8 things I cut from Struvo V1
Cut greater than add. The features that didn't earn their slot, and what I'd kill again.
The rule
Every V1 feature has to earn its slot. The default is no.
When I started Struvo I had a 60-feature spec. V1 ships with 12. The other 48 weren't bad ideas — they were ideas that didn't earn their slot. Here are the 8 I'm gladdest I cut.
1. In-app messaging
Why it sounded right: Construction GCs need to coordinate. We could have built a messaging UI inside Struvo.
Why I cut it: They already use SMS, WhatsApp, and phone calls. We'd be the third messaging surface they'd have to check. Wouldn't earn its slot.
2. AI-powered chat assistant
Why it sounded right: Every product has one in 2026. Looks current.
Why I cut it: It's the laziest feature in software. It doesn't change the model of what the product does. It doesn't earn revenue. Skipping it forces us to build the product correctly instead of slapping a chat sticker on a broken UX.
3. Mobile native app
Why it sounded right: Field guys have phones. Native feels right.
Why I cut it: A PWA gets us 90% of native at 20% of the cost. The remaining 10% — push notifications, offline sync — we ship one at a time as needed.
4. Multi-tenant white-label
Why it sounded right: Other contractors might want a Struvo of their own.
Why I cut it: We have one customer. We don't need multi-tenant abstraction. We need that one customer to love us. Multi-tenant is a feature for after we have 50 customers.
5. Custom report templates
Why it sounded right: Every GC has their own report format.
Why I cut it: We picked one canonical template and made it good. Customizing per-customer is a feature pattern that scales linearly with customers — never the right shape for V1.
6. Calendar integration
Why it sounded right: Construction work is scheduled.
Why I cut it: Google Calendar, Microsoft, Apple — three integrations to ship. We deferred and asked the customer to keep using their existing calendar. Not one customer has asked for the integration since.
7. Real-time collaborative editing
Why it sounded right: "Like Notion."
Why I cut it: We're not Notion. The shared inspection report doesn't need 5 cursors at once. Last-write-wins is fine for V1.
8. Audit log UI
Why it sounded right: Compliance.
Why I cut it: We log everything to the DB and have a query interface. The full UI for browsing audit logs is a feature for the year we have a customer who needs SOC 2. Ship it then.
What you can steal
The pattern in all 8 cuts: each one was something the product would BE BETTER WITH but isn't worse without.
The bar for V1 isn't "would this make the product better?" It's "does the product fail without this?"
If the answer is no, cut it.