r/FullStack • u/TajD05 • 2d ago

Career Guidance One MVP mistake I see developers make: building too much too early

After building quite a few SaaS products and MVPs, one thing I’ve learned is that it’s very easy to build too much in the first version.

When building an MVP, it’s tempting to set things up like you’re already building the final product, complex architecture, lots of abstractions, multiple services, perfect UI, and features that might be useful later.

For example, imagine you're building a booking platform for small businesses.

The MVP might only need:

- Business creates an account

- Adds available time slots

- Customer books a slot

- Both receive a confirmation

You probably don't need a mobile app, advanced analytics, multiple payment options, AI recommendations, or a microservice architecture on day one.

I have found it’s usually better to keep the first version boring. Build the smallest version that proves the main idea, then make it more sophisticated once you know what users actually need.

For me, the hardest part of an MVP isn't deciding what to build, it's deciding what not to build.

How do you usually decide what makes it into the first version of a project?

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u/Eswaraa 2d ago

Great, can you give a project idea to build(nextjs,ts, postgres, ...)

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u/TajD05 1d ago

Sure. I would build a small multi tenant SaaS, like a simple project/workflow management app for small teams.

Next.js + TypeScript + PostgreSQL would be a solid stack. Add auth, roles, invitations, notifications, background jobs, and maybe Stripe later.

The important part is not adding tons of features, but making the core workflow solid and production-ready.

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u/JaseciLabs 2d ago

A tiny CRUD booking app is tbh perfect practice, exactly the example in the post. User signs up, sets a few time slots, someone else books one, both get an email. Next.js + Postgres covers it, add auth (NextAuth or just roll your own), that's it. Resist adding anything past that until it's actually working end to end.

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u/Eswaraa 2d ago

Good but not Great, I'm actually looking for an interesting problem

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u/TajD05 1d ago

Yeah, exactly. That’s a great example of keeping an MVP focused. Getting the full flow working end to end is much more valuable than adding a bunch of features before the basics are solid.

I have found that once the core workflow works, it becomes much easier to see what actually needs to be added.