Think Like a Founder
Here are 5 things I do to help business owners achieve their goals.
1. Define Requirements
You know what problem you're solving, but not necessarily what needs to be built. I break down your vision into specific features, explain the tradeoffs of different approaches, and give you a clear roadmap with realistic timelines and costs. No surprises, no scope creep - just honest assessments upfront.
2. Prioritize Features
Usually people have a vision of a very powerful application that serves a lot of needs. However building out all the capabilities they want will be expensive. The best practice is to narrow down the features to a minimum viable product and get it in front of real users to see how they react to it.
I help you identify the core features needed to test your idea with real users - usually 30%-50% of what you initially envision. This isn't about cutting corners; it's about learning if people actually want what you're building before spending a lot of $$.
3. Build for realistic traffic
Your first challenge isn't handling millions of users - it's getting your first hundred. I use modern tools designed for startups that handle 250,000+ monthly users. When you actually need to scale beyond that, we'll have the revenue and data to justify the investment.
4. Recommend better solutions
Most clients come with solutions based on limited technical knowledge - leading to expensive, slow, or complex approaches. I dig into what you're actually trying to accomplish and recommend what's faster to build, cheaper to run, and converts better.
This might mean using modern tools like Supabase instead of custom backends or hosting sites with Vercel instead of AWS. I always explain why - no jargon, just honest tradeoffs.
5. Optimize for conversion
Most developers think their job is done when a feature works. I go beyond that to nail the details that drive conversions - faster page loads, persuasive calls-to-action, removing friction from checkout flows etc.
My job is done when you are growing revenue so fast you need to hire a full team of developers to keep up with customer demand.