The anti-feature field guide
SAASHOLES
Quit Building Shit Nobody Wants
A no-bologna playbook to finding the smallest thing worth shipping — and the restraint to skip everything else.
The problem
Products rarely fail because teams cannot build enough. They fail because nobody is willing to decide what not to build.
The SAASHOLE test
Eight questions. If an idea can’t survive them, don’t build it.
Specific pain
What exact pain does this solve?
Active demand
Who needs this now?
Actual money
Does this affect acquisition, retention, revenue, or meaningful cost?
Smallest solution
What is the least complicated way to solve it?
Hypothesis
What assumption are we testing?
Outcome
What measurable result tells us it worked?
Liability
What permanent complexity does this feature introduce?
Exit
Can we remove or change it later without blowing up the product?
What the book covers
The fights you’ll have on every product — and how to win them without shipping a bloated mess.
Finding the real MVP
Stripping an idea down to the smallest thing that proves it deserves to exist.
Scope control
Holding the line when every meeting tries to add “just one more thing.”
Feature-request bullshit
Telling the difference between a real need and the loudest opinion in the room.
Stakeholder pressure
Saying no to the highest-paid person in the room — and making it stick.
Premature complexity
The technical debt you take on building for a scale you don’t have yet.
Validation before development
Proving demand before you write a line of code you’ll regret.
Product ownership
Owning the outcome, not just grooming the backlog.
Knowing when it’s done
Recognizing when “good enough” actually means ship it.
Straight from the book
Every feature is a liability wearing a costume.
Scope creep doesn’t knock. It just moves in.
Shipping is a decision, not an outcome.
“Wouldn’t it be cool if…” is where roadmaps go to die.
Your MVP isn’t the product you want to build. It’s the smallest one that proves you should.
Nobody remembers the features you cut. They remember that you shipped.
Who it’s for
If you decide what gets built — or live with the fallout of someone else’s decisions — this one’s yours.
- Founders
- Product managers
- Product owners
- Developers
- Consultants
- Executives
And anyone who has watched a six-week project become a twelve-month roadmap.
STOP building more features.
Find what customers will pay for. Build less. Get to revenue faster.