Designing a SaaS From Zero: 6 Lessons From Building Gobrador

Gobrador is the first product of Quince con Ochenta, the studio I co-founded and where I'm the product designer. It reviews Spain's public tenders every hour and tells each company which ones fit its activity, region, budget and requirements. Designing it from zero taught me more about SaaS product design than any client brief. These are six lessons I'd apply to any new product.

1. Show value before asking for anything

Most SaaS sites ask for an email first. Gobrador does the opposite: you tell it what you do, where you work and whether you hold ROLECE classification, and it shows how many tenders fit you before asking for anything. The example radar is visible without an account. Reducing the leap of faith is the best onboarding there is.

2. Translate jargon into everyday choices

Public procurement runs on CPV codes and technical requirements. Users shouldn't need to learn them. The radar is ready in about two minutes by choosing an activity and a region; the product handles the codes. Every expert concept you hide behind a plain question widens your audience.

3. Explain every decision

A list of results isn't enough when the stakes are a contract. Gobrador sorts tenders with a traffic light — fits, worth reviewing or discard — and says why. That explanation is what turns a feed into a tool people trust. (More on this in designing AI features users trust.)

4. Use real numbers as proof

The homepage shows live figures — more than 1.3 million tenders analysed, over 22,000 public bodies and more than 167,000 companies as of October 2026. Real, verifiable numbers do more for credibility than any adjective.

5. Make the business model obvious

Clear pricing and a low-risk trial remove friction: a Basic plan from €19 a month and 14 days free, with no card and no commitment. When the price is easy to understand, the conversation moves to value.

6. Listen, and be ready to pivot

Gobrador didn't start where it is now. It began as a tool to flag potentially suspicious public contracts. While building it, we discovered something more useful: helping companies find opportunities in that same data. Good products change course when a better opportunity appears — the same method I use with clients.

What this means for your product

• Can a visitor see value before signing up?
• Which expert terms can you replace with plain choices?
• Does every recommendation explain itself?
• Which real numbers prove your product works?

If you're designing a SaaS or an MVP, I can help.

FAQ

What's the most important onboarding principle for a SaaS?

Show value before asking for commitment. Let people see a real result — like how many opportunities fit them — before they create an account.

How do you design for expert domains like public procurement?

Hide the jargon behind plain questions. Users choose their activity and region; the product maps that to technical codes such as CPV.

What is Gobrador?

Gobrador is a SaaS by Quince con Ochenta that reviews Spain's public tenders every hour and tells each company which ones fit its activity, region, budget and requirements, and why.