The Startup Ideas Podcast
The best businesses are built at the intersection of emerging technology, community, and real human needs.
Vibe coders should build single killer features rather than complex multi-feature platforms
The Reasoning
Success probability increases with focused scope - if you can't make a simple tool with auth, payment, and email work, you shouldn't attempt complex platform with multiple interactive features
What Needs to Be True
- Single features can generate sufficient revenue to be worthwhile
- Market exists for very specific solutions
- Technical complexity scales non-linearly with feature count
- Customer support complexity increases dramatically with features
Counterargument
Some problems require integrated solutions, and single features may not provide sufficient moat or switching costs for sustainable business
What Would Change This View
Evidence that simple tools consistently fail to retain customers or get outcompeted by platform solutions in specific markets
Implications for Builders
Start with minimum viable feature, not minimum viable product
Master auth, payments, and core workflow before adding complexity
Build portfolio of simple tools rather than one complex platform
Test willingness to pay for core feature before building additional ones
Example Application
“Instead of building comprehensive influencer marketing platform, create just YouTube email extractor tool with auth and payments - if that works, consider adding Instagram scraper as separate focused tool”
Related Knowledge
Personal Software Development Framework
Build software primarily for yourself first, then find others who share your specific needs rather than trying to build
Contextual AI Computing
AI that understands the full context of user activity over time rather than requiring explicit prompts for each interact
pick a daily habit to serve narrow wedge use case
Successful mobile apps focus on specific daily behaviors within narrow market segments rather than broad solutions
It's not going to be what you build as much as what you don't build
With AI making everything buildable, success will come from choosing what NOT to build rather than capability limits