# The brutal reality of building messaging features

Source: https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1928847135216382109
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/The-brutal-reality-of-building-messaging-features?index=0x683b51c5b15dced4ed12d70410469cbedccba63e4b2cebf09c3c8f500b26cb58a955b0b4
Submitted by tim on 2025-05-31 UTC, 1 upvote, 0 comments

## Summary

The article argues that building messaging features is extremely hard to do well, because users expect near-perfect delivery, feature parity with existing chat apps, and reach to every contact. It says small teams cannot compete in this space and mature teams need relentless execution just to be considered. It also claims that success can be a net negative for user growth, because users then stop sharing the product's links and content with third-party apps.

## Article

Whenever a team considers adding messaging to their app, I always remind them of the 1970s FedEx tagline: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there.”

That’s basically the standard you’re up against. Messaging is the most brutally competitive space on Earth. Replacing a user’s existing chat threads not only requires a miracle—but also 100% delivery rates, feature parity, and the ability to reach every possible contact. There is no margin for error.

For small teams, it’s a non-starter: you simply cannot compete. For mature teams, it requires relentless execution to make it even into the Consideration Stage.

And ironically, if you succeed, it can often be a net negative to user growth because it leads users to stop distributing your links & content to third-party apps.