Thank you for your kind review! There is an upgrade to go faster, but I agree that the speed in the beginning is super slow.
It's interesting seeing other people's experiences: my hope was that Days 1 & 2 would feel strained (but you could buy at least one upgrade), Days 3-5 would feel balanced, and then by Day 6 & 7 you're cruising. I think some people felt that arc, but not others. Balance is hard in a game jam and seeing all the comments really help inform how I can tweak this in the future.