What slows down founders before they start building?
Founders shared the biggest delays they face before writing code for their SaaS project. Most struggle with validating their idea and deciding which features are truly necessary.
The discussion reveals that finding potential customers to talk to is the hardest hurdle for many. People often get stuck in a loop of overthinking the product's design or technical setup instead of checking if anyone will buy it. Many founders admitted they spend too much time on market research that doesn't lead to a clear decision. Successfully moving to the development phase requires setting a strict deadline for the planning stage and testing real demand quickly.
Key points
- Finding the first group of target users takes more time than the actual design.
- Deciding which features to cut is often harder than choosing what to include.
- Over-researching can become a form of procrastination that delays the launch.
- Talking to real people provides better clarity than looking at data alone.
Quick term guide
- share
- A server folder made available to apps or other devices.
- SaaS
- Software that people use online, usually paid for by subscription.
- IDE
- A software tool that combines a code editor, a way to run code, and error checking all in one app.
- NIC
- A Network Interface Card is the hardware component that connects a computer to a network.
- market research
- The process of gathering information about what people want to buy.
- Elo
- A number that represents how skilled a player is in competitive games — it goes up with wins and down with losses.
- testing
- The process of checking that software does what it's supposed to do, usually by running it and looking for errors.
- FIR
- A First Information Report — the official complaint filed with police in India that kicks off a criminal investigation.