Everyone Said "Just Start Building." The Master Document Changed Everything
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
By Ivan Bulut
Founder, URLcut.ai
Write the Strategy Before You Write the Code: The Leadership Decision That Shaped URLcut.ai
Before writing a single line of production code for my AI URL shortener, I spent four months writing strategy.
Not a business plan. Not a pitch deck. A 4,265-line technical and strategic document that would guide every decision.
That choice? It shaped everything.
Everyone Said "Just Start Building."
The pressure was constant.
The market moves fast. Competitors ship daily. Investors want traction. Your brain screams, "Stop planning and start doing!"
I ignored it all.
Instead, I asked one question: What do Bitly, TinyURL, Rebrandly, and Short.io have in common?
Answer: They have 50+ features. They're complex. They try to serve everyone.
I decided that URLcut.ai would have 12 features.
Not because we couldn't build more. Because we shouldn't. Every feature we don't build is a decision to stay focused.
You can't get that clarity from building fast and iterating. You get it from thinking deeply before building anything.
One Document. Every Decision.
AI_CONTEXT.md became our single source of truth.
Every conversation with Claude, my AI coding assistant, starts there. It contains everything:
What we're building: AI-powered URL shortener with meaningful slugs
What we're NOT building: Team workspaces, OAuth providers, complex dashboards
Why constraints matter: Focus beats features
Multiple times, I suggested features that sounded good.
"What if we add team collaboration?"
The document reminded me: We solve one problem exceptionally well, not many problems poorly.
This wasn't just strategy. It was discipline.
Four Months Lost. Four Years Saved.
The short-term cost was obvious.
Competitors launched faster. They added features we didn't have. They marketed while I was still writing documentation.
The long-term benefit? Everything.
We shipped with zero major pivots. Clear positioning. Features that actually work together. Every line of code serves the core promise.
When users ask, "Do you have team features?" I don't apologize.
I say, "We chose to perfect AI URL suggestions instead of building half-working team features. That's the trade-off we made."
They respect honest strategy.
Three Values. Zero Compromise.
Four months of deep thinking crystallized our core:
1. Transparency
Real metrics. Not "trusted by thousands" but "40 users, $36 MRR, 6 weeks live."
2. Focus
One problem solved exceptionally well. Random URLs feel like scams. Our AI creates trustworthy, memorable links.
3. Ruthless Prioritization
Every "yes" means ten "no" responses. We say no constantly.
These aren't marketing slogans. They're decision filters.
When LemonSqueezy suggested adding a "Deluxe" tier between Free and Pro, we said no. Complexity isn't better. Clarity is.
12 Features. 50 Rejected.
Six weeks live. Twelve features. Zero regrets about those four months.
Competitors keep adding features. We keep improving the twelve we have.
They're chasing trends. We're executing a plan.
Here's what strategic patience gave us:
No wasted code on features users don't want
Clear positioning as a Bitly alternative focused on trust
Users who understand exactly what we do
A roadmap based on strategy, not panic
The leadership lesson isn't "plan more."
It's "know what you're building before you build it."
I'd Do It Again Tomorrow
Four months of strategy. Four years of clarity.
URLcut.ai isn't the biggest URL shortener. It's the most focused.
That focus came from leadership willing to resist the pressure to ship fast and instead ship right.
A month of strategic thinking saves six months of rebuilding. Six months of rebuilding costs you the market.
The hardest leadership decision wasn't about technology or funding.
It was about patience.
The discipline to write the strategy before writing the code.
That decision shaped everything that followed.
And I'd make it again tomorrow.
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