... that has to exist before your core product does ever feels like a tax: auth, billing, permissions, user management, that kind of thing. A few things I'd love to know: Are you starting from a boilerplate or template (ShipFast, SaaS Pegasus, etc.), rolling your own, or reaching for standalone tools like Clerk or Stripe? If you use a template, does it actually solve the problem, or do you find yourself fighting it as requirements evolve? Same question for standalone ... ... tools: does Clerk or Stripe get you where you need to go, or do you find yourself working around them? How much of your early building time would you say goes to "the thing" vs