Bachelor's and Master's in Accountancy. Big 4 auditing experience in Banking and Capital Markets. I will be CPA certified very soon.

I hate my current job, it is extremely mundane work. I am looking to move from the Midwest to one of the coasts to work at a startup or a smaller company with good growth. I want something exciting and challenging. A lot of jobs require experience at Investment Banking and other startup experience, which I do not have. How would you, as startup experts, perceive my experience? Would you think I would bring value?

Simply put, our company is growing and our core team is not. I’m having a terrible time finding experienced, dedicated engineers around me and the work is piling up, as well as the tech debt since every project needs to be done yesterday.

I’m looking for an agency that can helpe bootstrap a handful of engineers who can work with us to help our product grow.

Does anyone have any good recommendations? Last time I went this route was over a decade ago and so much has changed including the quality of the candidates

Thanks a ton

I used to run a Discord development agency from 2020-2023, during which I developed around 350 servers for clients, with an average rating of 4.9/5 and a price tag of $395. I eventually closed it down due to massive burnout and getting shadow banned on Fiverr, which I used as my platform of choice (never again).

~50% of my clients were in crypto, ~30% were influencers, ~10% were personal communities, and only ~10% were other types of businesses.

I'm a designer and have been learning NextJS for a bit now. I’m thinking about creating a web tool for creating, setting up, managing, and moderating Discord servers, with some AI wrapper functionalities to automate these tasks.

That being said, since the crypto market is much less active now and it's been two years since I’ve actively used Discord, I have no idea if anyone would need this tool.

I'm trying not to go the B2C route, as I would much rather focus on creating a solid expert product for a smaller number of business clients than chase B2C clients.

So, the question is...

Do you, or anyone you know or follow, use Discord for their business/community?

My users are willing to pay me if I made the product a little better. I need money to build a better product.

Let's go for funding? The investors want to invest when the product matures and I have some sales. They don't want to invest in a first time startup founders with no impressive background.

How can I manage this situation? What are some advice you give to someone in this situation? How should I proceed?

I am interested in this space and have worked as a software engineer in the industry. How has been your success starting it? What mistakes or problems did you encounter along the way? Are you, or your clients, ever worried about cybersecurity? Account hacks? What

Trying to raise money for my headset business startup. Need advice. The focus is on gaming headsets that cannot cause hearing loss. I already have a nonprofit interested in helping me out when things get launched, but I need some startup funds. Where could I go to raise the money? I don't have anything that I could use to apply for a loan yet, and I'd rather not do that so early anyway. Been planning this for several years, and was about to get started, but then I lost my job. Trying my best to overcome that. I do have a GoFundMe, but it's a matter of trying to figure out the best places to post it. I'm also considering asking around downtown. Probably ask audiologists.

I’ve been working on a project with a friend for a while now and we both think that it has potential . We also asked some friends and families and they also think that it’s a good idea. But I still don’t know if the idea is validated since I need to ask actual potential users if the project has some value for them . How do you guys find potential users ? And do you just make posts explaining the project hoping that people find it interesting ? I might still be naive since this is my first big project , but won’t my idea be stolen if I just post about it online ?

I'm considering starting a rugs and carpet business in 2024 that specializes in hand-woven products and offers extensive customization options. I'd love to hear your expert opinions on a few key aspects:

1. Market Demand and Trends: How strong is the demand for hand-woven rugs and carpets in today's market? Are there any specific consumer trends driving interest in artisanal and customizable home decor products?

2. Customer Segmentation: Which customer segments are most likely to be interested in high-quality, customizable hand-woven rugs? Are there particular demographics or psychographics that I should focus my marketing efforts on?

3. Pricing Strategy: Given the labor-intensive nature of hand-woven rugs, how should I approach pricing these products to balance profitability with market competitiveness? What price points are typically acceptable for these kinds of luxury items?

4. Supply Chain and Production: What are the best practices for sourcing materials and skilled artisans to ensure the highest quality product? Are there any notable challenges in maintaining a consistent supply chain for hand-woven products?

5. Marketing and Sales Channels: What marketing strategies and sales channels are most effective for promoting and selling hand-woven, customizable rugs? How can digital tools enhance customer engagement and satisfaction in this niche market?

6. Sustainability and Ethical Production: How important are sustainability and ethical production practices to today's consumers, particularly in the luxury home decor market? What steps can I take to ensure my business aligns with these values and communicates them effectively to my audience?

7. Competition and Differentiation: How can I differentiate my business from other rug and carpet businesses, especially those offering mass-produced or machine-made products? What unique value propositions should I emphasize to stand out in the market?

Your insights on these aspects would be greatly appreciated as I plan my business strategy. Thank you in advance for your valuable input!

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out to the community for some advice. I’m currently employed as a software engineer, but I’ve been trying to secure freelance web development jobs on Fiverr and Upwork to supplement my income. However, I’m finding it incredibly challenging.

On Fiverr, despite offering very competitive pricing for my full-stack web development services ($50 for basic, $100 for standard, and $250 for premium), I’m struggling to get noticed. The platform is saturated with competition, and I’ve encountered a number of scams which has made the process even more difficult.

Upwork, on the other hand, requires money to bid for jobs. Since I currently don’t have any funds to invest upfront, this has been a significant barrier for me.

I’m looking for alternative ways or platforms to find freelance web development work without having to deal with these issues. Does anyone have any suggestions on other platforms or strategies that might work better? Any advice on how to stand out in this competitive market would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hello, just joined this group. I have a potential high growth business that I’ve been running for a year and a half. I have a call tomorrow with potential investors, they have described it as an initial chat’. They have already seen my 5 year financial forecast and pitch deck, plus the deal that I am looking for. Is there anything I should be prepared for in terms of questions I might be asked?

I've got a basic methodology, but I would love to hear how other founders do it:

1. Where do you look for inspiration for your decks (Google Image, Slideshare, Dribbble, etc.)?
2. How do you approach the process of developing your storyline and getting supporting data?
3. What's the part of the process you find most time consuming/difficult?
4. What tool do you use to design your slides (GSlides, PPT, Figma, etc.)?

Any/all insights are greatly appreciated!

Hey Redditors,

I have been making side projects for the past year and have so many unlaunched projects. Then I thought, someone in this field for years will have many unlaunched projects too.

So I created NotShipped (https://www.notshipped.com) to collectively get the best unlaunched projects out there:

• Browse and upvote your favorite unlaunched projects
• Write your own

The site is new, launched it today. I'll consider every feedback posted here to improve it.

It is live on product hunt : https://www.producthunt.com/posts/notshipped

You can find me there: https://x.com/jaynpatel_

Jay P.

So the title, might be confusing.

But I have a startup that's getting fairly good traction and growth, but maybe not yet at the level for VC funding. We'll hit those numbers somewhere in the next 1-3 months.

Should I start talking to VCs (assuming I even can) or developing relationships with other founders now or put the full effort into growth and deal with all things funding later?

I'm struggling...but you know what? I'm okay with it.

I'm sharing this because I know some of you might be going through the same thing.

If there's one thing I learned through the years it's that the struggle is the best part of the journey. It teaches you so much about yourself and what you're capable of.

Every day is a challenge, but you grow more resilient with each day.

There's a quote I love by Ernest Shackleton "Through endurance we conquer."

The struggles you're facing now are shaping you into the successful person you'll become.

The struggle IS the journey. Keep pushing, keep learning, and keep believing in yourself. We're all in this together.

Remember, it's okay to struggle. It's okay to feel overwhelmed sometimes. What matters is that we keep moving forward, one step at a time.

TLDR: What to do when struggling:

1. Keep moving forward. "If you're going through hell, keep going"
2. Learn from & note down your mistakes (the more you make the better you'll be able to deal with them)
3. Talk to others (you're probably not the first one to go through what you're going through)
4. Take care of yourself (struggling is tough, but it's tougher if you're burnt out)
5. Document your journey (one day you'll look back & be proud of how far you've come)

What's your story? How did you handle the tough times?

Hi gents, a co-founder here from an SaaS startup in Europe currently developing an interesting tool for HR and employee engagement. We are currently in the pre-revenue stage and it is not easy to make a correct valuation of the company. Is there any free valuation tool that can be used or any type of parameters? Our goal is to have a correct valuation because we want to sell some shares to an angel investor. Thanks and any advice is welcomed.

Hi everyone,I'm working on a startup idea and would love to get some feedback from this amazing community. The concept is a web platform designed to empower independent journalists and foster a community-driven news environment. Here are the key features:

User-Generated Content: Users can create and submit articles, news pieces, and blog posts.

Community Moderation: Submitted content is reviewed and approved by a community of trusted contributors, ensuring quality and relevance.

Trending and Featured Articles: The platform highlights the most popular and favored content on the main page, making it more visible to visitors.

Global Coverage: The platform supports news and articles from different countries, helping users stay informed about world events.

Enhanced Visibility: The goal is to ensure that high-quality content gains traction not only within the platform but also on search engines and news aggregators.

Why this matters or Why, you you may ask?

In today's media landscape, many people are increasingly frustrated with traditional news outlets that often seem biased or aligned with particular political or corporate interests. There's a growing demand for independent news sources that offer diverse perspectives and unbiased reporting. The platform will aim to address this need by providing a space where independent journalists can share their work and readers can find trustworthy, community-vetted news.

Like the title says, $1500 spent on Reddit and X ads - more or less 0 results to show for it. Roughly 80% of our paying users are from reddit organic traffic, so we're very surprised to see these results. We got about 5-10 leads, but would need to get 125 to break even.

Reddit ads (X ads had similar KPI:s):

• CPC: $0.17
• Impressions: 400k
• CTR: 0.62%
• 25 ad creatives (manually designed)
• Campaign goal: Leads
• Ran for 2 weeks

We're a small B2C SaaS start-up making a few K per month. Finance related, subscription model. We're still at an MVP stage, our product is scrappy but growing userbase and very low churn. We got pretty decent conversion rates:

• 11% from visitor -> Free Trial (only email required)
• 15% from Free Trial to Paid

We do get organic traffic (about 1K visitors a month) but it's hard to acquire, hence why we're trying ads.

We're totally puzzled. These results are obviously beyond bad. What could we be doing wrong? The ads prime the user for the landing page, we have a good idea of what problem we're solving, loading speed is fast, creatives look great, etc.

Hey everyone,

I’m curious about how you create videos for your new products and features.

1. Do you always create videos for new product launches or updates?
2. What tools do you currently use (free or paid?), and how long does it take to create the video?
3. Where do you post these videos and how effective they are in attracting new users?

I’d love to hear about your experiences and learn from it!

Feel free to post your video here. I'll watch them one by one with likes.

Thanks!

I have developed MVP and tested the concept. I have about 100 users and only 8 occurring users. However, my product is a provides same features as my competitors do.. I’ve been doing extensive market research to find a market gap or UVP. But no success at the moment. I’m not sure where to look at or how I should make my next move.

As a first time startup, I’m not even sure spending my time to find UVP or strengthen my product is the right move or not. Maybe I should just focus on growth with same features (well less features) as other competitors.

Did anyone got stuck in this phase and made it out? I’ve try asking GPT, get help from experienced entrepreneurs.. but still I couldn’t really find a good solution.

What would you do if you were in my situation?

A big question that a lot of people ask is how can you make money without having any money. And here's the thing, a lot of these online opportunities we all see, make big promises that you can make money without having money. So let's look at the facts and if it's really possible to start an online business, without any money.

Ecommerce - Anyone can start an online store selling goods, but the reality is, you need money to buy stock. You probably need money to store the goods in a storage unit. Then you've for the monthly online fees, for the platform you use. But the biggest monthly expense, which a lot of people forget about is, paid ads. You need to run adverts online through Facebook, IG or Google, to drive traffic to your website. Once you start selling the goods, you need the cashflow to buy/replenish more stock. So you need money.

Dropshipping - This is where you simply sell a product, you then order it from a seller who delivers it directly to your customer. So you can eliminate buying stock upfront. However, again, you have the monthly fees for the platform your website it on (eg Shopify), plus as above, the biggest monthly expense is paid ads. You need to run adverts online through Facebook, IG or Google, to drive traffic to your website. Or you won't get people to see your website and buy from you. So you do need a monthly budget.

Amazon FBA - You need funds to buy stock upfront. But you also have the monthly fees, product costs, monthly software costs for doing product research, finding the best products to sell. The downside also which is high risk, is buying stock that may have lots of competition, and end up getting stuck with the stock.

Affiliate Marketing - This is where you promote other peoples products and when someone clicks the link to someone else's website and purchases the product, you get a commission. Again, you need a monthly budget for paid advertising, or a big email list. You also need to spend months learning marketing skills.

There are few under the radar online businesses that doesn't require any of the above, which involves finding businesses online who have unwanted goods to sell, and you are simply a middleman who introduces those goods to other businesses who wants to buy them. So you are simply connecting the buyer with the seller and taking a "finders fee" in the middle. The best part is you're not involved in buying or selling the goods. You're simply the finder. This opportunity just involves building and growing a network of contacts, which is free to do online. Some people do similar with property and investment opportunities.

Hope this helps your journey in the online income space.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to improve my cold outreach strategy for my startup SaaS and would love to hear your thoughts on creating interesting email subject lines.

My questions are:

1. What unique subject line tactics have you found successful in capturing attention?
2. How do you personalize subject lines to engage your audience effectively?

Here's what I'm currently using as my stack for context:

• WarpLeads for generating unlimited export leads

• Reoon to verify emails

• Maildoso for managing email infrastructure

• Smartlead as my primary email sender

  If you might have better tool recommendations, please let me know!

Your insights would be greatly appreciated! Let's discuss and share our experiences on making cold emails stand out in the inbox!

A prospect who visits our SaaS tool's product page is a trillion-dollar fund executive. He requests a demo; I initially think it's a fake email address. I send the first email; no reply.

Using our in-house tool, I analyze his public content and craft a highly relevant email. He responds.

We prepare for the meeting with our tool, creating an introduction that resonates. At the demo, we ask sharp questions that change his demeanor.

He's interested in using us more as an agency for custom data solutions, despite no direct sale.

This experience was insightful but time-consuming. Without this preparation, deeply connecting in sales calls would be impossible. We have had this experience multiple times by now and have seen a direct link between our understanding of prospects, including using phrases that they use, and the success rate of closing a sale.

Now, we're testing a landing page for a product that helps founders streamline their sales prep. Would be keen to get feedback from the community. Not sure how to go about it though, without including URL.

[Hiring/Seeking/Offering] Jobs / Co-Founders Weekly Thread

This is an experiment. We see there is a demand from the community to:

• Find Co-Founders
• Hiring / Seeking Jobs
• Offering Your Skillset / Looking for Talent

Please use the following template:

• **[SEEKING / HIRING / OFFERING]** (Choose one)
• **[COFOUNDER / JOB / OFFER]** (Choose one)
• Company Name: (Optional)
• Pitch:
• Preferred Contact Method(s):
• Link: (Optional)

All Other Subreddit Rules Still Apply

We understand there will be mild self promotion involved with finding cofounders, recruiting and offering services. If you want to communicate via DM/Chat, put that as the Preferred Contact Method. We don't need to clutter the thread with lots of 'DM me' or 'Please DM' comments. Please make sure to follow all of the other rules, especially don't be rude.

Reminder: This is an experiment

We may or may not keep posting these. We are looking to improve them. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please share them with the mods via ModMail.

I always found the story of how Apoorva (Instcart's founder) got into YC by placing an order for one six pack of beer to Garry Tan really cool. There are other stories like these of scrappy startup founders doing creative reach outs to investors that I heard in podcasts but I feel like there just isn't enough written stories out there!

What are some of your favorites? If you or someone you know did something out-of-the-box, what was it? I'd love to hear about it!

I’m currently doing my master’s in Business Development while working at a tech company.

I was lucky enough to meet two guys who have the right mindset and drive to build something up. We’re a mix of computer science and economics students. A while ago, we met up and tried to figure out how to approach the whole situation because none of us has a specific idea or has founded a startup before.

At university and my job, I learned that every good idea starts with a problem. Three of the entrepreneurial subjects follow the idea of design thinking and the whole process of defining a problem, developing a value proposition, validation, and getting VC funding. Most information I get focuses on the process after finding a problem, but how can I actually find a problem without having a specific idea?

Most of the time, I read and hear that there’s no way to conceptualize the process of finding a problem, so I’m wondering how founders who were in a similar situation as we are now identified a potential problem area. Did you follow some frameworks? Did you start with problem definition, or did you focus solely on ideas without really thinking about problems too much?

Currently, we’re trying to identify idea spaces for different kinds of interests, industries, and sectors, and then come up with problem statements within each of these idea spaces to derive solutions as potential startups. We figured that conceptualizing the process would help us come up with something.

What other ways are there to actually come up with a potential business idea or value proposition? Is it really just a “keep your eyes open” thing?

What are your thoughts?

Hi Reddit!

I’m launching my mvp saas product at the end of this month. And I’ll be releasing another major update with additional features by the end of September. I reached out to this newsletters letter that directly talks about bootstrap founder. This is perfect because once of mu ICPs includes startup founders.

Here are some numbers

• They have 1,000 subscribers
• $100 for an ad placement / day
• 65% open rate
• 9% click rate
• 30% conversion rate(assumption)
• $3,000 (my budget)

I need help to decided what would be the most optimal strategy for running ads on a newsletter.

• Is running it everyday the most effective?
• Every other week?
• Every other day?
• etc..

If anyone has any experience with newsletter marketing, let me know what you think, would love to hear your thoughts and opinions! Thank you in advance!

The sentiment around case study posts is polarising. There's 2 sentiments around these posts:

1. Those who find them valuable and entertaining.
2. Those who just hate them.

From the past 2 years there has been way too many case-study posts in Reddit and the headline is tricky to determine if it is the OPs real story or whether it is a case-study of some other company.

So people who hate this case-study post also click on them - And it's just a bad bad experience to go back even though it is just a single click away because this happens repeatedly everyday.

To make the experience better for both kinds of people, This subreddit would gain greatly if a new "case-study" flair is implemented.

For people who like case studies, This would be a good filter. And for people who don't like case studies, they would just refrain from clicking it in the first place.

Hope the mods see this !

Let me add a little context. I finished and launched my crowdfunding platform. It’s fairly new so not many campaigns. You can campaign for rent payments,bills,business, etc. My question is how can I drive traffic to my website and get more campaigns and people signing up?

Hi everyone,

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be launching a new daily series of marketing case studies.

Why?

Although I’ve previously worked in the fields of SEO and web development for fun, I’m now committed to pursuing these areas seriously. My intention with this series is twofold: to share knowledge that can help you enhance your marketing strategies and to gather insights that will enable me to assist business owners who are struggling to grow further. By pairing the marketing strategies learned from these case studies with analytics, I plan to develop professional strategies to support businesses in overcoming their growth challenges. Not just to rank higher on SERP but also towards increased sales, brand awareness, customer engagement, return on investment, and market share growth. I hope these case studies will offer practical value and foster a collaborative learning environment.

What to Expect:

• Daily Case Studies: Each post will feature a detailed analysis of a real-world marketing scenario, covering strategies, successes, challenges, and actionable insights. I’ll be showcasing a variety of industries and marketing tactics to provide a broad perspective.
• Practical Tips: My goal is to offer practical advice that you can apply to your own marketing efforts. Whether it's refining your digital ads, enhancing your social media presence, or improving content strategies, you’ll get actionable takeaways.
• Community Engagement: I’m eager to hear your thoughts and feedback. Your input will help me fine-tune future case studies and ensure they are as relevant and helpful as possible. Feel free to ask questions, share your experiences, or suggest topics you’d like covered.

I’ve chosen to post in Startups, Digital Marketing, Marketing, and Entrepreneur because I believe these communities will resonate most with the content and benefit significantly from the insights shared. My aim is to connect with people who are passionate about marketing and business growth.

I’m really looking forward to this journey and to the discussions we’ll have. Your constructive feedback will be greatly appreciated as I aim to make this series as impactful and beneficial as possible.

BR

Me again with another crazy startup story :)

So, I was deep in this rabbit hole of market research, you know, just the usual. Then I stumbled across this business called Kpler. I’d never heard of it before, but what I found out kinda blew my mind. Turns out, this bootstrapped startup is raking in over $100 million in annual revenue. Freekin boostrapped to $100M. It gets crazier too… 

Kpler is essentially a data intelligence company, and they’re slowly but surely taking over the commodity trading industry. They take all the chaotic and fragmented raw data from commodities, gas, power, and maritime markets and turn it into actionable intelligence. Traders and shipping experts use it to make smarter decisions. Their platform is known for its accuracy and speed, providing insights that are impossible to get anywhere else (arm hairs stand up). Some massive companies use the platform, including, the World Trade Organization, OPEC, International Energy Agency, International Maritime Organization, and The World Bank. Yeah, The freaking World Bank! 🤯

Some deets: 

Origin Story: Founded in 2014 in Brussels, Kpler had its fair share of challenges. It took them a while to figure out how to clean up the data and convince industry giants to trust their insights. Their big break came when they launched their maritime data services. That was a total game-changer.

Pivotal Moment: Their turning point was when they integrated machine learning into their data aggregation process. This drastically improved the accuracy and relevance of their insights. This leap in technology allowed them to scale quickly and attract high-profile clients, creating an unbeatable moat around their business.

Why They Succeeded: Kpler’s success lies in their relentless pursuit of accuracy and transparency. They’re a textbook example of the power of a refined product. When you make something so good that people struggle to find flaws, the high-flying clients take notice.

Cool things I found:

Revenue: They’ve surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

Team: Over 500 employees globally.

High-profile Clients: NYT, Bloomberg, WTO, The World Bank.

Bootstrapped Success: No external funding (two founders)

Profitable from day one

Oh, and here’s the cherry on top: Kpler is the only data intelligence company with access to satellite data. This, combined with their lack of external funding, puts them in a super nimble position.

Personally, I find Kpler fascinating. They hold some of the most valuable data in the world and have the power to manoeuvre without the constraints of venture capital. This is definitely one of those “let’s hope they use their power for good” situations…

I'm trying to do one of these every other day, feel free to check out my profile to see the first one :)

Peace and love

Fin