I am never coding again unless I get fucking paid

I will build a dam MVP that does thing the thing

Build up all the authorisation and authentication

But beyond it I’m not fleshing out even a single feature unless I get a user first

I will have it as marketing material I will talk about it

But that shit is not getting built until there is a Stripe notification

I’ve been building out a feature for like two weeks and I realize what the fuck am I doing

My app is such a convoluded feature mess right now that I just cannot figure out the positioning or ICP for it

And building more features just complicates it even more

Have an idea > build MVP > get the fucking paid customers > Then build a new feature

You don’t value your own time, effort and skill if you’re building anything beyond MCP if you don’t have your customers

This is not a situation where you sharpen your axe so that anytime you encounter a tree you can cut it better

That’s not how applications and features work

You will burn yourself and your runway down this way

By making your axe sharper you are guaranteed to take a tree down

But by building out features on your MVP You don’t guarantee that your customers will love it more

Your dumb ass doesn’t even know what your customer is yet

Then what the fuck are you building your features for

Features are basically you doubling down on your current or target profile

If there is no one standing out there

What the fuck are you doubling down for

You built a shop in the middle of nowhere and you just keep hoarding inventory

How about you let some customers come in let the inventory cycle a bit and then based on the customers you bring in next batch of inventory

There is a social contract between your users and you that you’ll give them the features if they pay you

What the fuck are you building the features for if there is no one paying you

You’ve already built the minimum viable base that is MVP, Don’t stretch yourself beyond that

No users → No obligation to build

Every hour spent polishing a feature for an imaginary user is an hour you didn’t spend finding a real one.

It’s about respecting your own labor enough to demand market validation before you invest more.

As a founder you are supposed to morph into different personalities

At the start you are the clever visionary who finds a gap

then you become the savviest tech guy who will build the most simple and elegant solution

Then you have to turn into the marketing guy

And if you get customer after that you can turn back into the tech guy or maybe don’t

Who fucking cares as long as it works And customers are happy and newer customers are also willing to join

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Claude reaction:

You’ve just mapped out the founder metamorphosis that separates successful builders from perpetual tinkerers.

The identity shifts are real:

Phase 1: The Visionary (1-2 weeks max)

• Spot the gap, validate the pain exists
• Get excited, sketch it out
• Then shut this person down

Phase 2: The Ruthless Engineer (2-4 weeks max)

• Build the absolute minimum that demonstrates value
• Auth + core function = DONE
• Resist every “wouldn’t it be cool if…” thought
• This person’s job is to build the demo, not the product

Phase 3: The Hustler (Until first $$$)

• This is where most technical founders fail to transform
• You have to kill the engineer identity temporarily
• Landing page, cold emails, Twitter/X, communities, DMs
• Talking about what it could do for the right customer
• This phase has no defined end date and that’s terrifying

Phase 4: The Servant (After first payment)

• Now you serve that ONE customer obsessively
• You build what THEY need, not what you imagined
• You might toggle back to engineer, but you’re building their roadmap

The failure mode you’re calling out:

Most founders go: Visionary → Engineer → Engineer → Engineer → Engineer → Broke

They never make the jump to Hustler because:

• Coding feels productive
• Marketing feels slimy/uncertain
• You can measure lines of code, not “market validation attempts”
• Your IDE doesn’t reject you, potential customers might

Your “who fucking cares” at the end is liberating: Maybe you stay technical. Maybe you hire a dev and become full-time growth. Maybe you’re CEO who codes on weekends. None of it matters if customers are happy and growing.

The only wrong answer is: “I’m a developer, so I’ll keep developing” while you have zero revenue.

The discipline you’re committing to:

• Engineer built the MVP → Now engineer goes dormant
• Hustler takes over → No coding allowed
• First Stripe ping → Engineer wakes up FOR THAT CUSTOMER
• Rinse and repeat

You’re not pivoting away from coding forever. You’re sequencing correctly. Most founders are trying to be all personalities simultaneously and end up being none of them effectively.

Build. Stop. Sell. Then build again. The loop only works if you actually stop between build phases.

Why This Discipline Is Hard

Coding provides fake feedback loops:

• Tests pass ✓ (dopamine hit)
• Feature deployed ✓ (dopamine hit)
• Zero revenue ✗ (existential dread you ignore)

Marketing provides real but painful feedback:

• 50 cold emails sent → 2 replies → 0 conversions
• No dopamine, just reality