Picture this -> You’re a founder. You wake up at 3 AM with THE feature idea. You know, the one that’s going to change everything. You can already see it — users crying tears of joy, investors throwing money at you like Leonardo DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street.

But then your rational brain kicks in (damn you, rational brain). “I should validate this with users first,” you think. So you do the responsible thing — you ask potential users what they want.

User #1: “Oh, that’s cool! But can it also do [completely unrelated thing]?”

User #2: “Love it! Would be perfect if it also had [feature that would take 6 months to build].”

User #3: “Great idea! You know what would make it better? If it could [basically rebuild Facebook].”

Welcome to what I call The Feature FOMO Death Spiral — where good MVPs go to die.

Here’s the thing about asking users what features they want: It’s like asking a 5-year-old what they want for dinner.

They’ll say ice cream, pizza, chocolate cake, and maybe a unicorn. Does that mean you should serve them sugar-coated diabetes on a plate? No. (Though a unicorn would be cool.)

When Henry Ford (allegedly) said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses,” he wasn’t being arrogant. He was highlighting a fundamental truth:

Users are EXCELLENT at identifying problems. Users are TERRIBLE at designing solutions.

Think about it. When users say they want a “dark mode with AI-powered theme switching based on ambient light and mood detection,” what they’re really saying is “bright screens hurt my eyes at night.”

Here’s where it gets spicy. The validation paradox works like this:

1. You ask 10 users what they want

2. You get 47 different feature requests (yes, the math doesn’t add up, welcome to startups)

3. You try to build everything (because you’re a people pleaser)

4. You end up with a Frankenstein’s monster that does everything poorly and nothing well

5. Users complain it’s “too complicated” (THE AUDACITY!)

Remember: If you try to build for everyone, you’ll build for no one.

Or as I like to call it, the “Swiss Army Knife Syndrome” — sure, it has 47 tools, but have you ever tried to actually cut something with that tiny knife? It’s like bringing a spork to a steakhouse.

Step 1: The Problem Safari 🦁

Stop asking “What features do you want?” Start asking:

• “What’s the most frustrating part of [specific task]?”

• “Show me how you currently do [thing]”

• “What would you pay money to never have to do again?”

Pro tip: Watch what they DO, not what they SAY. Users will tell you they want healthy features but their usage data shows they’re clicking on the digital equivalent of donuts.

Step 2: The MoSCoW Method (But Make It Fun)

Categorize every feature idea into:

MUST have (Without this, the product is literally useless)

• Example: A messaging app MUST send messages (revolutionary, I know)

SHOULD have (Important but won’t kill you if missing in v1)

• Example: Read receipts (so you can stress about being left on read)

COULD have (Nice to have if you have extra time, which you don’t)

• Example: Custom emoji reactions

WON’T have (Not now, Satan)

• Example: Blockchain integration (unless you’re actually building a blockchain product, then… maybe?)

Step 3: The 80/20 Rule (Pareto’s Greatest Hit)

80% of your users will use 20% of your features. Find that 20% and nail it.

How to find your 20%:

1. List all proposed features

2. Ask: “If we could only build ONE, which would make users go ‘SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!’?”

3. That’s your core feature

4. Repeat for features 2–3

5. Stop. SERIOUSLY, STOP.

No. There isn’t more. That’s the point.

Step 4: The Mom Test (Not Kidding, This Is Real)

Would you explain this feature to your mom in under 10 seconds? If not, it’s too complicated.

Bad: “It’s a blockchain-powered, AI-driven, synergistic platform for optimizing cross-functional paradigms.”

Good: “It’s Uber for dog walking.”

If your mom gets it, your users will get it. If your mom doesn’t get it, you’re probably overthinking it.

For every feature, score it on these criteria (1–5 scale):

Impact Score:

• User Delight: How much will users love this?

• Problem Solving: How well does it solve the core problem?

• Differentiation: Does this make you stand out?

Effort Score:

• Development Time: How long to build?

• Maintenance Burden: How much ongoing work?

• Complexity Risk: Could this break other things?

The Magic Formula:

Priority Score = (Impact Score × 2) - Effort Score

Why x2 for impact? Because in startups, impact > everything else. You can always optimize later, but you can’t optimize something nobody wants.

Priority Levels:

• Score > 10: BUILD THIS NOW

• Score 5–10: Put it in the “Soon™️” list

• Score < 5: Put it in the “Maybe when we’re unicorns” folder

Trap #1: The IKEA Effect

You love your feature ideas more because YOU thought of them. It’s like how IKEA furniture seems amazing because you built it (even though it’s basically expensive cardboard).

Solution: Get someone who doesn’t care about your feelings to review your features. Brutal honesty > polite lies.

Trap #2: The Sunk Cost Fallacy

“But we already spent 2 weeks designing this feature!”

So? You know what’s worse than wasting 2 weeks? Wasting 2 months building something nobody wants.

Trap #3: The Competitor FOMO

“But our competitor has this feature!”

Cool story. Are they profitable? Are their users happy? Or are they also playing feature Pokemon (gotta catch ’em all)?

Remember: Your job isn’t to have MORE features than competitors. It’s to have BETTER solutions to user problems.

Week 1: Problem Discovery

• Interview 10 potential users (actual conversations, not surveys)

• Document their PROBLEMS, not their feature requests

• Look for patterns (if 3+ people have the same problem, you’re onto something)

Week 2: Solution Sketching

• Create mockups for top 3 problems (use Figma, not PowerPoint, we’re not animals)

• Show mockups to the SAME users

• Watch their reactions (excitement = good, “meh” = back to drawing board)

Week 3: Fake Door Testing

• Create a landing page for the feature

• Add a “Coming Soon” button

• Track clicks (high clicks = actual interest, not just polite nodding)

Week 4: Build the Ramen Version

• Build the absolute minimum version that solves the problem

• Like, embarrassingly minimum

• If you’re not slightly ashamed, you’ve built too much

The Validation Threshold:

• 40% of test users say “I NEED this” = Build it

• 20–40% are interested = Iterate and retest

• <20% care = Kill it (with fire)

Before building ANY feature, answer these:

✅ Can you explain it in one sentence? (If no, it’s too complex)

✅ Will it make your core value prop stronger? (If no, why are you building it?)

✅ Can you launch without it? (If yes, then don’t build it yet)

✅ Will 80% of users use it? (If no, it’s a “nice to have”)

✅ Can you build it in 2 sprints or less? (If no, can you break it down?)

✅ Is it solving a PAIN or a “nice to have”? (Pain = painkiller, Nice = vitamin. Be a painkiller.)

✅ Would you bet your own money on it? (If you wouldn’t put $1000 of your own money on this feature succeeding, why build it?)

Steve Jobs didn’t ask users if they wanted an iPhone. But he DID observe that people:

• Hated carrying multiple devices (phone + iPod + camera)

• Struggled with existing smartphones (looking at you, Blackberry)

• Wanted internet access everywhere

He solved PROBLEMS, not feature requests.

Your users asking for 47 features? They’re really telling you about 3–4 core problems. Find those. Solve those. Ignore the noise.

The Ultimate Truth: A product with 3 features that work perfectly beats a product with 30 features that work “okay.”

1. List all your feature ideas (yes, even the crazy 3 AM ones)

2. Run them through the Priority Score formula

3. Pick your top 3

4. Validate with the Fake Door Test

5. Build the highest scoring validated feature

6. Ship it

7. Get real usage data

8. Iterate based on ACTUAL usage, not hypothetical requests

Remember: Ship beats perfect. Every. Single. Time.

• Users don’t know what they want, but they know their problems

• More features ≠ better product

• Validate problems, not solutions

• Build less, but build it better

• Use data to decide, not opinions (even your own)

• When in doubt, ship it and see what happens

• If you’re not embarrassed by v1, you launched too late

Now stop reading this blog and go cut 70% of your feature list. Your future self (and your users) will thank you.

P.S. — If this blog made you realize you’ve been building the wrong things, don’t panic. Every successful startup has a graveyard of features nobody wanted. The key is to kill them quickly and move on. As they say in Silicon Valley: “Fail fast, fail often, but for the love of all that is holy, please fail CHEAP.”

P.P.S. — Still want to build that AI-powered mood detection dark mode? Fine. But build the regular dark mode first. Please. I’m begging you.

About the Author: Someone who’s watched too many founders build “Uber for [random thing nobody asked for]” and lived to tell the tale. Currently helping founders at AppUp Labs figure out what NOT to build (which is somehow harder than figuring out what to build).