PilotForge

Launch revenue-generating pilots with gaming studios in under 48 hours

Score: 8.2/10United StatesHard BuildReady to Spawn
Brand Colors

The Opportunity

Problem

Bootstrapped SaaS founders targeting enterprise gaming teams face severe delays in revenue due to prolonged sales cycles and excessive customization demands from major studios.

Solution

PilotForge matches SaaS founders with gaming teams for standardized 14-day pilots, handling contracts, data setup, and metrics tracking automatically. Eliminates custom negotiations by using pre-vetted templates. Founders get paid pilots immediately, bypassing long sales cycles.

Target Audience

Bootstrapped SaaS founders building products for enterprise gaming teams at major studios

Differentiator

End-to-end pilot marketplace with auto-contracts and success guarantees tailored to gaming metrics like frame rates and player retention.

Brand Voice

supportive

Features

Pilot Matching

must-have18h

AI matches based on needs/tech stack

Auto-Contract Gen

must-have15h

Legal templates for quick sign-off

Metrics Dashboard

must-have20h

Track KPIs like latency/player data

Data Onboarding

must-have12h

Secure upload for gaming assets

Payment Escrow

must-have10h

Hold funds until pilot success

Feedback Loops

nice-to-have8h

Automated NPS and reviews

Repeat Pilot Wizard

nice-to-have6h

Upsell extensions

Team Collaboration

nice-to-have10h

Multi-user access

Total Build Time: 99 hours

Database Schema

users

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
emailtextNo
roletextNo
created_attimestampNo

Relationships:

  • one-to-many with pilots

pilots

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
founder_iduuidNo
studio_iduuidNo
statustextNo
priceintNo
start_datetimestampYes

Relationships:

  • foreign keys to users.id (founder/studio)

metrics

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
pilot_iduuidNo
kpi_nametextNo
valuetextNo
timestamptimestampNo

Relationships:

  • foreign key to pilots.id

API Endpoints

POST
/api/pilots/match

Find matches

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/pilots

Create pilot request

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/pilots/:id/contract

Generate contract PDF

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/pilots/:id/metrics

Log metrics

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/user/pilots

List pilots

🔒 Auth Required

Tech Stack

Frontend
Next.js 14 + Tailwind + shadcn/ui
Backend
Supabase Edge Functions
Database
Supabase Postgres
Auth
Supabase Auth
Payments
Stripe Connect
Hosting
Vercel
Additional Tools
PDF-lib for contractsVector embeddings for matching

Build Timeline

Week 1: Dual auth (founder/studio)

22h
  • Profiles
  • Matching UI

Week 2: Pilot creation

25h
  • Request flow
  • Contract gen

Week 3: Dashboard & metrics

28h
  • KPI charts
  • Data upload

Week 4: Payments escrow

20h
  • Stripe Connect
  • Payouts

Week 5: Polish & nice-to-haves

15h
  • Feedback
  • Repeat

Week 6: Testing & marketplace seed

12h
  • Seed data
  • Launch

Week 7: Beta invites

8h
  • Email campaigns

Week 8: Iterate on feedback

10h
  • Bug fixes
Total Timeline: 8 weeks • 140 hours

Pricing Tiers

Free

$0/mo

10% platform fee

  • List SaaS
  • 1 pilot/month

Pro

$25/mo

5% fee

  • Unlimited pilots
  • Priority matching
  • Custom contracts

Enterprise

$99/mo

2% fee

  • All Pro + dedicated support
  • Volume discounts

Revenue Projections

MonthUsersConversionMRRARR
Month 1608%$120$1,440
Month 64006%$2,400$28,800

Unit Economics

$50
CAC
$500
LTV
4%
Churn
88%
Margin
LTV:CAC Ratio: 10.0xExcellent!

Landing Page Copy

Paid Pilots with Gaming Studios—Guaranteed Revenue in 48 Hours

Match, contract, track, and get paid. No more endless sales cycles.

Feature Highlights

AI studio matching
Auto-legal contracts
Gaming KPI dashboards
Escrow payments

Social Proof (Placeholders)

"'First pilot paid $2k week 1' - Founder"
"'Frictionless setup' - Studio PM"

First Three Customers

Seed with 10 founders/studios via cold DMs on LinkedIn gaming groups; offer fee waivers for first pilots; cross-post success stories on IndieHackers.

Launch Channels

Product Huntr/indiegamingLinkedIn GamingIndieHackers

SEO Keywords

gaming studio pilot programsaas gaming poc marketplaceenterprise gaming saas trialpaid unity pilot

Competitive Analysis

Commission-based
Strength

Freelancers

Weakness

No SaaS pilots or gaming focus

Our Advantage

Standardized pilots with escrow

🏰 Moat Strategy

Network effects from growing founder/studio matches; proprietary matching data.

⏰ Why Now?

Studios cutting costs need low-risk pilots; SaaS founders desperate for quick wins.

Risks & Mitigation

legalmedium severity

Contract disputes

Mitigation

Use lawyer-reviewed templates

executionhigh severity

Low initial liquidity

Mitigation

Seed with beta users

Validation Roadmap

pre-build7 days

Survey 20 founders/studios

Success: 10 interested

mvp28 days

Manual matching beta

Success: 3 pilots completed

launch7 days

Invite-only

Success: 20 signups

Pivot Options

  • General B2B pilots
  • Freelance gaming gigs

Quick Stats

Build Time
140h
Target MRR (6 mo)
$2,500
Market Size
$60.0M
Features
8
Database Tables
3
API Endpoints
5
PilotForge - Complete Startup Blueprint | Startup Tribunal