Hello everyone!
I’m someone who recently ventured into the entrepreneurial world by co-founding maramora.co, a healing digital space designed to improve emotional well-being through art.
My expertise is mostly in NGO, arts and cultural initiatives. I’ve been organizing events, exhibitions, film festivals and more for the last 6 years. With little business background, every step has been a leap into the unknown, a constant learning process.
The inception of maramora came from a personal place - navigating through periods of emotional instability and seeking out alternatives for therapeutic purposes. We realized that art, often seen as an exclusive domain of the creatives, has a lot of potential. Our platform invites users, especially those in non-creative professions, to explore art-making as a means to achieve peace, mindfulness, and a deeper connection with themselves and the world around them.
However, Maramora's concept is different from other solutions that promise quick fixes with a click, as it requires users' time and engagement, offering a journey rather than a destination. It's more about discovering a need you didn't know existed until you experienced the effects.
Here's how Maramora works: we have art courses and simple art practices in various art forms (writing, visual arts, body, dancing etc) that anyone can do.
Has anyone here had an experience developing a somewhat similar thing?
Have you ever considered art as a form of emotional healing or mindfulness practice?

A couple days ago, I was talking with my best friend, and he said he couldn't believe it's been 3 years since his cousin passed away. I was there for him at that time, and I also felt like it was 3 months ago at most.

Then we started talking about what we did in the past 3 years, how far we've come, and what changed in our lives. And to our surprise, the answer was literally nothing. He was having money issues at the time, and so was I. And we're still having money issues. He had a project he was working on at the time, and so did I. And we're still nowhere near done with them.

I know it might sound stupid, but this whole conversation happened in less than 5 minutes, and it made us both realize that we're wasting our lives by going out and partying, and spending (wasting) time playing video games. Some of my friends have gotten married and even had kids in these 3 years, and I'm the same as I've always been for 3 (probably even more) years.

Then we got to talking about what we could do to fix this and started throwing ideas at each other. And we decided to fix our sleep schedules first, no more staying up until the sunrise. Then we decided to write out some to-do lists that we have to do every day, nothing intimidating like "sit down and work for an hour." Just the basic things that give us the discipline we need.

Mine goes like; get up and wash your face as soon as you open your eyes, make coffee and read articles and news about your field while drinking it, do 10 pushups, and read 10 pages before bed (I'm reading that Dale Carnegie book). 

It's been 3 days, and so far I've been sticking to it, and I can feel how much more energetic I feel during the day. For example, by 12 p.m. today, I've fixed 3 bugs and added 2 new features to my app, did my light workout, had my coffee, and cooked killer spaghetti. And when I look back, like a week ago, I was waking up at 4-5pm and had no energy to do anything. I'd just play minecraft until it was time to sleep again.

Anyway, I don't even know the point of this post, but I thought it might be helpful to some of you. Here's what helped me get off my ass and finally start working :

1. Fix your sleep schedule. It might be different for each person, I don't know. But I know I'm more productive during the day  than at night. And fixing this was the key for me.

2. Make a to-do list to get your day started in a uniformed way. This is also very important because it builds discipline. And when you regulate your day from the beginning, it gives you a sense of control. For example, I know I'll be more energetic and happy if I do x, y, and z at the beginning of my day. Why not do them every day and be happy and energetic all the time? Again, it doesn't even need to be anything work related.

3. When you think about doing something, stop thinking and get up and do it. This one made me get over my laziness, and I still can't believe how effective it is. As soon as a thought comes into my head, like "I need to fix this bug" or "I need to empty the dishwasher," I immediately start working on it without giving myself time to think about it. Although I think this comes from one (or both) of the previous points, because if I didn't have energy during the day, I'd definitely postpone it until I couldn't anymore. However, ironically, I feel this gives me more energy. I also realized that laying down and doing nothing only makes me more tired, rather than "rested.".

Again, I only started doing these 3 days ago. If you have suggestions on some things I should change or add, I'd be happy to hear them.

Hey! I am currently studying business but feel the need to work on something in my free time. My goal is not to make millions, I just want to be able to solve a problem and to rely less on being employed for 40 more years.

The idea came when I thought about hotels that are open all year round, and I assumed that they do not always have an optimal occupancy rate (Average in Switzerland was 55%). On the other hand, I know that many smaller companies would benefit of being able to have like a company outing (for a better team spirit etc). My idea was to be able to connect hotels that are willing to offer special prices for groups of 5-10+ people during low season with those companies.

I know that this is not innovative in any way, but I asked a few hotel managers and they told me that this would be interesting for them, they just don't know how to target/find those groups/companies.
I also know that the idea is based on many assumptions that I am currently trying to check, but I got his idea yesterday, so still a lot to think about (pricing etc.).
Thank you!

I am looking for positions as business explorer, speed up manager, business planner for NewCos who want to invest in or explore the Italian market. Already in 2007 I held this role in the automotive sector BUSINESS PLAN

Looking forward to reading your comments.

I have a small software development team which we work in agile framework. Two months back a guy joined our team. He is very curious, good at what he does but very poor on communication and team work. Here is the thing about this guy, he is very motivated to take on a task and completes them on time half of the time. The other half he is trying different things on how to do the task, experimenting with new frameworks, doing pre-mature optimization and others. His inputs have been valuable on solving problems and adapting to the quick changing tech landscape. But projects are not being delivered at time because most of the time he is blocking others. How can I manage this kind of behaviour ? I'm thinking about assigning the same task I assigned to him to another person so that the project can be delivered on time and I can get valuable insights from him as well, but I'm afraid this might hurt the team dynamics.

I Worked Hard all my Life I Regret it.

Harder than anyone I had ever known. Did it bring success?

-No.

I really wanna say "yes" to justify my hard work and push down those who didn't work hard, but can't lie to myself.

These 3 things actually helped me succeed:

1. Kill me EGO. Back in the day, I worked hard, but in most cases, I was simply fighting with my own "intentional" mistakes. Most of the things I did came out of my ego. For example, I'd design things based on my personal taste rather than looking for this year's trend and adopting it. Why did I go for my own taste vs the current thing? because of my EGO. 99% of founders in my network make this mistake as we speak, I see it every day now, but I didn't see it in myself back then. Killing my ego led to becoming 2-5x more productive, which means I don't need to work as "hard" anymore.
2. Validation & Brave Confidence. In old times I'd just go and build the sh*t instead of validating. In 10 out of 10 cases, I'd build crap that nobody needs and right after that, I'd iterate doing 100-hour work weeks with no sleep or holidays. Could I have avoided all that? Of course. Today I validate things before I write the first line of code. I haven't failed a single launch since then. The productivity gain here is 10-100x. In old times a typical product would need 2 years of iterations to get somewhere, now it's "right" from the start because I iterate on the validation stage using different marketing messages. Compare this to iterating with the SAAS, where each new version might take many months of coding, versus me spending a few minutes to redo my marketing message from a new angle.
3. Reinventing wheels. I'd never reuse external libraries or nocode tools or boilerplates. I was too proud of myself. Every boilerplate had "spaghetti code", SDKs were poorly designed, APIs were limiting me....and all sorts of bulls*it excuses I could find to reinvent the wheel yet again. Now my typical project has just 5% of my own code and the rest comes from external boilerplates, apis, sdks, nocodes, lowcodes. This is yet another 10x time saver. I don't need to code for 100 hours a week anymore. I can spend more time inventing cool creative marketing ideas that actually move the needle instead of proudly reinventing the CRUD.

The Moral.

If you have to work hard, it means you're not working "smart". Often founders romanticize the "hard" and look for hard ways instead of going for easy ways. I know it's hard to accept it. I was the one who denied it myself for many years.

I’m 16, I have no assets to my name and I plan on starting a pressure washing business. Because I have no assets, currently I’m not interested in forming an LLC, but I’m afraid that someone could come after my parent’s house or car in a lawsuit. Can something like that happen?

My kid got interested in something and hasn’t stopped talking about it for about a year now.

I’ve bought various books and try to fill his five year old curious mind with as much information as I can get. He loves YouTube videos about it and any movie on the subject.

There aren’t a lot of toys to get him that he can actually play with. A few he can look at.

Anyway, he showed me a YouTube video where someone had built a toy. Not much to it so I built him one too. He plays with it everyday. I decided to take it to the next level and added a feature to make it more interactive, (it moves on its own now after investing $7 on a part).

I know I could sell this toy for probably $25 however it is very easy to copy and I’d probably only get a few units sold before people with better selling channels figured it out.

I don’t have any experience selling my own product, but have drop shipped and resold plenty of items just to gain that experience.

I noticed the video’s he watches have millions of views and they are very amateur.

This would be a hobby idea but I would love to hear feedback on the various routes I could take with this. Part of me wants to just make a video and teach others how to make this toy. Kids will love it, as it’s a current trend among kids. Books are sold out and I’ve heard other parents talking about it too.

It’s such a good idea, anytime anyone sees the toy they are amazed, but it’s really one of those “why didn’t I think of that”? I just can’t help but think of monetizing it somehow but have no idea how to make money with online videos.

Hey all, this is obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but if anyone's keen on experimenting with growing their social media based on astrology, can you hit me up? I'm testing out the framework I've developed with 10-15 users (for free) before I officially launch this. Any social media platform (except TikTok).

Please message me only if you're serious about this, and willing to work together for the next 4-6 weeks.

how did you figure it out? is it books? or a degree?mentor? because you can't randomly come up with an idea, i just needed to know how you did it

Context: I’m currently a wantreprenur.

I’ve built a cleaning company (which still operates) that I sold to my business partner and her mum because I built in in an operationally complex way, WAY too quickly (18+ team in 12 months). So have a little experience with service businesses.

This was 2-3 years ago now and I’ve been stuck ever since going from idea to idea then talking myself out of it. I’m currently employed but want my own project again.

I have about £5k-£10k I’m willing to put into a business to start (I appreciate it’s not much).

I have no qualifications or special skills. I’m 26.

Service business is an obvious choice but I’ve been put off services because of the nightmare that is hiring staff.

Product businesses generally need lots of upfront capital (thinking mattress store but need £30-£40k invested to be able to compete locally and don’t know how much I can take of working for others).

What business would you do if you were in this scenario?

Hello everyone!
Over the past years I've tried out various note-taking tools in the hope of finding the holy grail of note-taking for me: Notepad, OneNote, SimpleNote, Notion, Obsidian, Apple Notes but nothing seems to quite hit the spot.
Most of the time I need something to write something down quickly so I don't forget it while in a meeting or when talking with someone. All note-taking apps I've tried so far ask me to create a new note, add a title and then start writing.
Having one note with a "misc" title or something like that makes it hard to find what I wrote and when.
Having multiple small notes with one line of text and a random title clutters other, larger notes.
On Windows good ol' Notepad satisfied this need the most: I can fire it up quickly, write down something and that's it. But the problem is that I if don't save it it's gone. And I'd like to have it stored somewhere automatically.
One solution that I found for work is Slack: I DM myself what I need to remember and be done with it. Everyone in the company uses Slack so I have everything in one place.
For personal stuff it's a bit trickier since not everyone uses the same thing for chattting (I juggle between Messages, Signal, Whatsapp, and Messenger) and it's tedious to have a self-chat in each of the apps.
I'm wondering how everyone else takes their notes to see if there's a potential for a different kind of note taking app. If you have 2 minutes available please help me out with this survey: https://app.youform.io/forms/vkdy2ho4

“My friend is raising a series C round of 60m for his startup. He already raised 50-52m. I asked him to let me raised some or all of the remaining with my contacts.

When talking about my “cut”, he said that they don’t pay anyone for helping him raise (which is true, they can raise everything without me). How much should I ask as “advisory shares” or should I ask for a % for the money raised?”

The first, immediate question on our end would be - how useful is the service you actually offer?

If you were the one he approached, and also mentioned that he is not paying anyone else for this raise, and you can confirm, you should ask yourself what it actually is that you can offer.

If the service you are providing is something he can do himself within his own network, and you are essentially helping him out by lending him your time, then a very small percentage.

If, however, you have a network of potential high ticket investors that have skin in the game and they need you to get in communication with them, then the stakes would be higher.

However, by the sound of it, you are a good addition, but not mandatory to the game, hence your share would likely be on the smaller end. Talk to the CEO and ask him what he would offer you as you deliver this information. Making yourself valuable by sharing this opinion and letting him know that you are aware of your own strengths and weaknesses is important.

What would you advise him?

Hi, I am interested to know why you think you have not been successful yet, what stands in your way of success and what is holding you back?

Thanks!

Hi guys,

Hope you're well. My app has just gone live on Product Hunt:

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/prettypolly

Would really appreciate and questions, suggestions or other feedback.

Thanks,

Chris

As far as I know, Y Combinator's Library is the greatest educational resource for people like us. Thousands of talks and presentations by those who've really made it. I was wondering if you'd like to learn from them with me.

We could meet a few times a week, pick videos to watch, and discuss the ideas presented there and how we might apply them in our work. Who knows, we might even keep each other company in this rather lonely lifestyle we've picked.

If you're curious, my name is Dan, I'm 25, and Simularium is my baby. Please send me a DM if this sounds interesting, thank you. <3

Hey all,

I just wanted to make a post and see if anyone could recommend me a very good/skilled app designer/developer. Long story short, I have an idea of an app I want to create but I need someone to make that dream a reality as I have no technological background nor do I know much about creating an app. Any help would be appreciated!

Could not believe when I saw it first two days ago.

One of them is an Asian guy who spends his entire career filming short clips of him yapping his generic knowledge about how to deal with crappy toxic situations and thrive in corporate.

i see in my feed that he made a post attacking people anti 9-5 and how ‘it’s actually great, he loved it so should everyone else’. Yet he’s on Instagram traveling the world and doesn’t have a 9-5 anymore since he is a successful business owner. Biggest case of manipulative hypocrisy I’ve seen in a while.

Then today I go and again there’s more corporate gurus attacking entrepreneurs, now trying to convince people they can get richer from 9-5’s instead and if they want to be a ceo so bad they can do it at corporate just as likely (LOL). Saw a third that was along similar lines

I’m assuming these sudden attacks because the gen pop are beginning to wisen up and see there’s options outside of corporate and that = corporate gurus lose more money.

Maybe this is the sign of a real tide shift? Curious what y’all think

I hope this can help a few people out.

Looking for experienced opinions on some valuable literature that genuinely helped with knowledge and perspective when breaking into the business/economics space.

Hello Community,

I am self employed and have some transitions coming up related to branching out from currently working from one state on the West Coast to establishing another office on the East Coast. So, at minimum two states, and my business is based on my delivery of services solely (I don't sell product, and I provide a direct service to one client at a time).

I have a handful of questions related to business strategy (mostly tax strategy and business setup as I grow and establish another office) and wise counsel (what am I not considering, what can I do that I'm not doing/consider that I'm not considering). I'd like to find a consultant who I can hire for a conversation or a few conversations to assist me as I make this transition. Still, I'm in a fairly rural location presently with my main office, and I would like to access the broader market in the hopes that I can gain more expert advice/expertise.

I have a handful of questions that related to business strategy (mostly tax strategy and business setup as I grow and establish another office) and wise counsel (what am I not considering, what can I do that I'm not doing/consider that I'm not considering). I'd like to find a consultant who I can hire for a conversation or a few conversations to assist me as I make this transition. Still, I'm in a fairly rural location presently with my main office, and would like to access the broader market in the hopes that I can access more expert advice/expertise.

Matthew

I previously worked at Google and decided to resign because I’ve found great success in blockchain technology. My success isn’t from investing in meme coins but from my work in blockchain development.

Now, I’m available to develop & design your websites and mobile apps, guaranteeing high-quality, profitable products as I adhere to best practices.

Feel free to ask for any advice—I’m here to help. Whether your project is complex or simple, send me a direct message, and let’s get started!

I started a company and brought a friend on because I really needed the help. I also lacked a bit of confidence at the time to take on certain tasks. After starting our first business together we have learned a ton.

We talk about starting future ventures together but I am a little concerned if he is someone I should keep working with.

He is a honest stand up kind of guy and I trust him. My problem is his work ethics. I have come to believe that he is a bit of a hustler than he is a dedicated business owner. I think he is more interested in just making money than he is in building something. I also find my self constantly reminding him to get things done (some things get forgotten), he loses interest in things, I have to assign him work rather than him finding new tasks, and much more. I also put way more hours into this than him.

The current business is going a little slow and dosnt make a ton of profit. He is also busy with other things and this is part time for us. I think he might be a little bored of it.

Starting a business is hard. It helps when working with someone else, but it’s also very hard to find someone who is a real entrepreneur and is dedicated to putting in the work to build something. Finding someone new that you trust is even harder.

Obviously there is more to this, but I wanted to get some peoples thoughts on my situation and If starting an another business together is a good idea.

I guess something I am trying to figure out is if he is interesting in just money or building a long lasting company that becomes very lucrative.

Please don’t dm asking to start a company together.

So I pretty much think i’m working too much but not enough any advice. So I feel like I do too much but not enough im (19M) I like to think of my self as a starting entrepreneur but I wouldn’t personally lable myself as an entrepreneur yet. Maybe because im not making enough money yet but ik im not gonna be making 5figures so soon and im trusting the process ig. So here it is I work as a server for 10 hours a week, I work as a partner in an ebay store make a cut but the store not making much money (trying to expand it) I do everything there from the listing to the shipping to answering customers complains to buying supplies. I also sell 50-100 used laptops every month which I make the deal between two people and make the difference and I also flip thing at my house from facebook ebay thrift store auctions whenever i find something cheap not really work just kind of a hobby I like the thrill of finding something for a bargain and making a profit on it then treating my self for something nice. Also once a month I go help my friend mom with cleaning and i make few bucks. And im studying to be a real estate agent. Nothing is really hard work and not long hours its just stressful dealing with everything and im not worn out. And im always broke. Some i do for extra cash some for networking and some for skills. So to all of the successful entrepreneurs has anyone been in the same situation? Should I change anything and advice would be helpful thank you :).

Hello fellow entrepreneurs. I have an online business, which is an online learning platform where I'm selling courses taught by different professionals from a range of domains. All the courses are made of a series of videos structured in chapters and once somebody buys it they can rewatch it as much as they wish. Together with my co-founder we have the website where we promote and sell the courses and we are also involved in the whole process of shooting the courses and producing them. Everything is working and we are having constant sales with some of the courses, however there is a major problem that I'm facing:

While I know a bit of programming we don't really have a fully technical person in our team and the website was done by somebody a while ago and they don't work in the industry anymore. Now I'm stuck with this Wordpress based website which works but whenever I want to improve on it I can't do much because it was made out of a ton of plugins which would not work anymore if updated.

I was considering to do a new website from scratch but I'm not sure if I should keep going on the Wordpress route or create it fully with code. What would be the best practice and is the effort of having your fully code based website worth it? Thanks

I'm looking for advice on whether to go down the kickstarter route or to offer pre-sales on my website. I'm starting a footwear brand and I'm still in the stage of development, so not quite ready to put the product out there. However, when I do have a more finalized sample I would like to start marketing the footwear. Which leads to my question. I'm trying to decide whether to start a kickstarter campaign or to build out the website to take pre-orders on the footwear. I've laid out some of my thoughts between using either one (according to my limited experience):

1. Kickstarter people may be more willing to pledge if they believe in the product since if the target is not met the product may not come to market vs Pre-sale some people may not pay since they could just wait til the product becomes available again.
2. Between kickstarter fee's and offering the product at a discount (rewards for their pledge) I could possibly make less money from kickstarter vs Pre-sale would be people buying the product at full price (Maybe discount?) which could provide me with more money to start, but may not get as many orders given the above reason
3. Kickstarter would mean I market/advertise the campaign vs. Pre-sale I would market the product more. Both the kickstarter and pre-sale route would have a timeline when the campaign and pre-sales stopped, so not sure if there would be any big pro's/con's in the marketing/advertising side of each.

These are some of the thoughts that I've had and please offer advice if you can on any of the above or related topics. Thank you!

I have a music app that feels like it has some real potential, but I am treading water trying to figure out how to grow it without more funding (unfortunately my pockets are tapped out at this point).

Any advice on a reputable place to apply for funding/investors?

This might be a long one, so in Mid-Feb our team was notified that half were being let go by Mid-Mar and Mid-Apr. I was lucky to be on the second swath of folks let go. Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago I registered an LLC and have been building out my business with consultation from the Texas Veterans Commission and other non-profits, which brings us to today. I have been worrying about the last couple of paychecks coming in and how I am going to sustain my family through this time. I have been rejected well over a hundred times both internally and externally for a variety of positions adding to my stress. My wife and I have been toying with the idea of liquidating my retirements as I barely have any since I left the military in 2015 without a retirement and I just turned 40 so its not like I have the finances put together for retirement anyways. This would allow us to put money into the business betting on myself after paying off 100% of our debt beside our mortgage. I receive benefits from the VA and that would cover our mortgage considering we got in before the rates skyrocketed. I am aware of the 10% penalty and the fund being taxed as taxable income in the next year. I am ranting I know, but any input would be greatly appreciated. :)

Hi I’m a first time founder building a mental health platform, bootstrapped. My mother a cofounder is from psychology background and I am from finance background. We outsourced tech like building website, the algorithm etc and we are struggling. She now wants to opt out from the business because she has other priorities. Wanted suggestions on the below:

1. Should I shut down the business and take a job?

2. How do I find a tech co-founder?

3. Is there a way I can find a mentor?

4. I don’t think I’m a good leader - how can I get better?

5. Any low cost marketing strategies?

6. How long do I have to be patient till I see real money flowing in as it’s a platform business?

7. Should I consider raising funds?

I was previously working in a corporate job and when I would not get credit for my work I would feel bad, today when the business is not working the feeling of losing confidence is even worse. Any guidance would be helpful!

Thank you!

Have a successful MSP business. Not looking to hire more employees. Would like to funnel the money into other revenue streams that my wife and I can handle without employees. Thoughts? I have several in mind but looking for opinions.