My Heart Stopped and I Nearly Died building 3 VC-backed Startups (I Will Not Promote) ***(Note: If you read "I had a VC-Funded Unicorn-in-the-Making and I F\*cked it up" which is now a Top 5 post of all time on this subreddit, this is a continuation of that story).*** I pushed myself so hard running 5 startups (3 VC, 2 self funded) at once that my heart stopped and I nearly died. This is the story of how it happened, and why you might be closer to the same outcome than you realize. **Work Hard, Work Harder** I've been a startup Founder for over... 5 7 replies
I Thought a Good Product Was Enough… I Was Wrong. I will not promote When I started, I really believed that if I made a great product, people would just find it and buy it. But nope—turns out, branding, marketing, and distribution matter just as much (if not more). I’m still figuring things out, but I’d love to hear from others who’ve been through this. What helped you the most in getting your product noticed? If you could give one piece of advice, what would it be? I will not promote 3 20 replies
Leaving this sub because of "I will not promote" It's stupid and completely ruining my home feed, and the flair options ("ban me," "ban me," and "I will not promote") is also ham-fisted and a waste of a well-designed and useful Reddit feature . Mods need to do the moderation and kick people out for promotion, not ruin everyone else's day. I'm a top 5% commenter in this sub. It's been fun and I've learned a lot too. Someone PM me when this rule dies. EDIT: This is currently the top post LOL 4 20 replies
How to do equity redistribution? I will not promote We're incorporated using Stripe Atlas 3-4 months ago. Because of some circumstances, now we want to redistribute equity. We're 3 co-founders and everyone has agreed on the new amounts. We have no revenue, no loan, no investment, etc. What are we required to do? Does any of you guys know that? 5 0 replies
Seeking technical co-founder for creating a solution for enterprises in geospatial domain. "I will not promote" Hi everyone, I am currently working in this sector and have detailed understanding of where the value lies for customers. These geospatial solutions are especially for enterprises holding big/small real estate for their manufacturing plants. To give you a perspective it requires use of software like QGIS , ArcGIS etc. These services and solutions sell okay, but efficiently utilizing the data-intensive files is a pretty big challenge. Handling these files require robust computing infrastructure on site which is typically a hindrance on clients end. There is a scope for... 2 0 replies
Why I’m building a platform to fight fake reviews and spammy voting systems * I will not promote I’ve been 5 months since I started my journey as indie hacker, and I wanted to share why I’m working on something new. A few months ago, I launched a small app. Like many indie devs, I submitted it to a popular “product discovery” platform, only to watch it drown in a sea of bots and paid upvotes. Worse, the comments were filled with “Congrats!” spam from accounts created minutes earlier. At the same time, as a user, I’ve grown tired of sifting through biased reviews and products that... 4 0 replies
Help us build a platform for real-world dev tasks! (I will not promote) Hey r/startups devs/founders! Quick intro: I’m Arsh, the co-founder. We’re building something like LeetCode but for *actual tasks startups use to test developers* – think intern assignments, probation projects, or random challenges you’d give a new hire. **Here’s the deal:** We need your help to make this legit. If you’re a startup (especially early-stage!), **send us those tasks/projects you use to assess devs**. No NDA stuff, obviously – just the kinda things that make you go *“Yeah, this’ll show if they can code.”* **Why bother?** * **Free clout**: We’ll credit your startup on... 3 0 replies
Knowledge Bases: Essential or Overrated? I will not promote Many businesses have a knowledge base for their users or teams. What is the real reason you made one? Was it because customers kept asking the same questions? Or maybe for internal documentation? I am building knowledge base software, and I want to understand what features actually help the most. Some people like simple FAQ pages, others need something more like a wiki. Maybe automation? Search? If you already have a knowledge base, what features do you use the most? If you don’t have one, why not? 2 0 replies
Best way to gain interest “I will not promote” What’s up gang? A couple years ago I created a new company and I had applied to a few of those accelerator programs, but was not accepted and I think it was because I was lacking interest. Outside of a website, what are some other good ways to gain valuable interest in a startup? I wanted to go into high traffic areas and set up a kiosk to explain the concept and ask for people to sign up. Any other good ideas? I want to apply to those same... 4 0 replies
How to raise seed capital from India without strong connections? I will not promote Hey everyone, We’re a deep-tech startup founded by undergrads right after college. No strong network, no industry background—just building tech and figuring business while being close to the customers on ground. To sustain ourselves, we commercialized part of our tech, which helped us cross $100,000+ in revenue within months of launching our product. Our first attempt at raising funds didn’t work—cold emails, LinkedIn messages, referrals, warm intros—most went unanswered. Even when referred, calls were ignored. We tried reaching out to funds in India and the US and are open to Singapore... 4 0 replies
Founding engineers and early employees: what really is our mental model? I will not promote I see a lot of motivational content and practical advice for founders here and everywhere online about grit and perseverance and how you'll make it eventually. Advice about how you shouldn't work for someone else but yourself, yada, yada. On the other hand I also see a lot of advice for employees at large companies to try and move to better roles every few years and build their career, how attachment and commitment to a company is not good, not to work overtime for no pay, or alternatively go... 2 0 replies
[I will not promote] Remove Previous Posts on question whether to target startup founders or web developers - Removing all the product name mentions I will not promote - I removed all the 3 previous posts which i had submitted, by mistake, thinking those posts were removed by automod and which had my product name. Thanks to u/Gusfoo for highlighting. I 'm building a website builder, with 3 key value propositions: 1. No limitations on template 2. No effort - you need not drag and drop, just give the url like how the website should look like 3. No vendor lock in - I'm planning to provide hosting services, at the same time... 4 0 replies
Seeking Advice: How to Break Into Ecommerce Development? I will not promote Hi everyone! 👋 I’m a freelance developer with experience building apps and web apps (like local delivery services and sales platforms), but now I am diving into custom-coded ecommerce websites and want to master building them from scratch. If you’ve worked on custom ecommerce projects: 1. What challenges should I prepare for? 2. What advanced features do clients eventually request? 3. Any tips for balancing security, scalability, and cost? To practice, I’m offering simple custom websites for $900 (no Shopify/WooCommerce, fully custom coded). What I can deliver: ✅Custom product... 1 0 replies
Online business ideas? - (I will not promote) Looking for feedback Hey everyone, I’m working on an idea and I’d love your honest feedback! I see that many people want to start an online business, but they don’t know where to start, what suits them, or who to learn from. The internet is full of random advice, scams, and too many options, which makes it overwhelming. The problems I want to solve: - People don’t know which online business model is best for their skills, personality, and budget. - Many waste months (or years) jumping from one... 2 0 replies
4 months into market (I will not promote) I thought I'd share some insights about my journey as a bootstrapped startup within the healthcare market. I am full-time with part-time staff members at the moment. Product was and is mainly developed by myself but I am on-boarding one more software engineer right now to help out with future development. ### Month 0 (Pre-release) I was focusing on getting a compliant, high-quality MVP out in the healthcare market, of course resources were focused on product development and partly on preparing market entrance. ### Month 1-2 (Post-release) We still... 2 0 replies
Here's my business plan (I will not promote) After several tries to do offline business, I understood - that online (with virtual product) is better. * you do not need actual physical product * that means - you can copy virtual product as much as you want * also you do not need logistics (just send an email) * you can automate almost everything * you can do everything yourself (at least on the beginning) * you do not need workers/warehouses/offices So this time I made a web - with a specific content (It's not what you... 1 0 replies
Should I Join as an Independent Contractor or Form an LLC? (H-4 EAD, Founding Employee at Startup). I will not promote I’m joining a US startup as a founding employee, but the founder wants me to start as an independent contractor instead of a full-time employee. I’m on an H-4 visa with an EAD, so I’m legally allowed to work. I’m debating whether to: 1) Work as an independent contractor (sole proprietor). 2) Form an LLC and contract through that Some considerations: •I’ll be doing core work for the company (not just a side gig). •I want to ensure liability protection, tax efficiency, and long-term stability. •The startup may transition... 4 0 replies
Technical Founder POV: The age of one button LLM app generation are a ways off but... [I will not promote] I’ve been having all of the frontier models write code over the last few months. The overall experience has ranged from frustration to awe. I’ve been a professional software engineer since 2001, however my father taught me how to code in BASIC in the mid-‘80s when I was a little kid. I’ve literally been coding my entire life. LLM code gen is slowly becoming a reality, but there are some caveats. If you’re not a technical person, you will probably have a bad time, but keep in mind that... 4 0 replies
How much equity should I ask ? I will not promote I will not promote. An ex-coworker of mine wanted me to join his startup. This is pre-seed, with zero customers. He already had the idea when he approached me and had built a very basic, unfinished backend that somewhat works, as well as a mobile app that doesn’t work well and is incomplete, not launched. I started helping him and built the web app for him from ground up, which will be where the majority of users are expected to engage. The plan is for me to rebuild the... 2 0 replies
i WiLl NoT PrOmoTE Could someone shed light on the rationale behind requiring 'i WiLl NoT PrOmoTE' in r/startup posts? Specifically, how does this rule help maintain a balanced, spam-free environment, encourage meaningful exchanges of ideas, and foster a more supportive community for entrepreneurs, innovators, and those eager to learn from and contribute to the startup ecosystem? 1 0 replies
