The real cost of a feature: why we killed 3 ‘good ideas’ before shipping

Hey Indie Hackers,

I’m Julien — founder of Linkeme, a SaaS that automates social media content for small teams and solo founders.

If you’re like me, you probably have a backlog full of “great ideas” that users suggested, friends recommended, or your inner perfectionist keeps pushing you to build.

At one point, I was proud of that list.

Now I see it differently:

Every feature has a cost — and most of them are quietly expensive.

Here are 3 ideas we decided not to build, and what it taught us about staying lean:

1. Multi-workspace support

This sounded great. One user wanted to manage several businesses from one account. Technically doable.

But when we looked closer, it meant:

• Complex user permission logic

• A new UX layer

• A potential delay on 3 features already validated

We asked that user: would you still use Linkeme with separate logins? They said yes. So we killed the idea — for now.

2. In-app analytics dashboard

We thought it would be cool to show likes, reach, CTR, etc., right in Linkeme.

But after talking to users, most already checked that data on LinkedIn or Instagram themselves. What they really wanted was to know if they posted consistently — not vanity metrics.

We replaced the idea with a simple “posting consistency tracker” instead. Took 1 day to build. Users loved it.

3. Hashtag suggestion engine

We even had a prototype. But once we tested it, the added value was marginal.

It cluttered the UI, slowed down post creation, and created questions like:

“Why these hashtags?”

“What if I want to remove them?”

Turns out our users didn’t want AI to optimize their content — they wanted it to be done. We scrapped the feature.

What I learned:

Every feature takes time. But worse: it takes focus.

The cost isn’t just in code — it’s in complexity, UX, onboarding, documentation, and maintenance.

Saying no to decent ideas is hard. But if you say yes to too many, you end up building a product that’s impressive… and irrelevant.

If you’re in that feature-cutting phase, I’d love to hear how you handle it. What’s the last thing you didn’t ship — and why?

Julien