Why Entrepreneurs Should Build Their Own Tools
And How to Do It Without Burning Out
We're entering a fascinating inflection point in software development. For decades, the mantra has been "don't reinvent the wheel" – subscribe to SaaS products, piece together existing solutions, and adapt your workflow to the market's tools. However, the emergence of powerful AI coding assistants is quietly shifting this paradigm.
Today, building custom tools for your specific needs isn't just becoming easier – it's starting to make more economic sense. With AI-powered development, you can create a purpose-built solution in hours instead of weeks, often at a fraction of the cost of annual SaaS subscriptions. Why pay $100 monthly for a bloated CRM when you could spend a weekend building precisely what you need, nothing more, nothing less?
This isn't about replacing every SaaS tool in your stack. Instead, it's about recognizing that the barrier to creating custom solutions has dropped dramatically. When a tool doesn't fit your workflow, you no longer choose between expensive subscriptions or painful compromises. Instead, you can leverage AI to craft solutions that match your exact needs, speak your language, and solve your specific problems.
The real revolution isn't in the technology itself – it's in the shift in mindset it enables. We're moving from a world of "what tools can I find?" to "what tools can I imagine?" And for many businesses, that's making the build-versus-buy decision look very different than it did just a few years ago.
The Problem With Off-the-Shelf Tools
Let's say you need a CRM. You sign up for one of the big names. It's sleek, expensive, and takes six clicks to do what should take one. It tries to predict your sales pipeline, remind you to follow up, and offer AI insights—when all you really need is to track your conversations, remember key people, and group things by project or region.
Eventually, you realize you're not trying to run a Salesforce org. You need a better spreadsheet with some memory.
That sparked the idea behind Anvil, a homegrown CRM that lets me track contacts across multiple states, projects, to-dos, notes, and weekly reports—nothing more, nothing less.
The available tools didn't give me that, at least not without paying $100 a month, so I built it myself.
Off-the-shelf solutions aren't built for you. They're built for the average user. They try to serve thousands of workflows, but they serve none perfectly.
You know what you need. You live your problems. When your tool matches your work, everything speeds up. Decisions get clearer. Your business becomes an extension of your thinking, not a translation layer between what you want and what someone else's software allows.
With tools like Claude Code, you can quickly build precisely what you want and host it yourself. But what do you need to know to do this? This article will walk you through a framework to help you solve your problems without creating more.
Start Where You Are: Discovery
Start with the problem, not the product. What are you struggling with now that no tool seems to help with? That's your goldmine.
For Anvil, I was drowning in notes, to-dos, Slack messages, and half-finished project updates. There wasn't a single place where I could say, "Okay, what's going on with this person in this project in this state?"
So, I started really simple: a Google Spreadsheet.
It had three tabs:
Contacts
Projects
Notes
Each tab is linked together using IDs. Within a week, something worked better than 90% of the CRMs I'd tried. Why? Because it was mine. I knew where everything was, how to update it, and what it did.
I had tried it in Notion, but the experience wasn't quite right. The layouts would cause more confusion, and the connections between databases were highly limiting. I might be the only person that hates Notion, so take that with a grain of salt.
Your first tool should feel like a cheat code. You're not ready to build if it doesn't simplify your life immediately. Keep exploring the pain.
Many builders go wrong from the start. They jump to solutions—"I'll build an AI dashboard!"—before understanding the problem. Don't fall in love with your solution; fall in love with the problem.
Discovery questions to ask yourself:
What tasks do I repeat at least three times a week?
Where do I waste the most time clicking between tools?
What information do I constantly have to look up?
What process causes me to make the most mistakes?
When you can answer these questions with specific examples from your work, you've found a problem worth solving.
Prototype Without Guilt
The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is your new best friend.
This is where most solopreneurs freeze. They assume that building a tool means launching a full-featured web app with authentication, syncing, cloud hosting, and AI integrations.
Wrong.
The prototype aims to answer one question: Does this help me get through my day faster, more clearly, and with less effort?
If yes, keep going.
After the spreadsheet proved its worth for Anvil, I built a lightweight version in Django using Tailwind components. I didn't worry about design polish. I just needed:
A dashboard
A way to add/edit contacts
Project associations
Linked notes and tasks
A weekly report that aggregated updates
I'm 3.5 hours in so far and am jazzed about the result. But because I already knew what I needed, I wasn't guessing—I was translating.
Your app doesn't need to be fancy. It needs to be useful. Basecamp started as an internal tool that solved real problems. It wasn't built to disrupt. It was built to help.
The same principle applies to your prototype: build what makes your work demonstrably better, not what looks impressive to others.
Prototype Tip:
Use tools you already know. If you're a spreadsheet wizard, build in Sheets or Airtable. If you're comfortable in Rails or Django, start there. If you've never written a line of code, try a no-code tool like Glide or Notion.
Remember: the goal isn't to create a perfect system—it's to make one for you right now. You can always iterate later.
Validation: Use It, Don't Sell It
You are the target audience. That's the beauty of building for yourself.
Validation isn't about launching on Product Hunt or getting a bunch of upvotes on Reddit. It's about using the damn thing every single day.
For three weeks, I've used Anvil as my command center. I logged interactions, updated notes, captured follow-ups, and wrote reports straight out of it.
Over time, a pattern emerged:
I didn't need tags. Just simple project associations.
I needed a note history, not a fancy editor.
I wanted my weekly report emailed to my clients straight from the tool.
That's real validation. It's not about what looks good on a pitch deck but what gets opened every morning when you start work.
Make it small to make it great. When you're the only user, go deep, not wide. Please yourself. That's it. This constraint frees you. You build with conviction, not consensus.
The validation phase teaches you which features matter. Often, it's not what you initially thought. You might discover that the built-in quick entry form saves you more time than the elaborate dashboard you planned. Or that automation matters less than having clear visibility into your data.
Once your tool becomes essential, you've validated it. Full stop.
The Framework (a.k.a. Your Path to Completely Custom Tools)
Here's a repeatable, rinse-and-repeat framework you can use for any tool you want to build:
1. Discovery
Identify a recurring pain.
Test solutions manually (spreadsheets, checklists, sticky notes).
Watch for friction points.
2. Prototype
Build the most straightforward version that solves 80% of the problem.
Stick to tools you know.
Focus on clarity over complexity.
3. Validate
Use it daily.
Track what's annoying or broken.
Improve only what gets in the way.
4. Decide: Local vs. Hosted
Can it run on your laptop forever? Great.
Need collaboration? Consider hosting it on something simple like DigitalOcean or Fly.io.
Need accounts, backups, and versioning? You're officially moving into "production," but only after it proves its value.
This framework scales. Use it for a simple spreadsheet or a web app. The rules don't change: solve real problems, start simple, validate by using, expand when needed.
Embrace boring technology. Proven tools beat cutting-edge ones. A Django or Rails app won't get headlines like the newest JavaScript framework. But it will cause fewer headaches.
The Real Win: Agency
Most solopreneurs think of software as something they have to learn to use. But the real mind shift happens when you realize you can make it work for you.
When you build your own tools, even small ones, you reclaim time, control, and flexibility. You're not waiting for a feature request. You're not stuck on a pricing tier. You're not guessing what someone else meant when they labeled something "insight."
You know, because you built it. And it's yours.
This is the difference between being a consumer and a creator in your own business. Consumers adapt to the tools they're given, while creators shape the tools to fit their needs.
Agency also means freedom from the subscription economy (almost). While many SaaS products have value, the cumulative cost—both financial and cognitive—of maintaining dozens of subscriptions can drain a solopreneur's resources. Building your own core tools lets you invest in the infrastructure that matters most to you while being selective about which external services truly deserve a place in your stack.
The Compounding Returns of Custom Tools
What starts as a simple tool often evolves into a competitive advantage. When your systems are tailored to your specific needs, you operate with less friction than competitors trying to bend generic tools to their will.
Consider these long-term benefits:
Efficiency: Tasks that once took hours now take minutes because your tool speaks your language.
Insight: You gather data specific to your business, not generic metrics software companies think you should track.
Adaptability: As your business evolves, your tools can evolve with it—no migration headaches or feature requests.
Knowledge: Building tools teaches you about your own processes in ways that using off-the-shelf solutions never could.
Time compounds these advantages. Your spreadsheet becomes a web app. Your web app adds automation. Automation creates insights. Insights drive growth. A weekend project becomes your business backbone.
Final Thoughts: Build Like a Craftsman, Not a Founder
You're not trying to pitch this to VCs, and you don't need to scale it to 10,000 users. You're building it to solve your daily, messy human problems.
That's the beauty of being an entrepreneur with a toolkit. You're not building a startup. You're crafting a system.
And systems scale way better than stress.
Craftspeople value quality over quantity, fit over features, and longevity over launch hype. They build something that serves you daily, not something that impresses once and frustrates you forever.
Your time matters most. It's your scarcest resource. Custom tools should give time back, not take more. If building feels like a second job instead of an investment, stop. Reassess.
Want to start building?
Here's a 3-day challenge to get going:
Day 1: Write down one daily task that drains your time or focus.
Day 2: Prototype a simple fix in a tool you already know.
Day 3: Use it. See how it feels. Refine.
Repeat until your workday feels lighter. That's the spark you're chasing.
Don't build the perfect tool. Build a tool ideal for you right now. Start small. Iterate often. Follow real needs, not imagined ones.
Your future self will thank you.
Next week, I'll explore some skills you can add to your toolkit to help you vibe code new solutions safely.