La Zona Barber

The Problem

Barbershops need to manage appointments, inventory, and customer loyalty, but existing tools are generic and don’t understand the specific workflow of the business.

I identified this need by working directly with barbershop owners: clients who don’t show up for appointments, difficulty tracking product inventory, and the inability to identify and reward frequent customers.

The Solution

A SaaS built from scratch specifically for barbershop workflows:

• Appointment management with automatic reminders
• Product inventory control
• Loyalty system for recurring customers
• Analytics dashboard for business owners

Current Status

Phase 1 - In Production ✅

• Complete appointment system
• Admin panel
• Customer management
• 1 real business actively using the system

Phase 2 - In Development 🔄

• Advanced inventory system
• Points-based loyalty
• Reports and analytics
• Iterating based on first user feedback

Next Goals

• Onboard 2 additional businesses as beta users
• Validate Phase 2 features with real users

Technical Details

Architecture

The system is built with a modern architecture separating frontend and backend:

• Frontend: Next.js with App Router for a fluid experience
• Backend: NestJS with modular architecture and clean code
• Database: PostgreSQL with Prisma ORM
• Styling: Tailwind CSS for rapid development

Key Decisions

1. Multi-tenant from day one: Designed to scale to multiple barbershops
2. Documented RESTful API: Enables future integrations
3. Simple onboarding: A barber should be able to start in minutes

Challenges Overcome

• Market validation: Working directly with a real user to iterate quickly
• Feature/time balance: Prioritizing a functional MVP over a perfect product
• UX for non-technical users: The average barber isn’t tech-savvy

Impact

• Phase 1 in production with a real business
• Iterative development based on real feedback
• Validation that the problem is real and the solution works