Human beings are imposters by definition—or at least we often feel that way.

We're riddled with self-doubt about our intellect, skills, and accomplishments. No matter where you are on your journey.

Impostor syndrome will strike, causing you to question your worth and abilities.

When that happens, clichés like “Fake it till you make it” or “Believe it till you achieve it” are often used as remedies. But let’s face it—these are band-aids on a gunshot wound.

If you don’t address the root cause. Impostor syndrome will continue to plague you throughout your career and life. What I’ve discovered in my own journey is this: when you cure the cause, the symptoms disappear.

As a person finding their way, I’ve faced the scourge of impostor syndrome time and again. It followed me like a shadow until I stopped managing symptoms. And started curing the disease.

The root cause of impostor syndrome is “Believing” you are something instead of “Knowing”.

Let me explain it this way:

We’re all born to a set of parents. If we’re fortunate, they love and care for us. Now, imagine someone asking you, “Do you believe those are your parents? ”Your answer wouldn’t hinge on belief. It would be a core truth.

“No,” you’d say. “I know they're my parents. There’s no belief involved.” That’s the key to defeating impostor syndrome: knowing who you are—not just believing.

Know who you are. I am not an imposter. I am a copywriter, a digital marketer, There’s no belief required.

And you, my friend, are not an imposter. Because. . . I know

Hi friends,

I’ve been thinking about the future of crypto and wondering which technologies will shape this space in the coming years. What will dominate, and why? For example, will it be things like DeFi (Decentralized Finance), or something else? Which crypto-related technologies might become part of our daily lives and actually make them better?

It would be great if you could share trustworthy sources (like videos or research papers) that discuss where the crypto industry is heading. I’m especially interested in learning about:

• The technologies we’re using now in crypto.
• What new technologies might appear soon because there’s a demand for them.

If you know of any good YouTube videos or research papers on this, please share them. Your help is really appreciated! 😊

I’ve been bootstrapping my B2C app for several years now, and it has been growing consistently, with annual growth rates ranging from double to triple digits. Competitors offering similar solutions have grown rapidly through aggressive paid marketing and are now starting to offer services that mirror mine. They are much bigger than my solution but I still offer a better service for the problem that I was focused on from the start. It’s tough to gauge whether they are profitable or simply burning cash to outlast smaller players. I’m uncertain whether I should start investing in paid marketing to accelerate growth or continue focusing on organic expansion. My concern is that they could overpower me soon, though this is more of a gut feeling than something I can quantify with data. What are your thoughts? I feel cornered either way as they are positioned much better to paid marketing growth.

This version provides more clarity and makes the narrative flow more smoothly while highlighting key concerns.

Any thoughts?

Hi everybody. A few years ago I set out to start a small business in order to learn a whole bunch about business and accounting and whatever I could basically experience. I am very pleased with my results and my learning pace while I also still work a w2 job for normal income.

I own some usa trademarks and I'm pretty sure with indications at this point that there will be enough for this to gain good ground once it's planted/footed nicely. I know there is a thing such as venture capitalists and also angel investors/seed money. I'm trying to remember which one I am supposed to look for?

The business is very small right now. It could greatly help with time if I could ditch my main day job and focus on this business project. Do people get seed money for this stuff or an angel investor? How do they believe in a project in order to fork over a few hundred thousand for startup money?

Lately, l've been thinking a lot about business ideas and how l'd like to create a product. One day, while sitting in my car, I came up with an idea for a product that, as far as I know, hasn't been created yet. However, there are significant barriers to bringing it to life, the biggest one being my lack of the required skillset.

To make this product, l'd need to know how to code-or find someone who does and know how to build electronics. This made me wonder: how can I turn this idea into reality if I don't have the skills to create it myself? And if I do find someone with the necessary expertise, what's to stop them from taking my idea and developing it themselves?

I'd really appreciate advice on how to go about creating a product when I lack the skills to build it. I'm not sure if this is a silly question, but I figured it's worth asking.

Hi guys! I'm a professional presentation designer with 6+ years of experience in designing. I also excel in designing landing pages. I do about 15 different types of presentations needed for different types of businesses/ meetings. You can count on me, I'm a perfectionist. My client's have been overly satisfied till now and nothing short. Do comment or DM if needed. It would be my pleasure to help.

Hi, I’ve got a biomedical startup and I just had a chat with my first possible customer and got some feedback. The next is more in depth research into our competition and what can give me the competitive edge plus calculating specific prices and trying to evaluate the service options we will provide.

I need to make a demo of my device and it’s easily 3d printed but I don’t know CAD. Do you guys know of a tier list or top 5 books for entrepreneurs/startups/CEOs? Also books on the best closing and sales tips(people skills to sell) and negotiation. I’m already good at those but want to get even better.

For a presentation to possible investors will a demo and a presentation with market research and MVP be good. Do you guys know a source where the structure of a startup is well laid out and more info on it? I know structure is fluid but maybe a plan I could follow?

At what stage do you put founder of … in your LinkedIn bio?? Haha Thanks guys

For as long as I can remember VCs have argued that they want to pay founders a lower salary for two main reasons:

• They want the founders focused on long term value of the startup, not the salary.

• They want more of the investment to go into growing the company.

However, I think the issue now is that MAANG is paying >= $500k total comp and since your RSUs are liquid you can exercise often.

This locks up a LOT of talent in MAANG companies.

Additionally, it doesn't align the investors to the founders.

Most investors are either independently wealthy (from a previous exit) or are getting nice compensation from the VC firm.

There's no alignment there.

Couldn't you make the same argument from the VCs? That the founders should force the investors to live on a small amount of money so that THEY are also incentivized for the long term?

I mean obviously that would never happen.

I think this is kind of changing for for AI startups where they can pay just massive salaries because AI talent is scarce.

It's working too. There's a lot of innovation in AI right now.

So what's the holdup here? It's not super exciting to me to walk away from a nice and comfortable position at MAANG to take a risky job that pays less money.

Seeking a former, current, or potential host success manager for my travel marketplace. We focus on the outdoor lifestyle, so preferably someone in the traveling and like-minded industry and lifestyle. Does anyone know how I would go about finding someone like this? I've already put out job listing with no luck thus far. I know it's a pretty specific job title.

As a side project I built a tool to help job seekers. I deployed it, posted about it, and then checked it later. I added a “buy me a coffee payment link” saying ‘only donate if you find value’. It’s a ‘free’ platform - no login or user identification, no paywall.

Yesterday = 20 users, $5 from one person

Today = 100+ users, $45 across 3 users

I’m blown away that people are using it. And the fact people flicked me $ for it is wild to me. I’m kind of shocked.

I used the $ to pay for replit and my domain. Right now it’s deployed on a temporary domain.

I chatted with some users and got feedback - features, functions, and quality of life things. I tinkered and built a new feature that could maybe be a paid feature…

I had just happened to have a convo with an angel/mentor scheduled today. 100% coincidence, btw. They said I’d I can get it to 1,000 users or $1,000+ then to come back and they might toss me some $ to help fund it.

But I’m wondering- what would you do at this point?

Edit: my instinct (and this group is confirming) is to set up a sign up / login (and user database etc) + 1 or 2 more features on top of the freemium model. I’m just not good at coding… if anyone would be willing to help me set this up, or provide guidance, I’d be very grateful.

Been working on a startup idea for a few months, and thought I had done my due diligence with competitors (mainly looking at already established companies in the same space). Today I came across a startup with a very similar concept to mine that has recently raised pre-seed funding.

Does anyone have advice on how to scout out lesser known competitors? Any resources or methods people have used previously?

Hey guys,

We’re living in the age of AI, and while it’s revolutionizing industries like healthcare and B2B finance, I can’t help but wonder: why isn’t anyone building AI tools for the everyday consumers, especially when it comes to managing our personal finances? 🤔

Why not a smart, personalized AI that connects securely to your financial data (your credit cards, bank accounts, etc.) and becomes your go-to financial assistant. You could ask it anything, like:

• “What’s the best credit card for my dining expenses?”
• “How much can I safely spend this month without touching my savings?”
• “What’s the quickest way to pay off my debt while maximizing my rewards?”
• “Which insurance plan aligns with my lifestyle?”
• “Am I saving enough to buy my dream home in 5 years?”

A NON JUDGEMENTAL FINANCIAL advisor available 24/7 who tailors advice just for you.

Here’s why I think this idea is exciting:

1. AI + Your Data = Personalized Insights: Instead of generic advice, it gives you actionable tips based on your actual spending, saving, and investment patterns.
2. Empowering Decision-Making: Whether you’re picking the best accounts, optimizing rewards, or planning for the future, it makes everything simpler and clearer.
3. Bridging the Gap: AI is thriving in B2B, but the consumer sector is being overlooked. Why not bring this game-changing tech directly to individuals?

Just ask with a chat...

But I want to know what you guys think?

I have been tinkering with an idea for a browser extension that helps certain investors calculate ROCE while browsing assets. I have scoped an MVP with a simple hero feature that is essentially going to be an Excel formula skinned with pretty UI. Many more feature ideas floating about, but I’m keen to get something out in the wild ASAP. I am ready to pay a developer to build this with me, but unsure where to start - I’ve considered working with dev friends but wary of the strain it could put in the friendship, given I have a clear and minimalistic idea of the MVP and basically need someone to just produce code to spec.

How to proceed? Shall I post on job boards, Fiverr, far-shore freelance boards?

Any advice will be very gratefully received, and apologies if this is a bit of a basic question.

Hi r/startups,

First-time technical founder here. Two years ago, I decided to leave the 9-5 grind and build something meaningful. Now, I have (what I believe is) a brilliant technical solution but no clear business case. I’m seeking a cofounder with product and marketing expertise to help pivot my project into a viable business - or start a new one. Details below.

About Me

• 36yo, born in Berlin and moved to San Francisco 8 years ago
• Master's in Software Engineering with 15 years of experience
• Worked with early-stage startups in Berlin and a venture studio in SF
• Spent the past years leading a team of 12 shipping enterprise software

The tech I've built

An AI engine that makes it easy for developers to automate their workflows. It works with code, issues, PRs and integrates with 3rd party systems like error trackers, wikis, ticketing systems, etc. It takes natural language instructions, fulfills them autonomously and responds with a result. The functionality is served as a platform, with an API and an SDK. On top of it, I've built a CLI and a web application with productivity tools for developers.

Who and what I'm looking for

My main goal is to leave my current job and build a company around a problem that matters to me, ideally with considerable equity. I’m looking for:

• A cofounder with product and marketing expertise who sees potential in my tech and can help turn it into a successful business—or someone with a strong business case who needs a technical founder.

• Mentorship from someone experienced in dev tool startups or as a successful solo founder. I’d love to learn from your journey and would be happy to offer my technical expertise or collaborate on projects in return.

Happy to answer any questions or provide more details. Cheers!

Hey guys I have a crowdsourcing app that helps people find signal and avoid dead zones. I wanna pay for Reddit ads but before I pay for them has anyone used it? Is it good?

Are they effective? What outcomes have you seen when paying for Reddit ads? How much should I invest in Reddit Ads…

i have a build a trading bot that earns pretty consistently. so far i have a team of 7 people that work mainly on developing bot and website for it. we plan on having website next week. we have 1 person that does marketing but he is not doing best. so far we are giving our bot for free and taking only % of profit the bot makes for them. users can download their bot and use it on their own, we will also have ability to host bots for users on our servers so that way users dont have any responsibility abut it. we are startwith with instagram and tiktok but they are going pretty bad for now. are there any other marketing strategies we can try?

Hi,
Can anyone recommend an M&A firm or at least a consultant from EU to assist us on selling our SaaS?
The valuation is around $7-$10 million which I understand it might be too low for some firms. In US there are many firms and easy to find, but for EU I don't seem to find many with experience in selling SaaS companies.

Thank you

Hi there,

Edit: I know asking strangers for warm intros isn’t the usual route, but I believe in the power of community and the surprising ways connections can happen. So, I’m putting myself out there in the hope that someone here might resonate with my journey or know someone who does.

I’ve spent the past few years building and scaling a successful agency specializing in SEO and digital marketing.

It’s been an incredible journey, and we’ve helped numerous clients achieve significant growth. But now, I’m ready to take on a new challenge: building a product.

While I won’t go into specifics about the product here, it’s something I’ve been deeply passionate about, and I believe it has the potential to solve a real problem for a large audience. With my background in SEO and growth marketing, I’m confident in our ability to create and scale this product effectively.

As a bootstrap founder, I understand the value of money and how to manage it effectively. Every rupee in my agency was reinvested strategically to drive growth, and that same discipline will guide me as I build and scale this product.

My biggest constraint right now? Finding warm introductions to VCs. Having operated in the bootstrap world, I know how essential the right connections are, and I’m looking for investors who value founders with operational experience and a proven track record in execution.

If you know someone who might be interested or can point me in the right direction, I’d be incredibly grateful.

Feel free to DM me or comment here if you’re open to connecting or sharing advice—I’d love to chat.

Thanks in advance for any help!

ChatGPT is pretty wild and suggests that I will be able to generate several million in revenue during the last quarter of my 3-year venture. Its analysis is based on the assumption that I will be able to penetrate 1-5% of the market, which would result in approximately 100 companies paying for a subscription at $1,000 a month for my SaaS solution.

This sounds pretty wild to me, so I’m trying to find convincing sources that suggest a SaaS solution can penetrate this much. Do you have any, or do you know of examples of such products that have achieved this?

EDIT: It seems there are misunderstandings. There is already a financial plan that i did due to my experience of leading funded research projects with a 2-3 years duration. I'm quite convinced on how to get to a fully working end product. The revenue stuff is the one i'm not familiar with and why i asked ChatGPT for a first impression before i proceed further. I thought the startup community will provide better guidance to where to look next.

Hey Reddit,

It would be great if you could please help me out with the below.

We’re currently scaling an AI-driven solution that’s already serving clients. We’re looking for the best platform or tech stack to take our system to the next level, ensuring simplicity, scalability, and affordability. We are focussed on smaller business that don't have a big budget, loads of time or their own technical team; we want to provide an almost plug and play solution for these businesses.

🔍 What We've Built: We’ve developed a suite of over 100+ AI assistants that leverage core documents (like business overviews) to tailor their functionality to each client. Our goal is to provide ChatGPT-style interactions where users can chat with AI agents that dynamically pull in data from these core documents and other documents, improving workflows across departments like marketing, HR, finance, and sales.

🛠 Current Use Cases: Here’s how some our interconnected AI assistants collaborate to streamline business operations:

1. Researcher + Sales Guru + Sales Assistant + Executive Assistant:
   • Conducts deep research, consults the Sales Guru to create a strategy, passes it to the Sales Assistant to generate sales collateral and outreach cadence, and uses the Executive Assistant to coordinate internal team communications.
2. Report Creator/Data Analyst + Business Guru + Marketing Guru + Marketing Planner + Content Creator:
   • Reviews customer engagement surveys, extracts insights, develops a marketing strategy, creates a detailed plan, and produces targeted content.
3. Marketing KPI Reviewer + Advisor + Planner + Content Creator:
   • Analyses performance metrics, offers strategic advice, builds marketing plans, and generates relevant content to address key challenges.

💡 What We’re Looking For: We’re searching for a tech stack or platform that can:

1. Provide ChatGPT-style user interactions with AI agents that can dynamically pull and utilise data from client-specific documents.
2. Scale efficiently to handle multiple clients while ensuring robust data security and protecting our IP.
3. Enable seamless interconnected workflows among different AI assistants, optimising collaboration across departments.

🔧 Current Setup: We’ve been using a custom setup with ChatGPT Pro and file integration (uploaded files) for our initial deployments. However, we need something more robust and scalable to handle a growing client base with more sophisticated requirements.

Any advice on tech stacks, platforms, or frameworks that can meet these needs? We’re considering solutions that combine ease of use with powerful capabilities to scale efficiently without breaking the bank. At the moment the current set up takes too long to edit assistants or core document as they are held per customer and on each assistant etc.

Looking forward to your recommendations! Thanks in advance!

I developed a web platform with someone from Reddit as the tech guy. The agreement was that I would get 10% of the company, and I would require some funding to cover things like design, backend work, and the server.

The project launched three months ago, and this month we generated $1,500 in revenue. I was a bit amazed by it, but now my question is: how can I legally own 10%, given the fact that I’m a non-U.S. citizen and the company is registered in the U.S.?

I think we can reach around $3,000–$4,000 in revenue next year. While 10% doesn’t sound like a lot, I still want to make sure I’m protected.

The founder is extremely honest but I just think making it a bit formal will be better for the future.

Edit: I only have one .pdf signed which mentions the name of the company, me and 10% with the founders and my sign.

Just want to know what I should have in mind. Because it has the potential to get horribly wrong. I will be taking notes from this thread to make a "guide" for other people, so if you have experience, please tell me what are do's and don'ts of the space.

Hello everyone,

I've been working on my own startup for quite a while now, approximately 3 years, and I've completely solved the marketing problem. With the guerrilla marketing strategies I employ on various platforms, I've started generating around €1,000 daily for the past 3 months. My project, which I promote, is related to "recruitment and job searching" (please don't ask, I won't share the URL). To be honest, I can promote 2-3 additional projects using the same marketing approach. I can incorporate more than one project into the same advertisements, which would increase the overall benefit. Therefore, I am looking for a "job listing" application that I can either partner with or purchase.

The application I’m looking for should be ready for B2C sales. I’m not interested in an incomplete or unprepared application because if there are features to add or issues to fix, I’d prefer to build one from scratch myself. thanks for reading.

I’ve been in the ideation phase of a business idea for a specific niche that’ll help people create portfolio using real world data with some mentor feedback on it.

I’m fairly new in this journey and it scares me to put myself out there like this. Working on a landing page, planning to go live with it by next week. I sometimes just get into a rabbit hole of can I do it ? Will it work ? What if it doesn’t ?

I’m on a visa here and it’s on stake. Yes I have an option of getting a job but that’s not what I want to do. I have time till March to find a board member who can act as my employer which is a criteria for me to stay here after March through visa extension.

A lot at stake and I think I’m anxious. Any advice / motivation you can give would be appreciated really! TIA :)

Most successful tech startups focus on automating human activity and making it less socially interactive

which helps people to save time and money.

lately, I have had ideas in the opposite direction by focusing on applications that gather people in the same place to do the same activity to reach a goal like Financial goals productivity goals .. etc

What are the challenges of this type of startup?

I think that people nowadays are more introverted might be challenging to scale this type of apps

Hey reddit!

So I am currently in the process of validating an Enterprise tool that I am excited about. It is in the very early stage of build out, but I wanted to be very level headed and do as much customer interview as possible before proceeding with this idea. I am targeting 50 companies across small, mid-cap and large-cap companies. It is not a sales-pitch, but more of discovery call so it should make it easier for people to talk to me.

The problem is with my current outreach strategy i have I am nowhere near my target size of companies to interview. Primarily have been using linkedin but my conversation rate is terrible so far. Now I am starting to optimize the messaging(adding personalization and what not) and seeing what works and what doesn't.

I have more of a technical background and still working hard at cracking the strategic networking and sales aspect of running a company. Optimistic I will get there someday. Curious to learn what are different ways you have found to make people talk to you.

Also if you have experience in the investor relation space or know anybody that works in that area i would love to talk to you.

I asked this same question in SAAS but I prefer not to work with digital tools, many of them without even real clients.

I'm working to get my first clients, so I'm going to do a disruptive marketing campaign for brand presence. I'm a highly creative person and I'm inspired by the old promotional ads, so tell me what your startup does, what audience you want to reach, who are your competitors and I'll do the campaign proposal for free.

I have been tinkering with this product which is about creating awareness while browsing the web. I think we have been indoctrinated when searching for information on the web. We are sitting ducks who travel from one webpage to another in a haze of reaching the destination we had in mind. That destination is auto-made, and we know enough about the web to auto-navigate, and we reach a conclusive stage which we auto-infer. And we feel victorious at the end, which is why we keep doing the same process.

Anybody feel this way about browsing the web? And more importantly, if this is a problem? I think it could be relaxing sometimes, but barring that.

There are plenty of AI tools created in recent days, including me who has 2 AI saas products.

Shall we consider integration between own tools to make our offer stronger and collect more users?

If you consider any kind of partnership with other AI tools please leave a comment in a format:

App name/url
What problems your tool solves
Which kind of integration would you consider

Hello lovely people, i'm a technical guy looking for another technical co-founder. Do you know of any ways or tips to find one?

I do already know of YC matching and i try my best going around networking events in the city talking with people, but i never click with any of them. That or they dont click with me, ie they leave me on read :( .

Thought of doing trial work periods but where does that leave the IP? like if we have been working on an idea and then we split up can one of us end up pursuing the idea further? like what happened with zuck in the social network ig (when he "stole" the other guy's idea), but then ideas in themselves aren't worth anything without execution.

Also about me i have background in ML and applied math so i wanna work on SaaS, sth that can be B2B or B2C. I have one or two projects i really believe in and got proof of traction (kind of) for, but im open to anything as long as its exciting