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I’ve spent the last two decades helping people build things — apps, platforms, products, and entire businesses. And if there's one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: technology doesn’t solve broken systems or poor thinking.
You can slap the slickest UX on top of a flawed business model, automate a dysfunctional process, or scale a bad idea- but none of that makes it valuable. Or useful. Or successful.
Let’s challenge the default mindset that many startup cultures and tech circles have: we’re obsessed with building fast and building big, but not necessarily building right.
Below are seven short yet punchy ideas for putting handles on a box for you to pick up and run with.
1. Most People Don’t Actually Know What They’re Building
It’s not that they don’t have ideas. They have tons. But when I ask, “Who’s it for? What problem is it solving? Why does it matter?”—I usually get blank stares or buzzwords.
People want to build the “Uber of this” or the “AI-powered that,” but skip the hard foundational questions:
- Does anyone actually want this?
- Have you validated the problem?
- Are you solving it in the simplest possible way?
Distillation in my opinion is the most overlooked virtue in business and communication. While the end result is simple, short, and actionable insights, the amount of time and wisdom it takes to distill something into meaning is where true artists and masters spend their deep work, knowing the value it produces in the end for those who consume it.
This is where I see founders get stuck. They spend months or years building features before testing demand. And by the time they ship, they’ve created a solution in search of a problem.
At Never Settle, we flipped that. We help people go from idea to market fast—but we don’t skip the hard questions. We force clarity before code. Because otherwise, you're just burning time, money, and motivation.
2. Done is Better Than Perfect—But Clear is Better Than Done
Yes, launch fast. Yes, get it out there. But don’t confuse “done” with “effective.” I see too many teams celebrating launches that have no real direction. They built something—but not the right thing.
The goal isn’t just MVP. The goal is MVP with traction.
That means:
- Clear audience
- Clear problem
- Clear value
- Clear next steps
Without clarity, done is just noise.
3. You’re Not Building an App—You’re Building an Engine
Your product isn’t just software. It’s an engine. And like any engine, it needs fuel, friction reduction, and a reason to exist.
What fuels it? A real problem that real people pay to solve.
What reduces friction? Clean UX. Simplicity. Speed.
What gives it purpose? Your business model. Your mission. Your values.
Too many founders treat their app like a trophy. Something to show off. But an engine doesn’t sit on a shelf—it moves things forward. If your product doesn’t drive behavior, action, or change… you’ve built a museum piece, not a business.
4. Build to Learn, Not Just to Launch
Your first version isn’t about success—it’s about feedback. More importantly, do you really want feedback? Are you willing to be unoffendable, knowing that feedback drives refinement, which drives value? Can you take feedback with an open mind without defending, see the meat, spit out the bones, and change and adapt and learn?
While some people are just throwing shade, the truth is even in shade you can dig deeper roots, and those who are willing to take their time (most valuable resource on the planet) and share feedback, are actually giving you a gold bar if you’re willing to carry it to the furnace and refine it.
In Proverbs, Solomon tells us:
“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
We build to learn. We launch to measure. We iterate to grow.
The faster you can get real users engaging with your idea, the faster you can adapt. Not pivot randomly—but strategically, based on data, behavior, and real-world use.
5. If we build it, they will come! #untrue
- Product
- Platform
- Positioning
- Selling
Most people obsess over the first two. They’ll spend 80% of their energy building the tech and scaling the infrastructure. But forget the more important pieces: positioning and selling.
Positioning:
You can have the best product in the world—but if it’s framed wrong, priced wrong, or pitched wrong, it dies.
Positioning is about who it’s for, why it matters, and what makes it different. It’s where the brand meets the business. And it’s the difference between “interesting” and “I need this right now.”
Selling:
Most founders and visionaries can feel almost an allergy to selling. It sounds and feels gross.. I get it. Mostly because typically those higher in leadership experience a higher volume of inbound sales, most of which is trashy, spammy, and forceful - so to be associated with that group is hard to wrap your mind around. However, great products and great businesses can’t be successful without healthy sales. It’s a necessity to every business, and the dream of fields addage ‘if we build it they will come’ simply doesn’t work in business - EVEN if your product is the best in the market.
So, embrace the sale, but choose to do it differently. Use the golden rule and treat others the way you want to be treated - and sell them the way you would want to be sold / introduced to a new product or business.
6. Don’t Just Build for Users—Build for Outcomes
Here’s a truth that gets lost in the startup noise: users don’t want your product. They want what your product does for them.
Nobody wakes up thinking, “I hope someone sends me another app invite today.”
They wake up thinking:
- I want more time.
- I want less stress.
- I want more clarity.
- I want to grow.
Your product is only valuable if it drives those outcomes. If it’s just a shiny interface, it’s forgettable. But if it moves people toward something they care about—it sticks.
That’s why we emphasize outcomes over features. People don’t buy tech. They buy transformation.
7. The Most Valuable Product is You
You are your most important product. Not your app. Not your startup. You.
Because if you’re not growing, your business won’t either. If your mindset is stuck, so is your brand. If you burn out, everything else burns down too.
We talk so much about tech stacks and go-to-market plans, but we don’t talk enough about the internal work:
- Are you healthy?
- Are you self-aware?
- Are you clear on your “why”?
- Are you a good leader?
- Can you handle the painful fires of refinement?
That stuff matters. More than metrics. More than funding. More than launch dates. Long-term success isn’t just execution—it’s alignment.
Do you have habits that help you become a master craftsman of your life? I had played around with different habits my whole adult life but never really went into the deep end. I tried to read my Bible every day, workout a few days a week, sauna when I could... but I never tracked and measured it. Do you know that things you measure get better? Because you have constant feedback which allows you to make micro course corrections along the way.
Then, after doing a few years of different master classes, putting myself on the hook in different communities and coaching platforms, I decided to turn pro at my life on April 20, 2021. Do I fail weekly, yes, but now my daily habits at minimum look like: No digital input first 2 hours of day, Bible, Journal, Cold Shower/Plunge, 180g of Protein, Workout, Meditate, Breathwork, Shutdown work completely by 6:30. No excuses, no maybes, just commitment.
The thing that’s interesting, is when you choose to do the hard things over and over again, the other areas in your life thrive. Cold showers make me a better disciple, husband, father, leader, and friend... as much as I hate them I cannot deny the fruit.
Build Less. Deliver More.
We don’t need more products in the world. We need more clarity. We need more intentionality. We need more builders who are willing to slow down just enough to ask, Why are we building this in the first place?
If you’re a founder, entrepreneur, or creative—here’s my challenge:
Don’t just build fast. Build smart. Don’t just ship. Serve. Don’t just scale. Solve.
Technology isn’t the point. People are.
Let’s build like it.
