Exactly right. The "start simple and add the complexity where and when it’s needed" is a badly flawed way of thinking, in web apps, because once an app becomes too big to manage without BOTH a framework AND a type-safe language (TypeScript) then it you realize everything you've done up to that point must be reworked line by line, which costs you weeks, and you have to retest everything, and will make mistakes as you try to fix the mess. It's a mess that's easily avoided, just by using a framework from day one.

You can't just switch horses in the middle of the stream. You have to ride back to the ranch, saddle up on a different horse, and restart your entire journey on a better horse.