Unfinished

When I was building a digital tool or product in the past, I wanted to bring my idea to life. I always started off with great enthusiasm. I launched a new codebase and started writing code. Eventually at some point a few weeks into the project I slowed down. What should I build next? What’s missing? Later I found out that I was stuck in a build-build-build loop. I didn’t really know what the goal of my idea was. Some of these projects still sit in my repository. Unfinished. Today, they remind me to think about the “why”. The reason I wanted to build it when I started off.

If I’m honest, my ideas were often just the facade for trying that new hot technology or framework. Jumping from PHP to Zend to Rails to Next.js. Phoenix, Django, Whatever.js. Yes, I learned a lot. But I was also a master of none.

All of this knowledge made me a full-stack engineer. I knew enough about databases, backends, frontends, and APIs. I could deliver on the full value stream. From setting things up, to coding, testing, deployment, or DevOps. I felt like a “dangerous” product professional. Maybe that was true from a technology point of view.

I was skilled enough to deliver a whole digital product as a solopreneur. I tried hard. However, there was no success. Even though the product was well engineered, it still felt unfinished.

When I joined Strategyzer in 2015, I wanted to learn what it means to build a successful product. I learned a lot about business strategy, customer centricity, and entrepreneurial mindset. I had the chance to talk to and learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry. I learned, to be a good full-stack dev is not enough.

To become a full-stack creator you need to learn how to craft a successful business. Coding and shipping a product is just a piece of a bigger puzzle. Just one piece in a building block of the Business Model Canvas. If we don’t understand the fundamentals of a successful business, our ideas will remain unfinished.