Build In PublicApril 28, 2026

Dropping My Moral Perfectionism Finally Unlocked My Business Thinking

I used to reject marketing, sales, and trends as 'beneath me.' Then I realized my moral high ground was just a filter that kept blocking real opportunities.

01

Two days ago, I was redesigning my project's landing page. The moment I got to the Hero section, I froze.

Every competitor out there is shouting "days not weeks," "ship in hours," "launch in a week" — and I deeply resented that kind of messaging. Too shallow. Too formulaic. Too assembly-line.

So I insisted on avoiding the word "fast." I kept trying to use words like "reliable" and "solid" instead.

But no matter how I wrote it, it never had the punch those other pages had. Until I honestly admitted something to myself — "fast" is genuinely one of my goals too. I also want to launch multiple SaaS products and increase my odds of success. That's a perfectly normal thing to want.

When I built my first project, the whole plan was to set up the framework and then blitz through development in a day or two.

That's when it hit me — what was really blocking me wasn't the copy. It was my moral perfectionism.

02

Looking back, I'd been resenting way too many things over the past six months:

  • I resented talking about speed — felt too "markety."
  • I resented chasing trends — felt too shallow.
  • I resented shipping multiple products — felt too industrial.
  • I resented integrating AI — felt like bandwagoning.
  • I resented the very idea of selling — "a technical person shouldn't be doing sales."

I thought this was "having principles," "having taste," "being different."

But today I finally see it — every one of those resentments was a filter, automatically screening out opportunities one by one.

  • I resented talking about speed → and handed the category narrative to everyone else.
  • I resented chasing trends → and let others take the attention highway.
  • I resented shipping multiple products → and trapped myself in "perfecting one thing forever."
  • I resented integrating AI → and denied my users the efficiency they could have had.
  • I resented selling → and made it nearly impossible to earn anything.

Every resentment was a potential opportunity lost.

03

So, did I actually believe these things were completely useless?

Of course not.

  • Talking about speed is an action. The core truth is acknowledging that users "want to save time" — nothing wrong with that. I want that too.
  • Chasing trends is an action. The core truth is staying in sync with where attention flows — nothing wrong with that. If I genuinely have the experience to do it well, why not? And let's be honest — a lot of big money comes from trends.
  • Shipping multiple products is an action. The core truth is "try every possibility, build multiple income streams" — what's wrong with that? Most successful indie hackers do exactly this.
  • Integrating AI is an action. The core truth is making users more productive. I use AI constantly myself — for writing, for coding.
  • Selling is an action. The core truth is delivering value to people who actually need it — as long as the value is real, the delivery isn't "low." If you don't deliver, then what? Keep it locked on your computer and celebrate alone?

These things got labeled "low" not because they inherently are, but because my brain had a set of survival filters that didn't fit the real world.

All those self-imposed restrictions weren't moral principles. They were a perfectionism hijacked by the need to be "different." I was using superficial "non-commercialism" to prove I was pure — but the cost was missing one real opportunity after another.

So I suddenly understood — things in this world are inherently neutral. What matters is the intention behind them. If something benefits both others and yourself, why pretend you don't see it?

After admitting "I also want to make money," "I also want to ship more products," "I also want to use existing tools to move faster" — I felt lighter. The number of projects I could pursue multiplied overnight. The entire business world suddenly opened up.

04

Real moral integrity isn't "I'm different from everyone else." It's "I do this because I genuinely believe in it and use it myself, so I want to bring it to others who need it too."

Surface-level moral integrity protects a false self. Core moral integrity supports a real one.

The moment I took off that outer shell, I realized — what I thought were principles had actually been chains.

Business is something you have to get in the ring for.

And today, I finally stepped in. No shame in that. Pay4SaaS — spend your time on your product, not your billing system. Ship fast and ship solid.

Subscriptions, credits, access control, billing pipelines — all the complex, error-prone parts are already handled. Just plug it into your project and start charging. If you need it, come get it.