Why I Threw Away ReplyFabric 0.1 and Started Over

When you’re building something new, the temptation is strong to cut corners. To get it live. To prove it works.

That’s exactly what I did with ReplyFabric 0.1. It worked — in the sense that it was online, connected to mailboxes, and doing its thing. But when I started using it myself and meeting potential customers, reality hit me in the face:

It wasn’t good enough.

The Hard Truth From Early Users

In those first meetings, people told me what they really needed. Not in abstract terms, but in the practical day-to-day way teams handle email. Suddenly, my shortcuts showed.

• Too many things were hardcoded
• Too little room for configuration
• Too much tunnel vision on my part

The product was a one-size-fits-all platform. But “fits all” is hard. And version 0.1 simply didn’t.

Hitting Reset in Italy

So I stopped. Packed a notebook, went to Piemonte and Lombardy, and nearly cut myself off from digital life. Good food (and wine), good weather, open space, pen and paper.

There, I forced myself to go back to first principles. No code. No UI mockups. Just core concepts, abstract and analytical. I tried to crack the hardest code: what really makes ReplyFabric ReplyFabric?

It was tough. But eventually, it clicked.

From Tunnel Vision to LEGO Bricks

The new vision was clear: ReplyFabric can’t be a closed system. It has to be modular. Think about adding integrations with 3rd party systems or collaboration with external AI Agents. A set of LEGO bricks that form the core, with space for plug-and-play add-ons.

That way:

• Customers get flexibility
• The product grows with their needs
• We can innovate without rebuilding the foundation every time

Version 0.1 hadn’t prepared for that. Version 1 will.

Back to Belgium, Back to Work

Now I’m back home, just finished a new scope document based on those Italy notes. It feels right.
Yes, I’ve “lost” time. But I prefer losing two months now over losing six later when the cracks are too deep to ignore.

This reset means the timeline shifts. Instead of early September, I’m aiming for early October. That’s when I’ll be at Rare Founders (https://www.rarefounders.com/) in London, October 7–8 — and I want ReplyFabric fully up and running by then.

That’s the founder’s journey: launch fast, learn fast, rebuild smarter.

Follow this journey as we get closer to launch.