired to reach.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

Where are my fellow founders proudly displaying their ugly V1 in their bio like it’s not held together by ambition and prayers?

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

The first version doesn’t need to impress people.

It needs to reach people.

Real users will teach you more about what to build or perfect next than another month of perfecting it alone.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

New on here. Steep hill. My app works. People pay for it.

I just didn’t know she was AI slop until I got here.

Tech X is a VERY humbling place.

But you don’t know what you don’t know. Now I know. So she’s getting a makeover.

If you’ve built in public, drop your first version next to what it looks like now.

I need to see how far this climb actually is.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

I really appreciate that. I think that’s exactly what I’m realizing. The humbling part isn’t a bad thing. I built something that works, got it into users’ hands, and now I can finally see all the ways I want to make it better. That’s a pretty good problem to have. I’m going to give Replit a shot. Thank you.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

Thank you for sharing. I appreciate that. I'm in the embarrasing middle part where I shipped a working app I was proud of and now I am on tech X and realize my baby is ugly. I'm trying to find my footing here. It's humbling for sure. Maybe I'll try replit. I could definitely use the support of a community of like minded nontech founders.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@Creativemarggie Absolutely. I go from loving my baby to hating my baby every other day. Fresh eyes are BRUTAL.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@danellisona I did. Then I joined tech X and realized my baby is ugly. Tech X is extremely humbling.

We’re working on her.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@IsJenProduction Wow it’s gorgeous! Mine still looks like version 1 unfortunately. Can you share any direction on creating the right html brand guidelines link? Thank you!

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

say:

I tried. My agents are apparently revolting. Any advice?

Probably should’ve prefaced this by saying I’m not a coder. I’m a dessert artist who built an app for an industry I love with ambition, delusion & prayers.

Shipped it rough. Have paying users. And now I’m putting out bug fires like my life depends on it when all I’m trying to do is make it pretty.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

@Anas_founder Get it in their hands.

I shipped a rough product and let real users show me what needed to be better.

They saw things I never would’ve seen building alone.

Ship it anyway. Then build better.

[Laura Villeda @LauraVilleda_]

I wasn’t qualified to build software.

I couldn’t code. Still can't.

But I knew what I wanted to exist.

So I built it.

The product showed up before the confidence did. Turns out you don't need to feel qualified to begin.