My First Web App Took Five Months. My Second, Just One Week — Here’s Why Simplicity Wins.
I loved Carpoolio. I poured months into it. Every button, every animation, every “nice-to-have” feature was something I thought would be necessary, or fun, or what made it mine. But after five months, I realized: nobody cared about half the things I built.
What I Did Differently on Group Sing Along
I focused on just the core features people will actually touch. If it doesn’t help someone get what they want, omit it.
I set a tight deadline — one week. That forced decisions: “Do I really need to build this out?”
I watched how people used the competitor — what they did, what they avoided. I mimicked only what felt necessary.
I embraced that “boring but works” is often better than “exciting but confusing.”
What I Learned
Shipping matters more than perfection. A fast launch gets feedback. It learns what matters vs what’s fluff.
Overbuilding is often about excitement, control, or fear. Recognizing that helped me cut features I was over-attached to.
Simplicity forces clarity. Figuring out what exactly people need — and delivering that — is more valuable than delivering a bigger scope.
Confidence builds when you see people using something you finished, not something you’re still polishing.
As I move forward, I’m trying to keep this mindset: ship, launch, repeat.
For my next app, I’m doing fewer features, but clearer value.
I’ll always ask: “Is this feature solving a real user problem or just something I thought would be fun?”
And I’m setting shorter build cycles — one week from idea to MVP & one month from MVP to launch — so I ship more.
If you’ve ever built something that you loved but felt like it dragged because of perfectionism — trust me when I say you’re not alone.
If you have a free weekend coming up try this: pick one small idea, build what matters, and ship it. See what happens, you might just be surprised.
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