A Structured Approach to Ideation and Validation (I will not promote) Hi all, I used to work in VC and wanted to share some startup knowledge and insights from startup founders I know. Recently, I interviewed a friend of mine who built an AI Robotics startup ("Hivebotics") that creates automated toilet-cleaning robots. I can't post the full article because of Reddit's word limit, so I'll be posting it in sections here instead. This first section of the transcript goes through his approach to ideation and validation. Enjoy and let me know what you think! (I will not promote) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ #... 4 1 replies
I will not promote: Regarding equity in startup as a experienced dev, should I take this My friend invited me to a startup formed based on a AI product. Working product, couple of customers are onboarded too. I worked for a month. I do have a full time job, paid enough, mostly I choose this as a learn and grow opportunity. Company is looking for funding now, basically in a stage looking for funding. First founder asked me to come with share value, which I told 1.2%, then they came back they offer a salary value based on a hourly rate I suggest. I plan... 3 2 replies
i hate AI "i will not promote" Everyone around me is competing for engineering jobs. I am a student in my last semester, and last year, I started learning computer science because I thought it was cool. I left my job, deciding to go all in and do everything in my power to land my first engineering job. However, as I moved forward, I realized that there are very few job opportunities in the market. I apply to at least 40 jobs a day and hear back from only 5, which is insane. Even those responses... 5 5 replies
Feedback Friday Welcome to this week’s Feedback Thread! # Please use this thread appropriately to gather feedback: * Feel free to request general feedback or specific feedback in a certain area like user experience, usability, design, landing page(s), or code review * You may share surveys * You may make an additional request for beta testers * Promo codes and affiliates links are ONLY allowed if they are for your product in an effort to incentivize people to give you feedback * Please refrain from just posting a link * Give... 4 0 replies
Questions about LLM app development | I will not promote Hello everyone! We are a team focusing on building developer tools for LLM-application developers. I have a few questions related to building LLM-backed apps, and the specific challenges you encounter. <i will not promote> What do you guys think about a centralized RAG where users sign in to your app with a specific Oauth2 identity provider (like google sign in button) and you can access / prompt with the user's whole data across other apps? What about edge deployments. Do you think it would be useful to have fine-tuned... 3 0 replies
🚀 Investment Opportunity: Seeking a Partner for a Profitable Amazon FBA Wholesale Business 📈 i will not promote Hello Community, I’m currently seeking an **investor/partner** to join me in launching a **highly profitable Amazon FBA Wholesale business.** With a well-researched product strategy and a proven business model, I’m confident in achieving **strong returns on investment** within a short period. # Why Invest? ✅ **Proven Amazon FBA Wholesale Model** with high demand and low competition products ✅ **Detailed Business Plan** including supplier agreements, profit projections, and growth strategies ✅ **Potential for High ROI** with fast turnover cycles and scalable growth # What I Offer: * Full **management of... 5 0 replies
Help me grow ( I will not promote) I created an app that help service providers—beauty salons, pet care, home maintenance, auto services, and more—get discovered, manage bookings effortlessly, and grow their business. Customers can easily find and book trusted professionals, while businesses streamline operations with appointment management, direct messaging, and real-time updates—all in one app. No setup fees, no hassle—just growth. But after deploying app to App Store, now I came to halt on how to market to business owner because without business owner none of the customers can use or can see anything in the... 5 2 replies
LTV of a marketplace/e-commerce “I will not promote” How do you calculate LTV of a marketplace where purchases are infrequent. 50% of our customers only purchase once, some a handful of times, and some are super users. I’m curious if anyone has advice on how to calculate the LTV when there’s not a simple churn rate. Or if anyone has a software they prefer to use for this. 5 1 replies
How are you analysing your chatbot/AI interactions to improve customer experience? Struggling to find patterns in conversations... (I will not promote) Hey startup founders! We’ve been relying heavily on chatbots and AI agents for customer support, but it’s been tough to track whether these interactions are actually driving meaningful outcomes (e.g., retention, upsells). We’re drowning in conversation logs but struggling to: * Identify recurring pain points in user queries * Spot gaps where the AI gives inconsistent/irrelevant answers * Visualize how conversations flow between topics Anyone else dealing with this? How are you structuring your analysis? Do you use any tools to automate insights, or is it all manual digging?... 1 5 replies
I will not promote, I need advice. I will not promote anything just wanting some advice. I plan on starting my own supply chain company in my future. I want to know what degree would be best for such. I am currently a senior in high school with plans to graduate this semester with my diploma and associates degree in stem via dual enrollment. after college, I plan on entering the Air Force to gain connections while also exploring a passion of mine. after that, I would love to get in the private contracting where I... 5 2 replies
Lessons from Raising a $19M Series A for an AI Startup (I will not promote) Hey r/startups, We recently closed our Series A ($19M) for our AI infrastructure startup, and I wanted to share some key lessons from the fundraising process. Hopefully, this helps other founders navigating their own funding journey. # What We Do We’re building **AI deployment on autopilot**—removing DevOps bottlenecks so ML teams can **deploy, scale, and optimize models instantly**. Think **Heroku for AI**, but with **intelligent infra scaling & cost optimization**. # Our Key Takeaways from Fundraising # 1. Clear Positioning Matters More Than You Think Investors hear **countless AI... 1 5 replies
I Will not promote : 🚀 Just Need Advice for a SaaS Email & Social Media Analytics Tool 📊 – Looking for Early Users! Hey everyone, I’m building a **powerful email and analytics platform** designed for businesses, creators, and marketers. It includes: ✅ **Custom Email Hosting** – Get your own domain-based email without relying on Gmail or Outlook. ✅ **Bulk Email Sending** – Run newsletters and marketing campaigns with tracking. ✅ **Social Media Link Analytics** – Track how many people click your links and get insights on user behavior. ✅ **Survey & Newsletter Tools** – Engage with your audience directly from the platform. I’m looking for **beta testers and early adopters** to try... 4 0 replies
Starting a mailing station thoughts?(I will not promote) I’m a 21-year-old (M) aspiring entrepreneur currently working as an estimator for a subcontractor construction company, making $80K while attending college. I’ve managed to save about $50K and have been actively exploring business opportunities—either buying an existing one or starting my own from the ground up. My goal is to find a low-cost business where I can hire a small team to handle day-to-day operations, allowing me to balance school, spending time with my family and girlfriend, and ideally, maintaining my current job. Recently, I came across a great... 5 1 replies
Hot take: AI will replace non-technical founders before technical founders [I will not promote] I think the prevailing theory is AI is going to empower non-technical people to create complex systems just by writing a prompt or prompts. I think a variant of that is getting close which are agentic workflows where something triggers an agent and it does things autonomously. These sort of systems are starting to pop up everywhere (zapier, n8n, others...) however we're a ways off from these being able to respond in near real time. Long story short you'll still need to have code to run and someone to... 2 16 replies
Has anyone obtained a startup visa in Italy under the new Italian government startup program? I will not promote The Italian Startup Visa (ISV) is a program designed to attract non-EU entrepreneurs who want to establish an innovative startup in Italy. It offers a streamlined process for obtaining a visa and provides opportunities to contribute to Italy’s tech and innovation ecosystem. Key Features of the Italian Startup Visa: 1. Eligibility: • Non-EU nationals. • Entrepreneurs with a viable and innovative business idea. • The startup must qualify as an “innovative startup,” meeting specific criteria such as being less than 5 years old, headquartered in Italy, and involved in... 4 0 replies
Help with Finding Angel Investors “I will not promote” Our Startup is called Scapu, we are creating a social platform that caters to immigrants and vacationers. Helping them settle in new locations and granting them access to vital information to enhance their experience. We have seen some traction since we launched in November with over 200 users. We are having difficulties finding the right angel investors for our business. We will appreciate any insight. I will be in the comments. Thanks! 2 0 replies
Ditching US , best EU country for startups? I will not promote Only few weeks ago I was wondering if there's any downside to incorporating in the states. Now the thinking has completely reversed.. The way things are going in the states currently... I mean the political stuffs.. Everyone has been reading the news since the change of the guard. Wasn't great earlier either but... I'm now looking to keep my business in Europe. Paying more taxes, working with less capital.. everything seems like workable in long term as long as the government do not make a mockery of human rights... 2 20 replies
Networking in SF (I will not promote) What are the best ways for networking in San Francisco? I recently moved here and would Luma has been my only source for events. What other platforms should I look into? I work in Sales tech, we build automations on top of Salesforce. What are the best ways to connect to Sales/Revenue leaders in growth stage startups? I will not promote 4 1 replies
Apollo and Cold Emails Quantity “I will not promote” For those of you who have used Apollo.io, how many emails were you comfortable sending per day? How long before you closed deals? I’m getting started with Apollo and would like to know what to expect. P.S. The rules of this subreddit are ridiculous. I’m having to pad the body just to post. 2 0 replies
I will not promote - when’s the right time to quit my high paying job? I will not promote Working for a top tech company which has many products. I am planning to build a startup that’s in the same space but it’s not a direct competitor. I have a plan to launch it in the next 3-4 months. Question is when is the right time to quit? The problem is that I am solving an area that the current company is not focusing on. But I can imagine if we are wildly successful, my company would potentially want to even buy the product.... 1 0 replies
