I wrote same feature twice. Here's what I learned.

I wrote same feature twice without realizing it.

My cofounder saw innovation. I saw code duplication.

The setup

I'm a developer at Picstome, a platform for photographers. We help them manage their workflow: galleries for client proofing, contracts, portfolios, payments, client management (CRM), and even bio links for Instagram.

We have 10 paying customers.

Here's the thing about how we work: my cofounder and I decide on features together. He's the photographer, our literal "customer number one", so a lot of our features come from his needs. He's on the marketing and sales side, I build what we decide.

Recently, he proposed we add a moodboard feature, a Pinterest-style way for photographers to create visual collections for client presentations. The GitHub issue outlined everything:

"Users can create moodboards with title and description, add images from library or upload new ones, set them public or private, generate shareable links, attach them to photoshoots..."

Sounds reasonable, right? So I started building it.

And that's when I caught myself.

The moment

I was implementing the moodboards feature, writing code to handle:

Adding images to a board (from existing library or new uploads)
Generating shareable links
Organizing images on the board
Attaching boards to photoshoots

I paused. Wait a minute. This feels familiar.

I pulled up our existing galleries feature. Here's what it does:

Upload images and videos to a gallery
Share galleries with clients via link for proofing
Organize images within gallery
Attach galleries to photoshoots

The realization hit me like a bucket of cold water:

I'm building the same thing twice.

The difference? Galleries are for post-shoot delivery. Moodboards are for pre-shoot inspiration.

But to the user? To the database? To the fundamental problem we're solving?

It's the same feature.

This isn't about moodboards

I'm not writing this post to argue about moodboards specifically. I'm writing about something I've been struggling with: What's the right product direction for an early-stage startup?

Here's the situation:

My cofounder, our main customer, wants a feature he believes would be valuable
We have 10 paying customers
We already have 6 features
The proposed feature duplicates functionality we already have

On one hand, my cofounder is a photographer using Picstome every day. If he thinks moodboards would be useful, he's probably right.

On the other hand, I can't shake the feeling that we're heading in a direction that might not be right for the business.

The customer reality

Our 10 paying customers use about half our features on average.

Not "all of them occasionally." I mean they genuinely only engage with a subset. Some love galleries and payments. Others rely heavily on contracts and CRM. Very few use everything.

So the question I keep asking myself:

If our current customers only use half our features, why do we think feature #7 (moodboards) will somehow change this equation?

The uncomfortable answer: It probably won't.

What's the core?

When we launched, it was clearer: Picstome helps photographers share photos with their clients.

But somewhere along the way, that got fuzzy. Now we pitch ourselves as a "toolset for photographers."

That sounds impressive. But here's the problem: it doesn't mean anything specific.

Galleries? That's clearly for photo delivery.

Contracts? That's for signing agreements.

CRM? That's for managing client relationships.

Payments? That's for getting paid.

Bio links? For Instagram marketing.

Moodboards? For visual inspiration before shoots?

We've gone from solving one problem really well to trying to solve six problems adequately.

And the result? New users land on our homepage and see a long list of features. They have to figure out which ones matter to them. Which ones they'll actually use. Which ones make this worth paying for.

That's a lot of cognitive load.

The tension

Here's where I'm stuck.

My cofounder genuinely believes moodboards would be valuable. And he should know. He's a photographer, he's our main customer, and he's the one talking to other photographers. When he says moodboards would help, he's speaking from experience.

But when I look at our code, our 10 customers, and our limited resources, I see something different:

We'd be implementing functionality that's 90% identical to galleries
We'd be adding more complexity to an already feature-rich product
We'd be spending time that could go into polishing what we already have
We're still early-stage with 10 customers and I'm not sure adding more features is the right move

This isn't about my cofounder being wrong. It's about two people trying to figure out what direction to take.

The features trap

I've started to wonder if early-stage founders like us fall into a trap. We think:

More features = more value = more customers
We need to keep adding to be "complete"
Our main customer wants it, so it must be right

But what if all of that is wrong?

What if the path to success isn't adding, but removing?

What if having 3 incredible features is better than having 12 adequate ones?

What if focusing on one problem and solving it better than anyone else beats trying to solve ten problems in a mediocre way?

I don't know the answer. But I'm starting to suspect that's where the truth lies.

The dopamine of building

Here's another uncomfortable truth:

Building features feels like progress even when it's not.

When I spend three weeks coding moodboards, I can point to lines of code written, tickets closed, and a feature shipped. It looks like I'm moving the needle.

But when I think about what we actually need, more customers, better retention, clearer positioning, that progress is harder to see.

So what do we do? We default to what feels productive. We build.

But building doesn't pay the bills. Customers do.

Where I'm at

So here's my honest situation:

I'm paused before starting the moodboards feature.

I'll probably end up building it. My cofounder wants it, and there's real merit to his argument. He's a photographer who knows what photographers need. And to be fair, I'm not the one facing customers or hearing their feedback.

But I'm uneasy about it.

I feel like we should pause as a team and check in on our current status. Talk about:

What's actually working right now?
What problem are we trying to solve?
Are we building for growth or just building?
Should we focus on polishing what we have before adding more?

Maybe the answer is that moodboards make perfect sense and I'm overthinking it.

Or maybe the answer is that we need to rethink our direction entirely.

I don't know.

For other founders

If you're reading this and nodding your head, here's what I'd ask you:

What's the ONE problem your product solves better than anyone else?
Which features do your best customers actually use?
How do you balance building what your main customer wants vs what's right for the business?
When do you stop adding and start focusing?

I don't have all the answers. I'm figuring this out as I go, just like you are.

What I do know is that features are not product value. They're the delivery mechanism for value. And sometimes, the best delivery mechanism is the simplest one.

But knowing that and acting on it? That's where I'm stuck.

I'd genuinely love to hear from other founders who've been in this position. How do you navigate product direction with your cofounders? How do you know when to keep building vs when to focus?

Maybe there's no right answer. Maybe you just keep trying until you figure it out.