What's actually slowing you down when you build?

Hey all!

Quick question for founders and indie hackers: what's slowing you down when you're actually building something new?

I'm specifically interested in the building; the getting-users conversation is for another day! Specifically, I'm curious whether the scaffolding 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. everything around it?

Curious to hear from all kinds of builders, AI-assisted or not; though especially those who are hands-on with their codebase day-to-day.

I'm doing customer discovery in this space; genuine curiosity, not a pitch. If you want to go deeper, I'd love a 30-minute chat! Book a slot that works for your schedule here