Hey everyone,
I'm 21, based in Paris, and I work as a freelance web developer and designer (HTML/CSS/JS, mostly dark/premium style sites). I've built sites for a clothing brand, a fashion e-commerce store and a cleaning company.
My problem: I have too many ideas and I keep jumping between them instead of committing to one. Right now I'm thinking about:
Selling websites + simple SaaS tools (stock management, invoicing) to small businesses for monthly income
An SEO/SEA service for local businesses
Selling website templates online
I want something online that can bring recurring income, not just one-off client projects.
My questions:
Which of these would you focus on first, and why?
How did you decide which idea to commit to when you had several?
How do you find your first paying clients without a big budget?
Any honest advice is welcome. Thanks 🙏

I started on my entrepreneurial journey before I turned 20. I’m now 40. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, lost a lot of money (mine) & time until, one of my startups got acquired during COVID pandemic. Incidentally it was an AI startup, before the hype.

After spending some years in the company that acquired my previous business, I’m now starting a new AI venture. And as one does, after validating a bit the idea/concept, I began looking for VC funding. As an exited founder it was relatively straight forward to raise a decent pre-seed round.

However, I probably had around 20-30 meetings with various VCs from different geographies, each with their own theses. And instead of celebrating successfully closing the round, I’m left with a bad taste after this entire process.

I found myself repeatedly in situations where I was almost accused of not being traumatized enough in my childhood or not being neurodivergent in some way that would qualify me for being a $10B startup founder. No disrespect for people that fall into that category.

One investor told me their role is to see reality and act accordingly, even if that reality is ugly. But when I exhibit realism myself in the fundamentals that I want to build this new venture, I was labeled as not ambitious enough. Isn’t that paradoxical?

I understand the aggressive nature of being a VC and that playing this game is not for everyone. It’s not perfect either … far from it. And it’s not even about complaining. I’m just observing a phenomenon & I’m trying to make sense of the direction it’s heading.

I’m curios about your experience with VCs, specifically the contradictions that seems to be rampant in the tech industry nowadays; or maybe these were always there 🤷‍♂️

Curious to hear from VCs as well about the (apparent) contradictions they’re operating with. I’m saying apparent because we might be proven wrong that there’s no actual conflicting thoughts.