What goes on the list

Three items. Each is one sentence.

Each item has to be a plausible feature someone might actually want. Not silly things like "this product does not levitate." Real features that a real customer might ask for, that you are committing to NOT building.

Look at three companies you use and see how they did it.

Linear (the project management tool):

• Linear does NOT have Kanban boards. (They chose lists instead. Trello and Asana have Kanban. Linear refuses.)
• Linear does NOT have built-in chat. (Slack exists. Linear integrates with it instead of competing.)
• Linear does NOT auto-summarize issues with AI by default. (Plugins only. The core product stays lean.)

Each of those is a feature a competitor has. Linear refuses each one. The refusals are the product. Most teams who choose Linear specifically chose it because of what it doesn't have.

Stripe:

• Stripe does NOT do consumer wallet apps. (Square Cash and Venmo do. Stripe stays in the merchant lane.)
• Stripe does NOT pay out to bank accounts in countries without strong financial regulation. (They take twelve-plus months per country to launch in.)
• Stripe did NOT do crypto custody for years. (Eventually added it cautiously through partners. The refusal was the position.)

Substack (newsletters):

• Substack does NOT have an algorithm-driven feed. (Writers reach readers through email, not via discovery. Twitter and Medium do feeds; Substack refuses.)
• Substack does NOT optimize for engagement metrics. (Subscriber count and revenue are the metrics. Likes are hidden by default.)
• Substack does NOT do comments on every post. (Writers opt in.)

You can see the pattern. The exclusions define the product as clearly as the features do. Maybe more clearly.

Now look at what does NOT belong on the list.