Why are we building this?
My co-founder and I have turned down over $125,000 in potential project revenue in the first month of our software studio.
Are we just shit business owners?
Well, I mean... maybe. Time will tell.
But that's not the reason we turned down those projects.
We have avoided making one of the biggest mistakes made in all of software: building an excellent, perfectly-engineered solution that doesn't need to exist.
For example, we once consulted with a client who had an agency quote them for a $50,000 API server. They wanted to get a second opinion from us and potentially get a quote.
30 minutes and 4 questions later, we saved them from ever building it.
As it turns out, they didn't need it.
A good engineer will build great software.
A great engineer will avoid building software (when possible).
Starting out with, "Why are we building this?" is one of the best questions to ask during a discovery call. Other close relatives to this question include:
- "What are you doing now? How is that serving you?"
- "Six months from now, the project is complete. It's a complete success. Why? What happened? How does the business function differently?"
- "If you didn't build this now, what would the ramifications be?"
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