Sat in a product review this morning where a founder spent twenty minutes explaining why our merchant dashboard needs a dark mode. Twenty minutes. Not because merchants asked for it—we have actual usage data showing they don't care—but because he saw it on some app he likes and now it's a "modern expectation." Meanwhile, our payment reconciliation flow takes six steps when it should take two, and merchants are literally calling our support team because they can't figure out if money actually landed. But sure, let's ship dark mode. This is the thing nobody tells you about startups: half the decisions that feel urgent are actually just someone's personal preference dressed up as strategy. The other half are real problems that nobody wants to fund because they're not shiny enough for the next pitch deck.
0