Plenty of tools get by being ugly, but that's not the point. Github is killing it right now, and they're killing it by having a very well designed product that developers really like to use.
Thinking of your (team's) effort as a zero sum equation can get you in to trouble. Yes, you only have limited time and effort, but on the flip side, all the time you spend doing something, you're training. By building ugly things, you're training yourself to build... well... ugly things.
I very much agree. I'm a (grad student) statistician and most of my time is spent developing models, running simulations, etc.. But once I have all the results, I need to find a way to present them in a way that is both informative, and inviting.
So I had to learn how to make beautiful plots. I used to be terrible at it, but one of my supervisors was very strict about plots: he would literally refuse to read reports in which plots weren't perfect (even draft reports). So I learnt how to make great plots (using ggplot2 for those who know R). At first, it took me forever to make any plot. Now, I can make very good ones in seconds.
So yes, instead of thinking of zero sum games, think of it as training.
Thinking of your (team's) effort as a zero sum equation can get you in to trouble. Yes, you only have limited time and effort, but on the flip side, all the time you spend doing something, you're training. By building ugly things, you're training yourself to build... well... ugly things.