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I Killed This in 24 Hours - Here's Why That's Good

Sometimes the best decision is to kill a project fast. Here's how I validated, killed, and learned from a project in one day—and why that's a win.

4 min read
By SloppyBuilder
I Killed This in 24 Hours - Here's Why That's Good

I Killed This in 24 Hours - Here's Why That's Good

What I Thought I Was Building

I had an idea: "AI-powered meeting notes that summarize and extract action items."

The opportunity seemed obvious:

  • Everyone hates taking meeting notes
  • AI can summarize better than humans
  • Market exists (Otter, Fireflies, etc.)

So I built it. Fast.

Why It Failed Fast

Day 1 Morning: Built the MVP (8 hours)

  • AI summarization working
  • Action items extracted
  • Clean UI

Day 1 Afternoon: Posted on Twitter/X

  • Got 50 signups
  • 10 people actually used it

Day 1 Evening: User feedback

  • "Why would I pay for this when Otter is free?"
  • "I already have Fireflies integrated with my calendar"
  • "The action items aren't accurate enough"

The problem: I didn't validate the differentiation before building.

The Real Opportunity I Missed

I should have asked: "What makes this different from Otter/Fireflies?"

The real opportunity wasn't "AI meeting notes" (saturated market). It was something specific:

  • Meeting notes for scattered builders (specific audience)
  • Action items formatted for scattered thinking (specific format)
  • Integration with scattered-friendly tools (specific workflow)

I built generic. I needed specific.

Time & Money Saved

Time invested: 24 hours
Cost: $0 (free AI APIs, Vercel free tier)
Value: Learned to validate differentiation before building

Alternative: I could have spent 3 months building features, then realized the same thing. 24 hours vs. 3 months = massive win.

What I Learned

  1. Saturated markets need differentiation - Don't build generic solutions
  2. Validate differentiation first - Ask "what makes this different?" before building
  3. Fast failure = fast learning - 24 hours taught me more than 3 months of planning would have

The Perfectionism Trap (Avoided)

I almost kept building because "maybe if I add more features, it'll work."

The trap: Sunk cost fallacy. "I already built it, so I should keep going."

Reality: I learned what I needed to learn. Time to kill it and build something else.

Should You Actually Build This?

No. But here's what you should do:

  1. Validate differentiation first - What makes your idea different?
  2. Kill fast when validation fails - Don't waste months on a bad idea
  3. Celebrate fast failures - They're learning, not losses

Bottom Line: Killing a project in 24 hours isn't failure—it's strategic speed. You learned what you needed to learn without wasting months.