The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Back to feedPost
Founders ask: “Which stack should we use?”
The better question: “How fast do we need to iterate after launch?”
The right stack reduces future friction.
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Related posts
I almost quit Pentaclay in the first few months.
Nov 2023 I launched a design subscription. Around $2,500 a month, unlimited requests. Nobody signed up. Not one person.
So I cut the price. A 2 week trial for about $500 to $1,100. People finally said yes. 3 clients by the end of 2023, one of them took the trial 2-3 times in a row.
And it got worse. Less money, way more work. Every message was "one more small change". I worked all day and still wasn't making enough. By December I was burned out.
So I tried something different. I made one Framer template. Took me almost 2 months to build.
First month it made $134. Small money, but no calls, no revisions, and it sold while I slept.
If you run a startup, what was the moment you almost quit?
Your startup doesn't need a $100K app.
It needs 10 people who actually want to use it.
I've seen founders spend months planning features before talking to a single potential customer.
And then wonder why nobody signs up.
Here's what I'd do instead:
→ Build only the 3 features that solve the core problem.
→ Launch an MVP in weeks, not months.
→ Get it into the hands of real users.
→ Track what people actually do, not what they say they'll do.
→ Improve based on feedback, not assumptions.
A beautiful app with zero users is an expensive portfolio piece.
A simple MVP with paying customers?
That's a business.
Build less. Validate faster. Scale smarter.
Founders, what's the one feature you thought was essential but ended up removing?
Starting a business is really hard.
Literally, it is.
Especially when you don’t have a plan before starting.
A plan that tells you:
What your main product or service is
Who your main audience is (who is going to buy)
What problem your product solves for them
What the market value of your product is
What the updated version of it looks like
You can’t sell an idea that worked years ago, because now people have new methods.
The hardest and most important part is how to sell and how to market (branding).
These are the questions that give you a reason to scale.
If you have a startup and no idea about these questions:
Sit down and write the answers.
Before hiring employees and outsourcing.
You need to understand what you are actually doing.
So true! A good idea is just the starting point. Knowing who you're selling to and keeping an eye on your numbers makes a big difference. 🙌