Why do founders get stuck fixing bugs instead of growing revenue?
Short answer
Because when you build your own software, the clients who already pay you need constant fixes, and that crowds out selling. My fix: prioritize sales to fund help, protect one day a week for content, and consolidate overlapping systems so you're not fixing the same thing in two places.
I fell into this in 2026.
"we're not moving the ball forward to make money because I'm spending so much time fixing all these things because we have to fix the things to keep at least some of the people paying us happy"
Why does it happen?
Building your own software means constant bug fixing for the clients who pay you. Those fixes have to happen to keep them happy, and they eat the time that should go to selling.
By September 2026 it looked like this for me: a few software products, two to four customers on each, and me bug fixing all day. That's not enough money to survive on, and not enough to bring anyone on.
Why not just hire a developer?
I tried. When I had more money, every experience with cheaper developers was literally worse than doing it myself with AI. You're paying money to be worse.
The only good fix would be a Silicon Valley-level engineer who could take it and run, 10x better than me. Somebody that good has no reason to work with me when I'm not paying $150,000 to $200,000 a year.
How do I get out?
- Prioritize sales to fund help. Cold email, LinkedIn, content. If I have more money, I can offload all this bug fixing to somebody else.
- Guard one day a week. Mine is Monday, for content.
- Weigh opportunities by their support load. A business that produces revenue but keeps me stuck in support or bug fixing may be worse than a more concentrated one.
How do I get the money to hand it off?
Land a handful of real customers. My plan was to get five or 10 legit companies to say yes, we want this. Right now, I think investors would say it looks really cool and to come back with 30 or 50 users. A few serious customers make it an easy sell to investors, and that money is what pays someone else to fix the bugs.
What if my systems overlap?
Consolidate them. At one point I had two overlapping codebases running what was supposed to be one system. In my words at the time: "It just feels like complete chaos to be trying to have one system, yet it's technically two. I don't know which one to talk to."
For a non-technical operator, not knowing which project to instruct is its own bug factory. My goal is 500 locations running the same design and the same system, so I asked the AI to think from first principles and consolidate into one home instead of patching across two.
What standard should "fixed" meet?
Normally reliable, with occasional exceptions you can act on. Fix real problems, don't alert on non-problems, and don't let a stream of "action required" emails become normal. More in whether AI agents can run a business yet.
And before building more features, define how you'll sell. See why good software products fail.
Answered by TJ Larkin. From team, peer and client calls and working sessions in 2026, and my written operating principles. Last updated .