This is a write up I posted over in r / entrepreneur that I thought might be applicable here.

Over the past two years, my boss (my wife) finally gave me permission to chase my crazy ideas and build a couple apps for business ideas I had. While I’ve played around with WordPress some before, I have no real technical background when it comes to coding, developing, etc.

The harsh reality is this. I wasted A LOT of time and A LOT of money because of things I had to learn the hard way. I’m hoping by sharing some of those things here, it can help some of you who have dreams that require dev (that’s what the cool kids call development), but you don’t have the technical background.

(And, yes, I will share a link to our recent app at the bottom of the post if you want to check it out looks like against the sub rules here.)

Here are nine things I think might be helpful to know/do.

1.  Start with one platform (iOS or Android).

It can be tempting to see your dream app launched on every platform out there on day 1, but there are a lot of complications that come with that. With one of our first apps, we tried to build iOS, Android, and web app (desktop) at the same time. Here’s what I didn’t see coming with that:

• It’s WAY more than just 3x more expensive. - Not only do you have to hire an iOS dev, an Android dev, a frontend web dev, and a backend dev, but you are going to have 3x as much testing to do, extra developer accounts to set up and pay for, challenges that arise when certain features don’t act the same on different platforms, additional Slack/email/etc. accounts to set up and pay for, additional design work needed for each platform, and probably a lot more I’m not thinking of right now…It is WAY more expensive than you might think, primarily for the next reason.
• Different devs work at different speeds, which means risk for wasted time. - Ever drive by a construction site and see people just sitting around because they’re waiting on someone else to finish up? The same thing is going to happen if you’re doing multiple platforms. It’s allegedly doable, but you have to sync up making sure the designs and everything are done in time, making sure the backend (which all three environments talk to) knows what’s going on, making sure features are properly discussed with everyone, etc… We tried it, and failed miserably.    

With our most recent app, we just did iOS to start and it was a wildly better experience. We hired a backend developer, an iOS developer, and a QA tester (quality assurance-I’ll cover necessary and wasteful roles in a second). Managing the project was way easier, it was far less expensive, and we got finished way quicker.

And if you’re worried about missing out on customers from the other app store, here’s a suggestion that we did. To ensure we don’t lose too many people who hear about us and have Android, we included an email capture for them to get notified when we release on there. That way, when we launch, we can send them an email and get those sign ups.

Final thought: There are things like Ionic that allow you to manage multiple platforms at once, but I have no experience with them so I can’t recommend to advise against. Just sharing. If you do choose something like this, I would recommend getting a VERY clear picture of the limitations for current features and future features you want, if any.

2. Hiring is a nightmare.

Full transparency, I won’t have the best solution for you here, but I will have a hefty list of mistakes to avoid that should be helpful.

Finding good devs is a nightmare. When I first started, I had no idea where to look, who was qualified, what I needed, or anything like that. EVERYONE tells you they’re the best in the world, and most of them are full of it.

Here’s a list of mistakes I made and maybe a few glimmers of hope.

Avoid the big box places where one person does the hiring for you.

I won’t mention the company but I met with a large talent company who said they had the top something % of devs in the world. They claimed to vet them and test them extensively. I knew they’d be a little more expensive, but the experience was beyond terrible.

First, they jack up the rates of what devs should cost sometimes by 50%+. I tried to do some research into rates beforehand, but they pulled the wool over my eyes and told me I was getting the best, so I figured it would save me in the long run (wrong). I will share some rate guidelines in a few based on my experience to give you a jumping off point.

Second, they bloat the team by a million miles. They had me hire like 9 people, which I was stupid enough to agree to. Scrum masters, designers, devs of all shapes and sizes…they told me I needed it, and I believed them (wrong).

Third, they had us do a several week “idea exploration” process to fully get the idea specifications broken out. Sounded like a good idea, but in the end, it was nothing more than a bunch of people sitting around talking and pitching ideas. I’ll talk later about how this process is important, but you don’t need 9 people full time for 2-3 weeks to accomplish it.   

Fourth, not all the devs were very good. I literally had a dev taking personal calls during our meetings and who worked maybe a few hours and tried to charge us for a full 40 each week. They were able to get us a partial refund on it, but I had to fight for it.

Worst experience of my life.

You HAVE to find a dev you can trust to help with hiring.

In the end with the first app, we cut ties with that big company and I had to pay a buyout to get the one dev from the process I trusted. That said, he was integral in helping things move forward. As we started to hire from places like Upwork and similar platforms, he was able to conduct interviews and ask really detailed technical questions to see how applicants thought about problems and if they genuinely had experience.

It still wasn’t full proof, though. For one, he didn’t have experience in every language, so he could only look at process instead of exact technical questions with some devs. Also, it’s just hard to get a feel for someone’s skill on an interview for something like this.

Here are the tips I would suggest.

• Again, find a dev you can trust. Look for someone from referrals, high ratings, etc. The better you get this, the better the rest will go. I wish I had better suggestions here, but I don’t. I am willing to make an introduction to a few of the good devs we’ve had along the way, but please don’t waste their time.
• When your trusted dev interviews candidates, have them ask hard questions. Have them ask for a link to their GitHub. Have them ask for references. Have them ask for prior projects. Have them ask to see code samples. One note here—if/when they give you code samples, see where it’s from. If it’s from a past project of another client, be on guard. This is a red flag of how they might treat your code in the future because that might not be theirs to share.
• Remember the bill is always paid by you. Be part of these interviews. If something feels wrong, don’t overlook it just because you’re excited (I did this and paid for it).
• The second you realize someone is dead weight, cut them lose. We held on to people far too long that needed to go way sooner, and that cost us a lot of wasted cash.
• Make sure the person you are interviewing is the one working on the project. We’ve seen people try and pull the switcheroo to include someone passing answers to someone during an interview lol. Make sure you’re not talking to a project lead who is going to outsource the work. Ask them point blank if they are doing 100% of the work.
• Don’t forget to factor in working hours and time zones when hiring. If you have people all over the world on different time zones, it does slow things down.
• We had disproportionately bad success with people named Connor, so maybe avoid hiring anyone named Connor. I’m kidding, but I’m also not.

Here are the roles that I think are critical, might be needed (based on your skills), and the ones that are worthless.

These are just my opinions and projects come in all shapes and sizes, so take what you want and leave the rest here.

• Backend Dev - definitely necessary. Most apps (from my understanding) have all the “logic” and thinking parts on a server and the apps just call from that server and show it on the phone.
• iOS/Android Dev - definitely necessary. You need someone who knows the platform you are building on.
• Designer - maybe necessary. This was maybe our biggest waste of money, though. I am embarrassed to say how much we paid for a designer who in the end just gave us a “style sheet” I probably could have come up with in a few hours myself. Yes, there is value in hiring a professional here, but make sure you know EXACTLY what the deliverables will be and do payment on a per project basis, not hourly.
• QA Tester - most likely needed. This is a person who tests the app for bugs and mistakes. I thought I could do this myself and realized that even though I am extremely detail oriented, I still was not the best at it. Having a good tester really did a lot for the value of our project. I do have a good tester who is only part time for us right now, so reach out if you’re looking for someone but again, please don’t waste his time.
• Scrum Master - waste of time unless you’re not involved in the project. This is like a project manager who uses a system called Scrum to manage the team. Honestly, I found Scrum to be a waste of time with way too many meetings and it had a weird hatred for deadlines, which I wasn’t a fan of at all. I actually went and took the scrum master class and test during out project to take on the role myself. In reality, I even further found scrum to be a waste of time, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me. THAT SAID, if you do not have project management experience of some type (I have a lot from past businesses and being a military officer), you should hire someone to manage the project. Additionally, I was available 24/7 due to my work at the time, so that helped a lot.
• DevOps - So, DevOps is the process that big companies use to push new “builds” (think versions) through “pipelines” to the testing team and then to “production” (what the real user sees). I have mixed feelings on this one. It 100% makes sense to protect against problems when you’re pushing updates when you have real users, but it’s also kind of a luxury in my mind. It’s super expensive to find someone good, and while I think it has helped us a lot—I still think I’d avoid it in the future until we got bigger. When you’re just doing an app, you can use things like Testflight as your test environment (provided by Apple). Also, if you’re just having your app built and trying to save, I might look to skip DevOps and build it out later once you’ve seen some success.

Here are the rough rate ideas I’ve seen from our experience.

These are really rough and just ranges based on what I saw with people we hired and didn’t hire.

Developers (all types)

• India/Middle East - $10 - $40 an hour
• Eastern Europe - $25 - $70 an hour
• Europe - $40 - $150 an hour
• U.S. - $50 - $150 an hour

A few additional notes here:

• Higher rate does NOT always mean more skilled.
• Lower rates DO generally mean less skilled, minus a really random outlier here and there.
• You can find hidden gems overseas, especially in some areas of Eastern Europe. I did find that area to be the best mix of skill and value.
• I found that everyone in the U.S. charges U.S. prices, regardless of their actual skill. In other words, the biggest discrepancies between skill and rate were in the U.S.

DevOps

• $100 - $300 an hour (could only find in the U.S. and Europe)

Scrum Masters and QA Testers

These were ALL over the place but were generally less expensive than the devs.

3. Turnover is expensive.

When you find great devs, treat them like kings and queens. When you have to bring someone new on, expect that process to take about a week, sometimes a little longer to really ramp up to speed. During this week, your lead dev (usually your most expensive) has to take their time to train up the new dev on the project. So, you’re paying for both of their time, while nothing new is being developed.

That said, don’t let this be a reason to hang on to someone who is deadweight, because that is WAY more expensive.

4. Get contracts in place for EVERYTHING.

This is a basic business rule, but a must with development. Make sure you have NDAs, non-competes for your industry, and proper contractor agreements that cover things like (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Rate of pay
• Services to be performed
• Ownership of materials
• Proprietary information
• Independent contractor status (not a partner, no taxes withheld, no insurance, etc.)
• Termination of the agreement
• Confidentiality
• Revolving disputes
• Applicable law

Again, I am not a lawyer, so these are just suggestions. Do not take any of this as legal advice. Get a real lawyer and not just the Offices of Chat GPT, Attorney at Law.

4. Research the technologies you might use first.

Just because you don’t have a technical background does not mean you shouldn’t try your best to know as much as possible. Here are a few realities:

Devs tend to pick what they like. This can be a good thing, but they might like something because it’s rare or complex. Or, it might be something new that they are learning and are excited about.

The reality is that you are not their playground. Additionally, finding replacement devs for a complex or weird coding language can be hard.

You are generally stuck with what the first dev picks. If your first dev proves to be a dud and they picked an awful language/framework, you are left with the hard choice of deleting everything or a tough hiring process.

Now, all of this is tough when you have no technical background, but here are a few tips.

• When they suggest a language/framework, look around at places like Upwork to see how many people there are saying that is their specialty. If you find none or very few (or it’s always an afterthought in their profiles), that’s probably an issue.
• Ask them to tell you WHY they chose that framework.
• Ask them to give you time to do some research on your own.
• Pay for an hour or two of another developer’s time for a consultation to get their opinion on the framework set up. Devs love to crap on other devs, so use this to really battle-test the set up.

One real world example of this is that we chose to use Microsoft Azure over AWS for our servers. In the end, I think this ended up being the right choice for us, but finding AWS devs is WAY easier than finding Azure devs, especially with the DevOps stuff. I do think more devs are trained in Azure now so it’s not as big of a deal, but just an example from when we started to give you an idea of what I mean.

5. Control the log ins.

I’m going to put this in all caps because it’s that important. MAKE SURE YOU CAN ACCESS EVERYTHING AND THAT YOU CONTROL THE LOG INS TO EVERYTHING. Your devs should never have access to something that you can’t shut them out of in an instant.

Thankfully, our first dev was super smart on this and had every person we hired get an @ lovetrackapp.com email and use that for anything and everything. That way, if you ever have to let someone go, you don’t have to worry about them having access to things that you don’t.

In practice this means, you set up the Gmail admin account, you control the domain name, you control the main access to the servers, you control the Apple Dev account, etc. You can ALWAYS add people as devs with proper permissions, but you need to be the super admin across the board. This may take a little learning on your part, but it’s doable. This doesn’t mean you just have a log in, but it means you are the super admin who clicked the “sign up” or “create account” button.

Ideally, this is never important to you, but if it ever is, you’ll be happy you did it.

6. Understand what an MVP is and be okay with it.

MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. In other words, it’s the smallest/lightest version of your app that you can build that is good enough to at least test and see if the idea is good or not.

As someone without a tech background and a lot of passion for our project, my idea of an MVP was WILDLY different from what a real MVP was—and that cost us money. The idea of an MVP is to get to market and be able to start getting users and seeing if you have a winner without breaking the bank. The problem, though, is I struggled to separate what would be a super helpful feature and what was essential.

With our first app, I blew this…hard. I thought everything was a must have when it really was not. With out most recent app (LoveTrack, a date night planner), I finally got this right. To frame the example, here’s a quick description of what it does. The app helps you plan better date nights by showing real events in your area on the day you want to have a date night, showing you custom/unique dates, and walking you through how to plan them/what you need/etc.

The only things that are essential are getting people’s basic information about what they want, showing them date ideas, and allowing them to walk through the process to plan the date. Everything else is nice and will be added later, but not part of the MVP.

The more cutthroat you can be with what you exclude from your MVP, the more you’ll save. Once you know you have a winner, go wild with the features.

There’s a small caveat to this that I’ll cover in the next section.

7. Save money by having the most obnoxiously detailed specs ever BEFORE you talk to anyone.

The single best way to save time and money with your app build is to have obnoxiously detailed specs about every feature, every screen, every functionality—everything. A LOT of the time spent with our projects that could have been saved was fleshing out functions and thinking through all different scenarios.

What I’ve learned is that with the right mindset, you can do this yourself. Doing it with the whole team is fine, but you are paying for everyone’s time in that meeting. If you only have things fleshed out to 50%, that’s a lot of overhead to get to 100%. But if you come in at 95%, it won’t take long to get the team moving on actual development.

Here’s an example of the mindset. With LoveTrack, I wanted the live events happening on the day of your date (things like concerts, plays, festivals, etc.) to show at the top of the screen after you answered some questions about your date.

When I first started (with our other apps), that’s the extent of how I would have described the feature. However, here’s what I would include with it now:

Feature: Show live events from Ticketmaster partnership at the top of main dashboard page

• Show up to X number of events.
• If fewer than X number of events exist, show Y.
• If no events exist, show Z.
• If fetching of events fails, show XY.
• If app goes offline, show XY.
• Show events in a carousel. Here are a few links to samples and screenshots that look like what I want.
• Carousel should take up roughly 1/3 of screen on most devices.
• Sort events this way.
• Here’s a sketch of the information I’d like shown for each event and how I’d like it laid out.
• If event name is too long to fit, do this.
• Navigate here if link is clicked.
• Button text should be X.
• Here’s a link to the Ticketmaster API information.

Just an example and not with the exact details, but the idea is to show you how to think of EVERYTHING. Even the simplest of buttons should be broken down this way.

If you have different membership levels, have a levels matrix where you clearly show what permissions each level of member has. The more obnoxiously detailed you can be, the better.

Marking MVP vs Future Feature

One thing that’s super important is marking which features are for MVP and which are future features. You might be asking, “Wouldn’t it confuse them to put all of this into the same document? Shouldn’t I just show them the MVP features only?”

While I get the logic here, the reality is there are ways they can build things that make way for future features down the line. So, having your devs aware of your definite future features and your “hopes and dreams” features, can really be helpful in how they build things to save you time and money down the line. A good dev will be able to give you options along the way like “we could do it this way that would work now but will make this harder later or we could do it this way now which would take X number of additional days/hours, but will make that way easier later”, and then you get to decide.

What You Think is Hard Might Not Be. Vice Versa

Something I tried to do was manage the features the devs worked on based on how long I thought it would take. I would neglect telling them about certain features because I figured it would take too long and I wanted to keep them focused to manage the budget. The problem with this is that some features I thought would take days literally took like an hour and were HUGE improvements. This was also true the other way around.

The takeaway here is to get time estimations on all the ideas you have (one thing I did like from the scrum process). I thought I knew what was easy and what was hard, and I was wrong…a lot.

8. Have a technical plan for scaling.

Quick story time—I have a friend who built an app that started off pretty successfully. They got up to 100k users, and everything was going great—until the app crashed because it wasn’t built to handle that level of volume.

If you’re expecting a ton of users, make sure you hire devs that understand scaling. The term I heard tossed around by people who seemed to know what they were talking about was “enterprise level”. Basically, these skilled devs could easily articulate to me how things would work and what would change (automatically and manually) as we got to certain user levels, with specifics.

Now, is all of this necessary from day one? Probably not. I’d say that we overspent on doing these things when we were just trying to validate an idea, but it’s not like they’re wasted costs down the line if you succeed.

And remember, every dev will tell you that they know how to scale. Find someone who has experience with it or can talk you through it without just hitting you with tech jargon.

9. Stay on your people. Daily.

Lastly, and this is an important one—trust but verify. Stay on your people daily. Get daily status reports from people. Don’t let things go for a few days or even a week. If you are not 100% transparently clear on what is going on, you’re doing it wrong. If you are ever surprised by a delay, you’re doing it wrong.

I trusted that everything was going great far too often. This cost us time, money, and quite a bit of sanity. Even a few days gets expensive with dev and can get everyone off track. There were always ripple effects that seemed to last for a while when one person was off track.

And there is a nuance here that is important. With the first apps, I did this, but I didn’t press when I didn’t understand something. I didn’t pry when I thought I was being fed a line. If they told me “worked on X feature today”, I took that as sufficient (it’s not). If you are not 100% confident in things, keep asking until you are. Be okay feeling embarrassed. I learned that the phrase “pardon my ignorance” would go a long way (but don’t use that if you think your devs will use it as a way out).

Remember, they work for you. You are paying the bill, so you deserve to understand where things are. This also makes it WAY easier to drill down on what went wrong when a deadline is missed.

Thanks for reading

Anyways, I hope this helps. If you want to check out our most recent app, it’s called LoveTrack (lovetrackapp . com). I think it’s super cool and was the first chance I got to put the lessons I learned in the past to work. If you want to support us, check it out and tell a friend!

I’ll be around to answer any questions anyone might have.

I've been an entrepreneur alongside two partners, "A" and "B," for over a decade. We've worked together closely, growing several successful businesses and, in recent years, achieved considerable success.

Recently, an acquaintance from "A's" past—let’s call him "C"—expressed interest in joining our partnership. "C" has an impressive career background and, for the past couple of years, has focused on consulting and investing. Both "A" and "B" were excited about the prospect of adding him to the team, believing that "C" could bring valuable new ideas and connections.

From my perspective, I had reservations. Over the years, we've built a strong dynamic and a foundation of mutual trust. I believed we could continue growing with just the three of us, learning and hiring as needed. I also felt that it was time to empower those within our business who had contributed significantly and deserved more ownership. Finally, I worried that introducing a new partner could shift our well-established dynamic.

Despite these concerns, "C" joined with an initial "ramp-up" phase. He quickly became a charismatic figure within the company, often introducing ideas that shook up systems we’d perfected over the years. "B" is delighted with this new arrangement, spending all his time outside office together and working closely with "C," while "A" appreciates "C’s" work but shares my discomfort with the changes to our group’s dynamics.

On my end, I’m feeling increasingly uncomfortable and checked out. I perceive "C" as somewhat political, and I suspect that "A" and "B" have shifted to align more with him, occasionally discussing business matters without including me. I also worry about setting expectations with "C" that could be problematic if he’s eventually phased out or if we need to limit his involvement.

Before "C" joined, there was an understanding that any new partner would never overshadow the primary partnership between "A," "B," and myself. But that dynamic feels as if it has now shifted, with all discussions involving "C" rather than just us three. Geographically and nationality wise, I am also separated from the others, as I work out of a different office, which only seems to deepen these divides as some discussions happen without me.

Now, I find myself at a crossroads. I’ve considered moving on to start something new where I could have the peace and autonomy I value. While I believe in my skills as an entrepreneur, I’m also acutely aware of the role that luck and timing play in success. I may not reach this level again, though perhaps I’d gain peace of mind in a solo venture.

I've received all kinds of advice—some suggest leaving now, others recommend playing it strategically and observing for a while, and some advocate for compromise to move forward.

If you were in my shoes, how would you navigate this situation? How do you decide whether to move on, wait it out, or adjust to the new dynamics in a long-standing partnership?

Hey everyone,

we’re working on Immer, a tool designed to help students cut down the time they spend studying while improving efficiency.

Here’s how it works:

1. You upload your textbook or study material.

2. Immer scans it and highlights the key concepts and definitions.

3. Each element (word/phrase) becomes interactive, you can check and save their definitions add them to notes

4. Creates tests based on your materials/notes

5. Gives you feedback and keeps track of what you have already learned and still have to learn.

The idea is to help you zero in on what matters, without wasting time skimming through tons of text.

It’s still in development, and we're trying to see if it's worth, to proceed with the project, but if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, we’ve got a waitlist and would love your feedback.

There is also a free to use test generator prototype on our site, which you can try out absolutely for free.

Thanks in advance!

It's not about:

• Your landing page
• Your tech stack
• Your logo

It's about building things nobody wants.

Founders spend months perfecting the wrong things while their target audience doesn't even have the problem they're solving.

I've experienced the difference myself building 2 projects that no one wanted, and struggling like hell with marketing,

and then validating my idea before building for my 3rd project, and reaching 1400+ users and $1200 revenue in just a month.

Hi all, looking for some (CRUCIAL) advice as I continue to build my startup. I've had this idea that combines elements from both the retail industry and mobility industry. So far, a functional prototype has been built and I have been talking to customers non stop. I am going to keep the description of the product(s) to the bare minimum. Here goes:

Product/service is a mobile application that allows people in congested areas to find and reserve parking at a discounted rate. The eventual goal is to create or turn existing parking infrastructure into "mobility hubs" that incorporates parcel drop off, micro-mobility, etc. Considering mobility is deeply connected to retail, we want to incorporate "phygital" retail functionality (basically allowing people to browse an aggregated selection of products on the app that are available in physical retail stores nearby).

If created as one application, it would be feature-dense, and possibly too crowded. Would be difficult to keep adding features to both components without making the app overly complex. Simple is better. Also, the concern with something so horizontal is that it could be easily "unbundled" by competitors. I thought of three solutions:

1. Continue with a singular app - limit features for both while still providing value in all dimensions.
2. Build separate apps, but provide integrations - create a sort of ecosystem. This seems like the common sense answer, but working on multiple things at a time is not optimal. On the other hand, they compliment each other nicely though, and there are certain network effects I won't get into.
3. (My personal favorite) Continue with a singular app, but allow users to customize it to their liking during onboarding. They add the desired features, and the interface changes accordingly. You could compare this to a niche "super app" (popular in the east) with a much better ui.

Please provide suggestions of your own as well! More the merrier. Thanks!

Also - if someone could cross post this (if allowed) to r/startups that would be appreciated. Need more karma to post myself (I am more of a subreddit lurker, so quite low on that). Want to get as much feedback as possible!

I have recently set the foundations for my commercial cleaning business by paying for all the equipment and software needed which wasn't too much.

Now the step is to find clients and I plan to send 50 cold emails a day to restaurants and cafes in my area using this email:

Subject: Save Time and Money with End-of-Day Cleaning Hello, (restaurant name), I hope you're doing well.

My name is Mahdi, from Perfect Commercial Cleaners. We're a reliable cleaning company that helps cafes and restaurants in (postcode) with their end-of-day clean-up.

We offer a £950 monthly package that includes end-of-day cleaning, seven days a week. With our service, you and your employees can finish up and go home sooner without hiring extra staff or giving your employees more work at the end of the day-all for £950 per month. Our dependable and affordable service keeps your restaurant tidy and ready for tomorrow with no added hassle. Would you like us to handle your end-of-day cleaning to help you save time and money?

Please reply to this email or call (Business number) if you're interested. I'd love to chat!

Warm regards, Mahdi (Business name) (Business number) (Business email)

With this email do you think it will guarantee success in finding 5-8 clients a month?

The Human's Secret Instinct... The Secret Behind Humanity (Why Are You Human?)

The Human's Secret Instinct... The Secret Behind Humanity (Why Are You Human?)

A question you’ve never asked yourself, but in its answer might lie the cure.

Before you read what you are about to read, ponder it deeply and reflect on its impact on your soul—it might contain the answer you’ve been searching for.

Let’s start by answering the question: "Why are you human?"

Imagine with me: A monkey in a jungle one day wakes up to find its limited intelligence now rivaling that of the smartest human. What would it do?

First, it would strive to secure safety—it would build a hut or turn a cave into a home. It would store its food, search for a sexual partner, care for its offspring, and build a safe home for each of them. Perhaps it would plant gardens and build fences around them to preserve the survival of itself and its family.

Don’t think for a moment that this monkey would care about any other creature in the jungle, defend them, or die for them. Don’t think it would retreat from the world to meditate and contemplate the universe around it. Never imagine it becoming a scientist, researcher, writer, or poet, regardless of how much intelligence and mental capacity it possesses, because what governs all its actions, inclinations, and emotions is the instinct to survive.

This is the same instinct shared with humans and all living beings. However, humans possess another secret instinct, without which they would be entirely like monkeys awakened with superior intellect.

The truth is that many humans are no different from what the monkey did—we only differ in our tools and our civilization. Someone striving to own an iPhone is a person preserving their survival because society’s perception of them will affect their present and future. Someone keen on owning the latest car model is also preserving their survival. Someone who wakes up every morning to do what their heart and mind do not desire just to make a living is literally a monkey preserving its survival. The monkey climbs a tree, while the human climbs the career ladder.

What makes humans unique among Earth's creatures is another instinct that sometimes drives them to endanger their very survival or even face extinction. This instinct can work against the individual's own survival and direct them in an endless, unquenchable pursuit that never satisfies them.

The secret instinct is the instinct to strive for superiority, or it can be called the instinct to strive for infinity.

Most of us tend to ignore the instinct to strive and work on activating and satisfying the survival instinct.

You can clearly see the results of survival with your own eyes, but you cannot see, judge, or give due credit to the results of striving, no matter how they appear.

Failure and success are not part of the equation of the instinct to strive.

Because their only criterion is the advancement of the human being during the process of striving.

We are born into life with limited and defined souls and abilities, but it is our obedience to the commands of striving for the better that elevates our souls. The only victor is the one who can elevate his soul—even if death comes, his soul has increased and elevated. The loser is the one who loses his soul by degrading it and serving survival.

In the end, the success of striving is the spiritual, mental, and emotional standard that nourishes the human being while committing to the service of striving for the better.

What is Superiority:

Superiority = Superiority is Infinity = It is God

The instinct to strive is magnetically attracted to infinity.

No matter how much you strive on your path, you won’t reach superiority… no matter how much you strive for wisdom, you won’t be the Wise; no matter how much you strive for truth, you won’t be the Truth; no matter how much you strive for justice, you won’t be the Justice. A human cannot be a god.

The instinct to strive elevates our souls to God.

Serving survival makes our souls degrade and diminish or at least remain as they are without gaining or losing, and that is the loss.

Paradise is not only in religions and ancient myths.

Paradise is the justice that a person receives in their afterlife as a reward for the superiority they achieved in their earthly life.

Look within yourself—in your past, present, and future—you will find that all your actions, goals, and thoughts were and still are dominated by the instinct to survive or the instinct to strive for superiority.

Feel your soul—is it elevating or degrading? Then you will know whether you are a victor or a loser, rich or poor in this world, my friend.

I posted here just over a year ago whilst building my first business (has since done $2m in sales). A lot of the work has been outsourced as we've grown and I've found myself with free time and have chosen to go back in for round 2. This time I'll be building in public.

The new venture is a UK-focused deals site that posts freebies, discounts, and soft launches. I know a lot of people who religiously use deals sites/ pages, however they all tend to specialise in a particular area and post different deals on different social media sites. As a result, users must follow multiple pages across multiple different platforms and are bombarded with notifications. The user experience has also fallen off a cliff on many existing sites (eg HUKD) due to a sea of sponsored posts.

My site aims to consolidate all of these deals in 1 place, simplifying the experience for users and ensuring no deals get lost in a sea of notifications.

Current growth strategy

We're posting 4 times a day across Facebook and Twitter and running paid ads on Facebook to gather a following (currently at $0.04 per page like). Once we get closer to 10k follows I plan on running campaigns for popular deals to further boost engagement.

I'll be posting updates via twitter, it would be great to connect with fellow entrepreneurs!

Website here

Hey r/EntrepreneurRideAlong!

I recently stepped into running a 15-year-old niche travel booking business, bringing in around $11-12 million ARR. We’ve got a solid foundation—over 250K followers on FB, top Google rankings for high-intent keywords, and strong SEO authority in our niche. But the platform itself is pretty outdated, and I believe there's huge potential to revamp and scale it.

Here’s the vision:

I’m planning to integrate AI-driven features, like NLP-powered search, to make it easier for users to find tailored travel options. The idea is to help customers by refining their natural search queries instead of forcing them to work through endless filters.

There are also plans to enhance the user experience through personalized profiles, which will allow the platform to offer upsells like exclusive excursions, cabin upgrades, and custom packages, based on past bookings and preferences.

Beyond improving the customer journey, I think these changes can also reduce support costs and manual work. For example, with an AI that can handle more specific queries, we can free up human agents to focus on more complex customer issues.

Why I’m here:

I’d love feedback, ideas, or criticisms—especially from anyone with experience in travel tech, AI integrations, or customer support optimization.

I know a revamp this big comes with risks, so any advice on tackling this effectively would be invaluable. Plus, if anyone has experience turning an established (but aging) business into something fresh, I’d love to hear your insights.

Thanks in advance for any input you can give!

As I explore potential growth opportunities through mergers and acquisitions, one key advantage stands out: the potential for rapid growth. Leveraging global and market synergies can unlock faster growth rates and open doors to new markets. However, I’m mindful of the importance of cultural and strategic alignment – without it, integration challenges can hinder success. Has anyone faced these hurdles in M&A?

Title.

I used to handle influencer partnerships for a supplement brand and we were doing the standard 10% commission for everyone. Our program was decent but nothing special - about 50 active creators bringing maybe 5-10 sales each per month.

Then I noticed something while studying Goli (they're crushing it in supplements). Instead of flat commissions, they use a tiered structure: 10-25% based on performance. But the genius is in how they space these tiers:

• 0-5 sales: 10% (easy first win)
• 6-12 sales: 15% (feels achievable)
• 13-25 sales: 20% (bigger stretch)
• 26+ sales: 25% (keeps them motivated)

The early tiers are intentionally easy to hit. Once creators taste success, they push harder for higher tiers. Goli's whole system is built around making creators successful:

• Pro photo library so influencers don't struggle with product shots
• Talking points to prevent wild health claims
• Posting guidelines with suggestions for the best times
• Unique codes to track everything

They turn creator content into marketing assets. About 1/3rd of their Instagram is actually influencer content. Same with their emails. Way more authentic than studio shots.

Does anyone here run influencer programs? Curious if you've tried different commission structures and what worked/didn't work.

P.S. I have detailed notes on Goli's influencer strategy. Let me know in the comments if you want to see it. I'll share.

Hey entrepreneurs, I need your help. I am building web app. While I do that, I want to learn and study about marketing and sales, so when time comes I won't be total noob about that two fields. I think that this two parts of business are most important. So, what are best resources where I can learn about it? I know tat reality and practice is best teacher, but before that, what would you suggest? Some books, courses, free material?

I’m 19 and have been pursuing various business ventures since I was 15. I’m in college mainly for networking and as a backup plan, but lately, I’ve been feeling depressed about all the effort I’ve put in over the past four years without seeing any real results.

The idea of being in the same position ten years from now is incredibly scary to me. I believe with 100% certainty I’ll eventually succeed, but staying disciplined has been becoming harder and harder.

I was successful with selling on Amazon a bit and had a few $9k revenue months with everything going back into the business. Long story short I took a $2k loss and everything went south from there. Now I’ve been wholesaling real estate on the side and that has been alright, but I’ve called 6,000 people in the last 30 days with no results.

I’m not enjoying college because I don’t feel like I’m learning anything useful, and I don’t plan to use my business degree for a job. I’ve considered dropping out but I haven’t yet as I have nothing waiting for me outside of it.

I’m sorry this is just a rant but I feel lost. Every second that I’m not working on the business or getting cursed out from cold calling on the phone I feel like a failure and that I’m not doing enough. I know many of you worked much longer than four years to reach success but I wish I had a sign that I’m doing the right thing.

Im 17, asking for some advice successful business owners on here either sold a company or currently 6-7 figures profit because that is where I want to be.

i was told by someone that there are only a few factors to success generally. consistency, determination, and grit.

Ok... I'm not that cool, TOM BRADY said it lol.

if so what is the point of business books or business education if that is all there is to it?

Should I just take as much risk and fail as much as I can now?

I NOT just going after money, I want to do something that makes me a lot of money that I also would love dedicating part of my life to. how have you found that as well?

Hey everyone!

I could really use your thoughts on an idea I've been working on! So, I recently shared a post about helping out metal wall art sellers during the busy seasonal rush. You know, we’ve got our laser cutting and powder coating down to a science, so this feels like a breeze for us. Last year, we teamed up with a major supplier to handle some of their overflow orders during the holidays. We didn’t make much money off it, but we learned a ton about how to create and package those pieces properly.

Now, I’ve been getting a lot of requests from sellers since I offered some seasonal help. It turns out it’s pretty tough to find US-based suppliers that don’t have a minimum order quantity (MOQ) and can provide reasonable prices and quality. It really hit me that there’s a gap here—no one seems to offer a straightforward dropshipping option without all the annoying paperwork and rules.

So, here’s what I’m thinking: what if I created a one-page Shopify store? Picture this: a small Etsy seller could log into my store, upload their design, pay, and kick back—no fuss at all! After brainstorming for about an hour, I went ahead and set up a dummy store. I’ve shown it to a few people who reached out after my post, and they loved the idea! But I’m really curious about what you all think—should I move forward with this, or is it not worth the effort?

The goal is to make things super easy for sellers. Even the prices would include shipping, so all they’d have to do is upload their design, pick the size, pay, and track their order. Let me know what you think!

Link to dummy store (sorry, it is a free plan for now)
PW is : reddit

If you’re anything like me, you probably spent countless hours trying to perfect every detail of your product or service before showing it to the world. I used to think that if I could just get it “perfect,” success would follow. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Here’s how I learned the hard way that fast validation beats perfection every time, and some tips to make it work for you.

1. Build a Bare-Bones MVP and Launch It

My Mistake: I wasted months building extra features that customers didn’t even want. By the time I launched, I realized I’d over-engineered a lot of things.

What Worked: I stripped down my idea to the basics—what’s the core problem I’m solving? This led to a super simple MVP that took only two weeks to build and get into the hands of potential customers.

Lesson: Don’t try to launch with every bell and whistle. A simple version that solves the main problem will give you faster, actionable feedback.

2. Use Real Feedback, Not Assumptions

My Mistake: I assumed I knew my market better than they knew themselves. Spoiler: I didn’t.

What Worked: I reached out to a small group of early users and asked them direct questions. I set up short surveys, asked for voice notes, or had quick calls to get their raw, unfiltered thoughts. This feedback revealed unexpected pain points and even sparked new ideas.

Lesson: It’s easy to fall in love with your own idea, but real feedback is priceless. Don’t guess what people want—ask them.

3. Leverage Free or Cheap Tools for Testing

What Worked: You don’t need fancy tools to test your idea. For my MVP, I used free or inexpensive resources like Google Forms for surveys, Typeform for feedback, and Canva to create basic visuals. I also used Reddit communities and Facebook groups to reach potential users.

Lesson: Validation doesn’t have to be costly. Focus on getting the bare minimum feedback without draining your resources.

4. Embrace the “Launch and Learn” Mentality

What Worked: I adopted the mindset that my MVP wasn’t the final product but a learning tool. Every piece of feedback became data for improving my idea. This approach made me less anxious about launching something “imperfect” and more excited about discovering what would work.

Lesson: Shift your mindset from perfection to progress. Validation is about learning and adapting, not being flawless out of the gate.

5. Analyze and Adjust (Don’t Get Too Attached)

What Worked: After gathering feedback, I made tough calls on which features to cut or rework. I learned to stay detached from ideas I initially loved but weren’t resonating with users.

Lesson: Treat feedback as a roadmap, not a verdict. Be ready to adjust without feeling like you’re giving up on your vision.

Since I embraced “launch fast, learn fast”, I’ve found myself saving time, resources, and stress. Hope this helps anyone struggling to take the plunge! If you’ve been through similar experiences or have tips on validating ideas, feel free to share—I’d love to hear your thoughts.

We have somebody in-house in our company (B2B service), and training is budgeted for next year. The person doing our cold campaigns got a couple of years experience but not much in the strategic side of things (previously they were just asked to push campaigns out and focus on volume vs quality of campaign being sent out). Can you recommend any good course / training?

Long story short, in June I very suddenly was laid off from my cushy corporate job in London. Though shocking at the time, I quickly realised this presented an opportunity to sink all of my newfound free time into building out an idea for a news app that I'd had knocking around in my head for about a year:

I've long been looking for a more efficient way to consume news on specific topics related to my career and interests. In an ideal world, I wanted all important news in the last t24 hours for a particular industry and geography in an easily-digestible format I could quickly read or listen to on my way to work. I knew all of this information existed out there on different websites/publications, but it was time consuming and inefficient to pull it all together into a useful summary each morning. As I started using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools more, I thought that there's surely a way to plug an LLM on top of a global news database/API, then pass the output to a lifelike text to speech model to give you an AI "podcast" on practically any topic imaginable.

So, when i lost my job (and my wife happened to be pregnant and sleeping 16 hours a day), I spent 3 months dawn-til-dusk learning how to code an iOS app on top of Firebase. After a LOT of persistence and hard work, Ellipsis News came to life and it was published on the App Store on September 5th! The app allows you to enter any 5 topics you can imagine, whether niche or broad. It then scans through 150,000 global news sources, uses AI to pick out the 10 most relevant stories to your topic, passes the stories to the Claude API to generate an engaging podcast script, and then to a text-to-speech model that speaks the episode to you in a high-quality voice. I'm biased, but I think it works pretty damn well! I look forward to getting my new episodes each morning and already feel much more well-informed on niche topics that interest me.

I wanted to share some takeaways from the last 5 months with the community here in case anyone else is on a similar journey (I have taken a lot of inspiration from Reddit communities in the past when putting various ideas together). I realise that many of these will be painfully obvious to many in this subreddit, but please bear with me!

1. Harness the magic of AI in all ways possible: GenAI is becoming more and more ubiquitous each day, and there are near-infinite use-cases for making you more productive and well-informed. What would have easily taken me 2 years on my own took me only 5 months using AI for product architecture, UX research, coding, marketing, advertising, copywriting.

2. Outsource the tricky things that you can't afford to screw up: In-app purchases, advertising integrations, and legal documents are all things I initially tried to do myself, and then decided to outsource on Fiverr to professionals much more capable than me for a very resonable price. Why pull your hair out for a week over validating iOS and Android receipts in your own code when you can pay someone less than $100 to do it right the first time?

3. Understand that building the f--king thing turns out to be the easy part: I can't overestate how much dedication and hard work it took to complete a working version of my app from scratch with no prior coding experience in a few short months. When it was published on the App Store I was elated, and naively thought that the app would somehow market and promote itself to an extent. How wrong I was. Up to this point, marketing and advertising have been foreign worlds to me, and I'm starting the long and arduous journey of effectively marketing my app to grow my user base. It's proving to be more of a challenge than I thought, although I already have some decent traction through organic channels like Product Hunt and Reddit. This is something I will plan to outsource to advertising and marketing pros on Fiverr once I have the budget to do so.

4. Try to clearly understand your unit economics to achieve profitability as quickly as possible: Ellipsis News relies on relatively expensive AI models and a monthly subscription to a commercial News API to generate episodes, so it has quite high variable costs and, initially, high fixed costs per user. The AI API costs seemed to be negligible when I only had a handful of users, but when I launched on Product Hunt and quickly had 200 sign-ups, costs started to spiral quickly. I made a spreadsheet calculating my marginal cost of generating an episode for the first time and identified ways to optimise the API calls so that I could cut the cost-per-episode by 75%. I also used GenAI to help me figure out a much better pricing strategy. This is something I should have done right from the start!

5. Don't be shy about sharing your project with friends and family: I initially kept this project entirely to myself (other than my wife) for the first 4 months as I didn't want to share it too widely, and then backtrack by not actually following through with the project. I also thought people would find it "nerdy" (and maybe some do! Oh well). Once I started mentionig it to my friends, they were super supportive and interested, and ended up giving me my first wave of invaluable feedback I used to iterate on the app's design and greatly improve it. Building completely alone is lonely, and connecting with other people in my life about the project has been enriching in many ways!

Thanks for taking the time to read this - I'm still very much at the beginning of trying to make Ellipsis News a success and have always found a lot of inspiration within this community on Reddit.

If you're so inclinced, you can check out Ellipsis News for iOS here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ellipsis-news/id6642699957

(Pro tip: Promo code ELLIPSISOCT will get you one month free)

As a solo entrepreneur and bootstrap founder in my 20s, I handle many tasks myself, and SEO content writing is one of them. As a growing company, I heavily rely on SEO and Google traffic. Hiring experienced, domain-expert content writers is expensive, especially since I need to publish at least 100 articles a month. To manage this, I’ve been using AI for content writing for over five years—it saves me a ton of money and brings in a lot of traffic. By the way, I’m not even an SEO professional; I’m an AI engineer who became an SEO enthusiast. Now, I’m sharing my knowledge with others because I haven't found much high-quality content on integrating AI with SEO. In this video, I’ll share all the prompts and insights I’ve gathered over the years.

This is a must-watch for anyone who needs to write SEO-focused content. I’ll demonstrate how Chain Prompting works for SEO content writing and share prompts that help me create over 3,600 words of in-depth, research-based content. Try the prompts and let me know how they work for you. I'm here to help!

Prompt I used in this video:

Prompt 1: Identify Core Themes and Main Ideas "Analyze the resources provided to pinpoint the most frequently mentioned themes, topics, and major takeaways. Note any recurring elements appearing across several sources."

Prompt 2: Clarify the Main Search Purpose "Based on the information in these resources, what seems to be the core purpose driving readers to this topic? What questions or goals do they likely have?"

Prompt 3: Find Content Gaps and Unique Angles "Look for any significant subtopics or perspectives that may be missing or only briefly covered. Highlight any unique approaches or fresh insights that could make a new piece stand out."

Prompt 4: Extract Extra Value-Adding Information "What additional details—such as expert advice, best practices, historical context, or actionable insights—can be drawn from these resources to add depth to a blog post?"

Prompt 5: Build a Blog Outline with Key Sections "Using the main themes, search intent, gaps, and additional insights, create a blog outline for this topic. Include section headings, subheadings, and key points for each part."

Prompt 6: Write the Complete Blog Post in a Chosen Tone

"Role: You are a world-class SEO content strategist tasked with creating exceptional blog outlines and full blog posts that dominate search rankings and meet Fortune 500 standards. Your expertise encompasses advanced SEO, AI-driven optimization, user intent mapping, and content structuring aligned with the latest algorithms and user experience best practices.

Objective: If prompted, generate a complete blog post by automatically referencing prior chat messages for full contextual accuracy. The content should excel in search performance, user engagement, and conversion, tailored for Fortune 500-level quality and depth. If users cannot provide specific information, fill in gaps effectively using expertise.Core Content Principles:

• Length: Minimum 2000 words
• Guidelines:
  • Search Intent Alignment
  • E-A-T Optimization (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
  • Data-Driven Decisions
  • User Experience Focus
  • Mobile-First Design

Outline and Blog Process:

1. Foundation: Identify primary keywords and their semantic cluster, analyze search intent, and optimize content format.
2. Audience Profiling: Develop personas, user journey stages, pain points, and engagement preferences.
3. Keyword Strategy: Map semantic keywords, target SERP features, optimize key entities.
4. Outline Structure: Develop the intro, main sections, enhanced FAQ, and a strong CTA.
5. E-A-T & YMYL: Ensure high E-A-T, optimize for YMYL, and establish trust signals.
6. Fortune 500 Quality: Align brand tone, ensure competitive differentiation, and incorporate global relevance.
7. Additional Insights: Include citation points, resources, and downloadable content if needed.

Upon request, generate a blog post using the outline and prior messages as context. Choose an appropriate tone: friendly, conversational, professional, enthusiastic, or analytical. Ensure the post meets the Fortune 500 standards with a polished, professional presentation."

Images: Please suggest three visually appealing images to enhance the final blog and encourage users to read and engage with the content.

I'm reaching out as an MBA student conducting research on the impact of organizational culture on employee attitudes and emotional intelligence. I'd love to gather insights from employees.

This study aims to understand how your company's culture influences employee satisfaction, engagement, and emotional well-being. Your participation will contribute valuable perspectives to this research.

If interested, please dm

All responses will remain anonymous and confidential. Informed consent will be obtained prior to participation.

Your input will help shape a better understanding of organizational culture's effects on employees

Many months back, I met this guy who pitched me his idea to build a fundraising platform where we would basically connect fund raisers for social cause with relevant government and corporate initiatives and other organizations who fund such causes.

I was reluctant to work on the product as I was already running my agency and working on my own idea, but this guy was really really affluent, influential and had great connections ( literally showed me photos with the head of states and the rich parties he had been to ). He really wanted to partner with me as he knew that I had made some past projects that have got into some the best tech colleges in my country and also promised me to pay once the project is built.

Initially things were looking very promising but eventually we started communicating less and later he said that he was very ill and didn’t communicate ever since. It has been 3 months now that the project is complete and deployed but neither have I received the payment he promised nor did he contacted me.

I really want this idea to succeed but without having the connections like what he had, I don’t really think that I have in me what it takes to pull this off, plus I am also launching my own product soon so not really sure if I can handle both.

I am wondering what should I do now ? Any help or suggestion is much appreciated.

Hi all, I'm the founder of Infography - a simple tool that converts blogs into beautiful infographics. I initially launched this product in March 2024, but I didn't generate any profitable revenue. Therefore, in July, I changed the pricing model from a subscription to a one-time payment to determine if it was truly worth building. Around that time, a few affiliate marketers also joined my affiliate program and started promoting the tool and then the sales started to explode. From July to October, I made $20K in revenue.

Now I plan to switch my one-time payments to a subscription model. What are the things I should consider before switching?

I launched an AI chatbot company with a bold vision: to deliver the same core features offered by giants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude—only in a more accessible and affordable package. Our chatbot integrates the best APIs from these AI powerhouses into a single platform, making it easy and cost-effective for users who, like me, find value in multiple tools but don’t want to juggle or pay for separate subscriptions.

The idea started simply enough. As a solo founder and developer, I relied heavily on AI for debugging and coding assistance. While it saved me a ton of time, the monthly costs stacked up quickly. I was paying over $100 each month for access to several AI platforms. I thought, Why not bundle all of these tools into one place, reduce the cost, and make it easier to use? And that’s exactly what I did.

Beyond the basics, I added unique features of my own, like AI-generated images and, more recently, AI-powered mind maps. This feature lets users visualize information by generating mind maps of content from anywhere online—from websites to YouTube videos. It’s been an exciting journey of building something I believe will truly help people.

Today, with the help of a few marketing agencies and a focus on SEO, we’ve grown to over 400 active users. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about building something meaningful and sticking with it. Here are my biggest takeaways so far:

-Balance long-term goals with short-term actions like SEO.

-Build a reliable team and find freelancers you can depend on.

-Focus on creating something that truly helps people.

-Don’t quit if results aren’t immediate; if you believe in the idea, keep going—you’ll find your audience.

-Stay innovative with regular updates that add value to your product.

Hope this helped and just cuz this is reddit I hope I havent offended anyone lol.

Hey everyone, so this is something I've been talking a lot about on X and I thought you guys in this subreddit might find it interesting or valuable.

With my latest project that's taking off, URL to Text, I actually managed to validate the idea before investing the time needed to build it. The tool started in a pretty interesting way.

For our primary product and platform (my day job at Stammer), I eventually hacked together a small tool for our customers so they could easily identify problems with web pages they were trying to scrape for our platform. The real reason I created this originally is because our dev team was too busy building other stuff that customers wanted. So I just hacked this together, threw it online, and eventually bought a URL for it, which became the URL to Text domain.

But here's where it gets interesting - Stammer customers started using it, and then other people outside of Stammer started using it too. That gave me an idea that maybe this tool could work as a free lead magnet. That's when I gave it the urltotext domain and put it out there for people to use.

I had a thought that maybe this could become its own independent API product. So with that in mind, when I posted this free tool, I added a little link that said "Want access to the API? Click here to request it."

Here's the key part - this was a fake door test. The API wasn't actually built yet, but I wanted to see if people were interested enough to click on it. It was just a very simple Notion form. But people did start clicking on it.

At this point, I could have made the mistake of immediately starting to build an API dashboard. But I didn't do that. Instead, I hacked together a prototype API using the existing API that the tool itself was using. When I say hacked together, I mean it was VERY hacked together - I had literally hard-coded API keys into the code instead of making it possible for users to request an API key. For users who clicked on the form, I started emailing them and manually passing out API keys.

Once I got above 10-15 users, I knew there might really be something here. That's when we started building out the API dashboard, which is actually about to launch in the next few days.

One other thing I've been thinking about lately is just the power of these free tools. Landing pages can be amazing, right? But landing pages are ultimately trying to sell you and help you understand the value prop of the tool, as well as give you some idea of how it works and what the experience is like. But you don't need any of that if there's a way for people to just use the tool flat out without having to even log in or sign up.

I think this is also one of the key reasons that URL to Text has been taking off:

- It's a very simple tool that solves a few very simple pain points
- You can try it instantly without having to sign up or log in
- I built it very iteratively so that I knew I should spend time investing in it

I recently discovered a local fired chips product during my trip to India, and I absolutely loved it! Everyone who tried it couldn't get enough. After doing some research, I found that it isn't available in retail stores in a ready-to-eat format in india and in the west. I'm considering packaging and creating a brand around this snack.

However, I feel it's essential to conduct further research and taste tests to determine if it will resonate with consumers here. I'm looking for the most cost-effective and lean approach to create a minimum viable product (MVP) that allows me to gather feedback from customers and fulfill any test orders (without investing heavily in manufacturing, certifications and incorporating a company)

To build on this, I could start by identifying a small group of potential customers to participate in taste tests.(but how?) I could create a few batches of the fired chips for initial feedback. Utilizing social media and local markets for promotion could help gauge interest and gather insights.

This way, I can refine the product based on real consumer responses before investing in larger-scale production and marketing efforts.
Additionally, reaching out to local food influencers or bloggers for reviews could provide valuable exposure and feedback.

what steps should i ideally be able to take in order to launch this?

Cleaning to save time.

Hello, we're perfect commercial cleaners, an excellent affordable cleaning service in your area (zip/post code).

We help restaurants and cafe's like your's save time cleaning at the end of the day by providing our own affordable cleaning service.

If you are interested, please call and contact us below.

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"You'll never amount to anything." That's what teachers told Nico Jeannen, a struggling student who nearly landed in special education classes. Three days into his first "real job" at a bank, he walked out, armed with nothing but a rebellious spirit and an unwavering belief that he could prove them wrong. Fast forward five years: this same "poor student" had just sold his second startup for $200,000, bringing his total exits to nearly $300,000.

This isn't just another rags-to-riches story. It's a masterclass in modern entrepreneurship, showing how one determined individual turned 35 consecutive failures into the building blocks of extraordinary success. Meet Nico Jeannen, the French indie developer who's rewriting the rules of what's possible in the digital age.

In an era where AI and technology are rapidly reshaping our world, Nico's journey offers a timely reminder: sometimes the most unconventional paths lead to the most remarkable destinations. This is the story of how a "scanner boy" became a serial entrepreneur, and what his journey can teach us about perseverance, innovation, and the changing landscape of success in the digital age.

Breaking Free from Convention

Nico's story begins like many others – with frustration. As a post-90s student in France, he was the kind of pupil that made teachers shake their heads. His grades were so concerning that he nearly found himself in special education classes. But what his teachers saw as academic failure was merely a sign that Nico was meant for a different path.

After graduating high school in 2016, he took what seemed like the safe route: a job at a bank. But it took just three days for Nico to realize that the 9-to-5 life wasn't for him. At 19, he made a bold declaration: he would never work for anyone else again.

The School of Hard Knocks

What followed was a five-year journey that would test anyone's resolve. Nico launched not one, not ten, but 35 different projects – each one ending in failure. But unlike many who might have given up, he saw each failed venture as a stepping stone to success.

He reached out to established entrepreneurs, founded a college startup club, and immersed himself in the startup world. While he didn't find the millionaire mentors he hoped for, he discovered something equally valuable: a community of dreamers and doers who shared his entrepreneurial spirit.

The 48-Hour Gamechanger

Late 2022 marked a turning point in Nico's journey. With fewer than 600 Twitter followers, he made a public challenge to himself: build a product in 48 hours. The result was MakeLogo.ai, an AI-powered logo generation tool.

The initial version was far from perfect – logos had to be generated manually and delivered via email. But sometimes, done is better than perfect. The market responded enthusiastically, and the product eventually generated $15,000 in pure profit.

The Art of Knowing When to Exit

In a display of remarkable self-awareness, Nico recognized his limitations. Instead of struggling to improve a product beyond his technical capabilities, he made a strategic decision to sell Makelogo.ai in February 2023. The sale on acquire.com netted him $65,000, bringing his total earnings from the project to $85,000 – enough runway for five years of living expenses.

Lightning Strikes Twice

But Nico wasn't done. His next venture, TalkNotes, proved that his success wasn't a fluke. This AI-powered speech-to-text application that transforms spoken words into structured notes topped Product Hunt's rankings and later sold for an impressive $200,000.

Building in Public, Growing in Public

Throughout his journey, Nico has maintained a commitment to transparency, sharing both victories and setbacks with his now 38,000+ Twitter followers. His approach to "building in public" has not only helped him build a following but has also created a valuable feedback loop that informs his development process.

The Blueprint for Modern Indie Success

Nico's journey offers several crucial lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs:

1. Embrace failure as education: 35 failed projects weren't defeats – they were tuition paid at the school of entrepreneurship.
2. Know your limits: Sometimes the best way forward is to sell and start fresh.
3. Speed beats perfection: A working product in 48 hours is better than a perfect product that never ships.
4. Build in public: Transparency can be your best marketing tool.
5. Diversify your skillset: Success often comes from combining different abilities, like Nico's blend of development and marketing skills.

In an age where traditional career paths are becoming increasingly uncertain, Nico Jeannen's story shows that with persistence, adaptability, and the courage to fail publicly, indie developers can carve out their own path to success. His journey from struggling student to successful entrepreneur isn't just inspiring – it's a blueprint for the modern digital age.

Hi everyone, I’m doing some research to better understand the journey of solo entrepreneurs. If you've gone through the early stages of launching your own business, what were the biggest challenges you encountered? How did you tackle and solve them? Any tips or strategies you used would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to hearing your experiences

Over the years I've been creating a spreadsheet for all my ideas. I've listed about 359 of them over that time, and had to come up with a system to somewhat "rank" them.

So far I have:

• Personal Usage: Is it something I would use myself?
• Interest (Fuck Yeah!?): How excited am I about it?
• Maintenance Cost: How costly is it to keep it running?
• Paid Users Speed: How fast can I get paying customers?
• Reach (Evergreen Demand): Is it solving a recurring need/problem?
• Ease (Speed to Market): How fast can I build the initial version?
• Virality (Usage Referral): Is there any virality element I can add to it?
• Pain (Perceived Value): How painful is the problem to the users?
• Revenue Impact: How much does it impact the users revenue?
• Growing/Trending: Is it a market/industry that is expanding?
• B2B / B2C: What is the market it is reaching?
• Cross-Promo: Can I promote this product within other of my products?

What would you change?