After searching for a concise starter list for a new project of mine (below if you’re interested), I decided to put a quick one together for the skimmers like me.

Context

My app is in the travel space and the first few steps for me were to create a logo, brand & a landing page. (I already knew what I wanted to create, so these were the first steps of execution to feel a little established)

Basic Setup

• Purchase domain (Google Domains, GoDaddy, etc.)
• Set up email for the domain (I’m using Gmail)
• Set up Google Drive to store documents
• Set up Notion for note-taking & planning
• Socials (can do more or less):
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok

Code Setup

• Set up GitHub:
  • Create an organization
  • Create repos for different purposes (or monolith) in the organization
• Create Cloud Account (I’m using Firebase [it’s easy], you can use AWS, Azure, etc.)
• Set up Figma for all the designs
• Fullstory for screen-capture-esque analytics (I personally really love this so far, way easier than Amplitude, which is what I’ve used in the past)

Logo & Branding

• Logo: paid a friend who designs logos (we did 3 drafts + final deliverables)
• Branding colours: I asked 20-odd friends a simple question related to the brand (i.e. When you think of stress free travel, what 2–3 colours come to mind?) & picked 2 of the top complementing colors

Landing Page (Waitlist)

I will be posting another article with the scaffolding of my landing page

• Frontend: Vue3 + Tailwind (Any framework works)
• Backend: Firebase Functions + MailchimpAPI for email campaigns (stick to using this one, none of the other packages have worked for me, so I made a simple call to the Mailchimp endpoints as mentioned in the docs)
• Waitlist: WaitlistAPI / alternative Firestore methods (I created a Firestore collection & added each user’s information as a document, I use a referral email field to see who to give access to first)

A little about my app — Tern:

travelwithtern.com

Tern is a modular itinerary builder that I'm building to relieve people of the headache of endlessly researching activities (restaurants, events, places, etc.) when visiting a new place. Of course, it can also be used on a day-to-day basis.

PS: If anyone wants to talk about Tern or anything else, please feel free to DM me on LinkedIn or Twitter, or email me at tavishi@travelwithtern.com