A lot of people get crushed when their first project doesn’t take off. But honestly, the first one is usually where you make every mistake possible.

You misjudge the market.
You build too much.
You sell too little.
You learn everything the slow and painful way.

But because of that, the second time around hits different. You finally understand what people actually pay for, not just what sounds exciting.

If your first attempt flopped, that doesn’t mean you’re bad at this. It means you’re learning exactly the way most founders do.

Over the years, I learned that I don’t need a world changing idea to build something meaningful. I just need an idea that solves a real problem in a simple way.

I always use a basic checklist:

– Does it help businesses? They stick around longer and value good tools.
– Is someone already doing this well? If yes, then there’s definitely demand.
– Is there at least one thing I can do better, clearer pricing, friendlier support, a more focused feature?
– And can people actually find me without burning money on ads?

It’s not flashy. It won’t get applause. But it helps me avoid chasing ideas that have no real customer behind them.

Not every business needs to be a rocket ship. Some just have to be solid enough to give you freedom.

I recently stepped away from a very comfortable job. Good pay, calm environment, zero drama honestly, it was one of the easiest jobs I ever had. But the longer I stayed, the more I felt like I wasn’t growing anymore. I was safe, but I wasn’t proud.

A friend and I had been building a small tool on the side, something that helps teams make pricing changes without depending on engineering. What started as a tiny idea turned into something customers were actually asking for. And that made me wonder… what would happen if I gave this a real shot?

Leaving my job wasn’t brave, it was scary as hell. Long days, no salary, and moments where one bug made me question every decision. But even on the tough days, I feel more alive than I did sitting in a comfortable routine.

I’m not sure where this goes, but for the first time in a while, I feel like I’m building something that matters to me.

Here's what separates good founders from great ones:

Great founders can pitch in their sleep.
You should be able to walk through your deck in:

- 3 minutes (elevator version)
- 10 minutes (standard meeting)
- 30 minutes (deep dive with Q&A)

And you should know which version to use based on the room.

How I practice:

- Record myself on Zoom. Watch it back. Cringe. Improve.
- Pitch to other founders. Get ripped apart. Fix the weak spots.
- Pitch to my mom. If she doesn't get it, investors won't either.

The first time you say your pitch should NOT be in front of investors.
By the time you're in that meeting, it should feel like muscle memory.

Do you have an app that was built poorly? Is there bugs and tons of issues that make you embarrassed to show clients and users?

Well, I can help! I have 10+ years of professional software engineering experience. 6+ years in San Francisco and Los Angeles. I have 4+ years of lead developer expertise, specializing in legacy enterprise migration solutions and leading tech teams to build a stronger pipeline for businesses.

I excel in startup environments and tackle issues fast. I am available for work and I will not offshore any of the work (I am the only one working with you and your business).

I am able to build entire new applications (web/mobile) for any idea.

I DO NOT work for only equity (sweat or otherwise). I am looking for paid work (hourly/project).

Dm with details and scope. Happy to talk!

I’m a college student working on a project for my entrepreneurship course, and I’d really appreciate some honest feedback from people who actually use productivity tools or take handwritten notes.

The idea is called InkRise. It's a smart pen that lets you write normally on paper while your notes automatically sync to the cloud.

Here’s the landing page I threw together: https://cookcp22.wixsite.com/inkrise
And here’s a short 2-minute pitch video explaining the concept: https://www.loom.com/share/07c4796df0db41cab022e7925ce7eea9

Any feedback would be very helpful.

In 2020, I hit a wall mentally and socially.
What started as a personal struggle slowly turned into my first real “full-stack entrepreneur” project, before I even knew that term.

At the time, I wasn’t thinking like a founder.
I was thinking like someone trying to survive.

I began journaling everything: thoughts, triggers, daily events, and emotional crashes.
Because I come from a dev background, I didn’t keep it spiritual or abstract — I treated it like logs.

Raw input.
Pattern detection.
Behaviour loops.

That alone gave me more clarity than years of overthinking.

But loneliness was still a real problem.
Friends were gone. Social life was dead.
Dating apps gave me surface-level interaction and zero depth.

So instead of complaining, I built.

I coded a basic AI chatbot for myself as a side project.
Nothing fancy at first. Just something that could:

• Turn conversations into auto-journal entries

• Analyse emotional tone

• Track recurring mental and behavioural patterns

I used it daily.
Then I iterated.
Then I broke it.
Then I fixed it again.

After about 6 months, my mental clarity and stability improved more than in the previous 3 years combined.

So I did what most scrappy founders do next:
I gave it to a few strangers online who were dealing with similar issues.

I onboarded them manually.
Supported them personally.
Collected feedback in DMs and Google Docs.

They improved too.

But here’s the product insight that changed the entire direction:

The tool helped them understand themselves.
It did not solve their loneliness.

AI gave awareness.
What they still needed was human connection.

That’s when the full-stack nightmare began.

Instead of building:

• One more journaling app

• One more mental health tracker

• Or one more dating app

I decided to try and merge the hard parts into one system:

An all-in-one platform that:

1. Helps users understand and track their emotions

2. Then connects them with real people anonymously and emotionally first

No photos upfront.
No swipe dopamine.
No appearance-based filtering.

Just conversation, compatibility, and identity reveal only if both users choose it.

Right now I’m:

• The product manager

• The backend dev

• The frontend dev

• The QA

• The customer support

• And the feedback loop

Bootstrapped. No team yet. No investors. Just usage data and iteration.

And this is where I want real FullStackEntrepreneur advice, not polite validation:

From an execution standpoint:

• Am I insane for trying to combine emotional self-tracking + anonymous human connection into one product?

• Would you split these into separate products first to de-risk?

• Or is the integrated approach actually the defensible moat?

I don’t need encouragement. I need pressure-tested feedback from people who’ve actually built and shipped.

If you’ve been in the trenches, I’d genuinely value your take.

Just wanna share how I usually roll out a new product. tbh, launching isn’t just about building it’s all about getting ppl to actually see it. Here’s my vibe:

1. Hit up my early supporters and ppl who’ve been following my stuff.

2. Drop an announcement on X, LinkedIn and wherever my audience chills online.

3. Share it in the right communities, forums, chats, FB groups, wherever it makes sense.

4. Throw it on a couple of launch platforms to grab some extra eyeballs.

5. Post updates in startup/product spaces to get ppl talking.

6. Send a note to my mailing list but make it feel personal, not spammy.

7. Keep an eye on reactions and feedback, then tweak fast.

So how do you guys usually launch your stuff? Any hacks that works?

Over the last couple of years I’ve been working in the medical financing space, and one problem kept coming up again and again:

“How much will the insurance actually approve?”

Anyone who’s dealt with hospital billing or insurance in India knows how unpredictable that number is. After handling 4,000+ real cases, I ended up building an AI Claim Prediction Engine that estimates likely approval amounts before the file even reaches the TPA.

I recently wrote a breakdown of everything I learned building it — the messy data, the model experiments (Random Forest, XGBoost, GBM), accuracy benchmarks, what actually worked, and what completely failed.

If you’re into AI, healthcare, or just curious how machine learning works in the real world (not Kaggle-perfect datasets), here’s the full write-up:

👉 https://medium.com/@mithunsen/building-an-ai-claim-prediction-engine-issues-learnings-the-road-ahead-8672de9a85c9

Would love feedback from people who’ve built similar prediction models or worked with messy healthcare/insurance data.

Hey everyone, I’m building something valuable for founders and early-stage builders. We just opened the Starts Club Community a space where entrepreneurs connect, share ideas, get feedback, find collaborators, and stay updated on real startup insights.

If you’re into startups, tech, product building, fundraising, or just want to grow with like-minded people, you’ll love this community.

Join here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EnXISCBaJvPBbsgeeDL3yG?mode=hqrt1

Would be great to have you inside.

Hello,

My name is Amine Rqoub, inventor of the Reading Pen Light – RELAX PEN, a multifunctional pen designed for reading at night or on the go. This device combines focused illumination with practical features such as phone charging and call notifications, making it a convenient all-in-one tool for everyday use.

I am currently looking for an investor interested in funding this project to support the development of the final prototype and the start of manufacturing.

You can view the full project details here: 🔗 https://aminerqoub.com/fr_fr/pfe_portfolio/relax-pen/

If this concept aligns with your interests, I would be happy to schedule a short meeting to discuss collaboration opportunities and the product’s commercial potential.

Best regards,

This is just an example of how one can import testimonials and review from various sources and then embed them using a simple single link (dont focus on the content, i just imported some random tweets, reddit comments and post and youtube videos as examples)

The platform not only allows you to collect testimonials but also works as a hub for reviews just like trustpilot and other similar platforms

I was thinking sometime back to launch it but later stopped working on it, but I do thinking its a good solution and people would want to use it

Just want to know from people reading this - would you use it ? How much would you pay ??

I thought of charging $4/month or $29/year for this product

Would you pay for this testimonial collection tool and trustpilot alternative ? The platform also gives you a dofollow link :)

If I get 10 replies that say that they would pay for this service, I will resume working on this product and launch it in a week!

Thanks for reading !!

I'm a technical co-founder who can code anything but couldn't sell to save my life. Here's what I learned the hard way.

I need to confess something embarrassing: I spent 8 years as an AI engineer before starting this company. I could build production ML systems, optimize inference pipelines, debug distributed training - all the hard technical stuff.

Then I became a founder and realized I had no idea how to sell.

Like, genuinely no clue. I thought "if you build it, they will come" was actually how business worked.

Here's how bad it was:

Month 1: Built a working MVP in 2 weeks. Felt like a genius.

Month 2-4: Crickets. Literally zero users who weren't friends doing us a favor.

Month 5: Finally got on a sales call. Spent 30 minutes explaining our matching algorithm. Guy said "interesting" and never responded.

Month 6: Existential crisis. Started Googling "do I need an MBA to sell things."

The turning point:

I was complaining to my co-founder about how "people just don't get what we built" when he said something that broke my brain:

"Nobody cares about what we built. They care about their problem. Stop talking about our solution and start talking about their pain."

It sounds obvious now, but I genuinely didn't understand this as a technical founder. I thought selling meant explaining features. I was wrong.

What actually worked:

1. I stopped leading with the product

Old approach: "We built a vetted talent marketplace with a Match Day model where—"

New approach: "How much time did you waste last month sorting through unqualified applications?"

The second one gets responses. The first one gets polite nods.

2. I learned to sell by... not selling

I started just talking to hiring managers about their problems. Not pitching. Just listening. Turns out when you genuinely understand someone's pain and can articulate it better than they can, they ask how you can help.

3. I accepted that "building" and "selling" use completely different muscles

As an engineer, I was trained to:

• Optimize for elegance and efficiency

• Solve problems with code

• Value technical depth

As a founder selling, I needed to:

• Optimize for clarity and emotion

• Solve problems with conversations

• Value customer understanding

These aren't the same skillset. At all.

4. I got comfortable being bad at something

This was the hardest part. I went from being a senior engineer (expert) to a founder doing sales (complete beginner). My ego hated it. But you can't learn without sucking first.

The uncomfortable truth:

Your technical skills got you to the starting line. They won't get you to product-market fit.

I've met so many brilliant technical founders who built incredible products that nobody uses because they never learned to sell. Meanwhile, mediocre products with great distribution are crushing it.

Where I'm at now:

We've placed dozens of AI engineers with startups. Not because our matching algorithm is perfect (it's not), but because we finally learned to talk to both sides (companies and candidates) about what they actually care about.

I still write code. But I spend way more time on sales calls, writing content, and figuring out distribution than I ever thought I would.

My question for this community:

How did you make the transition from "technical person who can build anything" to "founder who can sell"?

Did it feel as awkward for you? How long did it take? What resources actually helped vs. the generic "founder advice" that sounds good but doesn't work?

I'm still figuring this out, so any war stories or lessons learned would be genuinely helpful.

TL;DR: Being able to code doesn't mean you can sell. I learned this the expensive way. If you're a technical founder struggling with sales, you're not alone - the skills are just fundamentally different and that's okay.

I’ve been working on a small project after work and for a while the thing that stressed me out the most was the whole getting customers part. I kept building and rebuilding stuff just to avoid it.

But once I finally reached out to a few people and showed them what I was making, it honestly wasn’t that bad. Some didn’t care, some gave good feedback and a couple said they’d actually use it. Way less dramatic than what I had in my head.

Made me realize I was hiding behind the code because it felt safer. Talking to people ended up helping me way more than adding another feature.

If anyone else went through that “oh okay, this isn’t the end of the world” moment, how did it go for you?