Why common pitfalls after a year [v5]

Posting this here because the relevant subreddit has gotten too noisy lately. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land.

This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks. Spent the last few weekends digging into this and the deeper I go the more questions I have.

Mostly thinking out loud — feel free to push back hard. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks.