Performance-first rebuild for a growth-stage SaaS
Case Study · Performance · MERN · Startup
I helped a mid-stage SaaS company reduce key page load times and increase conversion velocity by focusing on the critical render path, code-splitting, and API efficiency. The project began with a detailed performance audit and ended with measurable improvements across user flows.
Challenge
The product suffered from long initial paint times, heavy JavaScript bundles, and frequent timeouts on API requests during peak usage. These issues hurt trial conversions and made the product brittle under growth traffic.
Approach
I focused on a pragmatic, impact-first approach: identify the high-value pages (signup, dashboard), reduce JavaScript and CSS sent at load, implement server-side pagination and caching, and add monitoring for slow endpoints. On the frontend, I deferred non-critical scripts, lazy-loaded images, and introduced granular code-splitting so users only downloaded what they needed.
Implementation
We replaced large client-side rendering of dashboard widgets with lightweight server-rendered placeholders and hydrated interactive parts on demand. APIs were moved to faster database indexes and Redis caching for frequently queried endpoints. We also set up observability with simple APM traces and real-user monitoring to confirm improvements in production.
Results
- First Contentful Paint improved by ~60% on critical pages.
- Trial-to-paid conversion increased by 12% within 8 weeks.
- Average API latency dropped from 420ms to 85ms.
Why this matters
For product-led startups, perceived speed directly affects activation and retention. Delivery that focuses on stability and measurable improvements unlocks growth while keeping technical debt under control.