Mihir Thakkar

Latest Blog Posts

Buy vs Build Decisions in Software Product Development

My team members often ask, “Why are we building this ourselves when there’s a library we could use?” Most developers who have worked with me know my strong dislike for external plugins and dependencies. It’s not that I believe in recreating everything from scratch, but as a software product company, we must aspire to be creators of frameworks, not just consumers of them. Overreliance on external tools turns your platform into a patchwork of borrowed pieces, leaving you at the mercy of others' updates, features, and security protocols.

Planning by Doing: A Practical Approach to Software Project Planning

Meet Sarah, a software developer, working on a new e-commerce platform. Her team had spent weeks building a complex checkout system, carefully coding every detail based on initial requirements. Just as they were about to launch, the product manager announced a major change: the checkout process needed to include guest checkout, a feature no one had considered earlier. The change required significant rewrites, throwing their timeline into chaos. When Sarah expressed frustration, she was told,

How Configurability Is Killing Your Product

It is easy to think that giving users a bunch of options will make your product better. If they can tailor it to their needs, they'll love it, right? Unfortunately, this approach often leads to the opposite outcome: instead of falling in love with your product, users get frustrated by how complicated it feels.

The Journey from Delivering Custom Software Solutions to Building Scalable Products: How to Make the Leap

Many software services / consulting companies aspire of building software products at some point in their journey. They are often drawn by the allure of scalability and growth. However, only a few successfully make the switch or are able to make products any considerable portion of their income. If you're someone trying to take the leap, this write-up might offer you some valuable insights.

Good, Great, and Gruesome Businesses

Any device, system or process can be abstracted solely in terms of its inputs and outputs, without any comprehension of its internal mechanisms – In systems theory, we call this the black box model. This analogy, when transposed to our businesses, provides an intriguing framework. Often, we as founders are so much caught into the details of our businesses that we often loose the sight of the bigger picture. This model offers a strategic lens, emphasizing capital inputs and the resultant value outputs, while abstracting the intricate operational processes therein.

AI as the Great Equalizer for Global IT Consulting - Breaking Linguistic and Cultural Divides

In the ever-evolving digital world, AI has established its dominance as a force that's here to revolutionize industries, transform traditional processes, and create groundbreaking solutions. Discussions around AI often revolve around its capabilities to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and automate a myriad of tasks that were once manual and tedious. While these attributes are certainly noteworthy and transformational, there's another pivotal aspect of AI that hasn't been explored to its full extent: its potential to bridge cultural and linguistic divides.

DeepSeek-R1: Unlocking Advanced Reasoning Capabilities in Large Language Models (LLMs)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made tremendous strides in recent years, with Large Language Models (LLMs) becoming central to advancements in natural language understanding and generation. These models are not only capable of generating human-like text but are now being trained and adapted for increasingly complex reasoning tasks. DeepSeek-R1, a new entrant in this arena, has captured significant attention for its innovative approach to incentivizing reasoning capabilities via Reinforcement Learning (RL). This article will delve deep into the significance of DeepSeek-R1, unpack its methodologies, and explore its potential impact on the evolution of LLMs.

Off-The-Shelf VS Custom Software Solutions

Examples of Off-the-Shelf software include Content Management Systems (CMS) like SharePoint, Drupal, or WordPress, which can be configured for various business needs. The customizable counterpart would be a static website built with HTML/JavaScript. In the BI/Analytics space, Tableau, PowerBI, and Qlik serve as Off-the-Shelf software, while custom dashboards can be built using JavaScript-based charts. Often, leaders believe Off-the-Shelf solutions are more cost-effective, making them ideal for small businesses or early-stage products. In this post, I aim to bust some myths surrounding Off-the-Shelf solutions to help you make a more informed decision for your organization!

I’m a SaaS founder passionate about building software products that work. My journey began in federal software consulting in the US, where I learned the art of building companies. Later, I led a 35-member outsourcing division in India, discovering how small, focused teams can achieve big goals.

Currently, I’m building SaaS products for the eCommerce space, helping small businesses thrive. I believe you don’t need a huge team or fancy degrees to build great software—just clear ideas, quick execution, and a team that believes in the vision. People know me as someone who thrives under pressure, gets things done, and brings out the best in those around me. If you’re building a SaaS product, finding Product-Market Fit, or need help turning ideas into action, let’s connect!.

Building from Scratch