To all those arguing for custom design: Sure, having a killer design is first prize, all other things being equal. However, in a lean startup resources aren't

To all those arguing for custom design: Sure, having a killer design is first prize, all other things being equal. However, in a lean startup resources aren't infinite - you have to decide where to put your time and money. Marketing has a concept called "point-of-parity/point-of-difference" [1] that I think might be useful here. Bootstrap without any customisations gives you parity - your design doesn't suck anymore. Once you've achieved parity and your customer feedback indicates that design is hurting you, iterate the design. Building a todo list for designers? Pay lots for design. Building a technical app for builders? I suspect once you have relative parity they'll buy based on how well you target their needs. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Points-of-parity/points-of-difference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Points-of-parity/points-of-diff...