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Yellow Brick·frontend·8 min read

Choosing a Tech Stack for Your Aussie Startup

Learn how to pick the right technology stack for your Australian startup — without getting lost in the hype.

Choosing a Tech Stack for Your Aussie Startup

Every year, thousands of Australian founders stare at a blank screen and ask themselves the same question:

"What stack should I build this in?"

It's one of the most consequential decisions you'll make early on. Pick wrong and you're fighting the tools instead of the problem. Pick right and you'll move fast, hire easily, and sleep better.

Here's how to think about it from first principles.

The Yellow Brick Rule

The yellow brick road only works if you know where you're going. Before choosing a stack, you need to be clear on three things:

  1. What are you building? SaaS, mobile app, data platform, marketplace?
  2. Who is your first engineer? Solo founder, small team, university grad?
  3. What's your runway? 12 weeks to launch or 18 months to v1?

Your stack choice should serve those constraints — not the other way around.

The OzStack Default: Next.js + Supabase + Vercel

For most Aussie founders building web-first SaaS, the default answer is:

npx create-next-app@latest my-app

Then add Supabase for your database, auth, and storage:

  • Next.js — React-based, App Router, full-stack in one framework
  • Supabase — Postgres + auth + storage, generous free tier
  • Vercel — Zero-config deploys, preview environments per PR

This gives you the shortest path from idea to production without sacrificing scalability.

When to Deviate

The default stack is wrong for:

  • Mobile-first apps → React Native + Expo is the yellow brick road
  • Data platforms → Python + FastAPI + PostgreSQL on Railway
  • E-commerce → Next.js + Shopify Hydrogen
  • Enterprise internal tools → Next.js + Prisma + Docker

Hiring Reality in Australia

Here's the unsexy truth: your stack choice is also a hiring decision.

In the Australian market (Sydney + Melbourne especially), the most abundant senior engineers know:

  • TypeScript — demand far exceeds supply
  • React / Next.js — every startup wants it
  • Go — growing fast at mid-stage companies
  • Python — dominant in fintech, data, and ML

Ruby on Rails, PHP, and .NET are less common in startup land. Not wrong — just harder to hire for.

A Framework for Deciding

  1. Start with what you know. The best stack is the one your team can ship in.
  2. Choose boring tech. PostgreSQL beats MongoDB for most web apps. Boring scales.
  3. Optimise for change. You will change your mind on features. Prefer frameworks where change is cheap.
  4. Defer infrastructure. Use managed services (Supabase, Vercel, Railway) until you have a reason not to.

The Real Emerald City

The wizard's secret in Oz was that the power was always within Dorothy. The same is true here.

There's no objectively correct stack. The right stack is the one that lets your team build, ship, and iterate fastest. For most Aussie startups in 2025, that's the Yellow Brick Stack: Next.js + Supabase + Vercel.

Go forward. Follow the road.