Do I have to be able to build a product from scratch to become a successful entrepreneur? (I will not promote) i will not promote \------------------------------------- I'm relatively young, working on my second idea now. Most of my experience has been in sales and finance, but the ideas I come up with are usually require some kind of tech. This means I either: 1. Have to outsource everything at the start (which is expensive and unreliable), or 2. Try to convince a "tech bro" to partner with me and believe in the idea as much as I do (which almost never happens). The biggest issue? Investors don’t really take me... 4 13 replies
How to attract investments for a video game? (i will not promote) How to attract investments for a video game? Or what should a game be like to get funding for its development? Let's think about potential games that people would want to invest in. Should it be an RPG? Or another genre? Maybe a strategy game? VR/AR? What do you think about it? I also thought about crypto games, NFTs, Web3, and WebGL. 3 9 replies
Market Research Isn’t a Buzzkill, It’s Your Secret Weapon (I will not promote) (And no, you don’t need a PhD or a finished product to do it) **Myth:** "Real" market research requires polished surveys, focus groups, or waiting until you’ve built something. **Truth:** If you’ve ever asked a stranger why they hate a problem, you’ve already started. Market research is just talking to humans. It’s sliding into DMs with "What’s broken about \[X\]?" It’s posting a meme about your idea in a Reddit thread and seeing who rage-comments. It’s running a fake ad for a product that doesn’t exist yet (spoiler: this... 2 4 replies
An AI recruiting startup raised $100m at a $2b valuation - someone explain (I will not promote) An AI recruiter startup just raised $100m at a $2b valuation while the founders have not built and scaled something before and are 21-years old. Is this 2022? Someone please help me understand this, this company is a little over 2 years old and 2 of the 3 founders have never built something before. The other founder has, but it never scaled or got acquired (what I can find). No pristine universities (one from Harvard but dropped out in first year?) and one followed 50% of the Thiel Fellowship.... 4 35 replies
Hey, what's wrong? *This is* /r/startups *emotional support thread. There will be no problem-solving here, no judgement, no networking, no advice. We're here to be heard, be understood, and be told that it'll be okay, that whatever happens, we care. Still, be tactful and classy in how you vent your feelings and share your frustrations. Act in a mature manner. This is meant to be a safe place to support emotional and physical health and there is a zero tolerance policy in effect. Be kind. Please report any conduct that is in... 2 4 replies
IT Technical co-founder needed (I will not promote) Hey all. Looking for someone to build scraper technology that can image recognise and interrogate listings of a platform (product listings) in more detail. The scraper should be able to process bulk listings and capture the data for triaging into a QA process. Do you have experience building this or want to? If so please dm me directly. I have a great idea ready to go in the area of brand protection/legal tech. Thanks! 5 4 replies
I will not promote. Seeking Funding Advice for Wildfire Prevention & Suppression Technology I'm in the early stages of developing technology for wildfire prevention and suppression, starting with a small-scale proof of concept that I plan to self-fund initially. Given the complexity of the problem, the project will require a modular, phased approach to scale effectively. Since this is a big vision, I realize that working alone would take years, and I’d love to understand how others have secured funding to bring technical ideas to life. My goal is to eventually work with more resources and hire engineers to accelerate development. For... 3 3 replies
How many of you raised VC money, did not succeed and are now profitable bootstrap founders? (I will not promote) Basically the title. We raised during covid, sold the unprofitable platform for pennies and are now in heated discussion with our VC because they squeezed us into the corner saying we need to have a traction for our new product in three months, otherwise they'll shut down the company and take the money from it. And I'm actually paralyzed because of this. I can't do shit except applying to jobs because I might need new cash flow very soon. I must say I'm so SICK of investors, really. They've... 4 19 replies
Founder disputes result in or are part of most startup failures I will not promote Over the past few years, I co-founded several early-stage startups. One of my main takeaways is that the relationship between co-founders is the foundation of any startup, and without alignment, success is unlikely. Building a company with someone you don’t deeply trust and work well with is a recipe for failure. Based on my experience, here are the key qualities I’d look for in a co-founder: • Do I enjoy working with this person and feel excited to build with them? • Do we have complementary skill sets, and... 1 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... 5 3 replies
Startup shutting down, co-founder seized bank account, refusing to pay anyone. Disabled our google workplace so none of us can login. I am (technical) ceo… I will not promote As the title suggests one of my cofounders took control of the company bank account and is refusing to pay anyone back. He has gone relatively radio silent but I have his location and he is still in SF. I understand there are a variety of legal options but I’m not fully sure how to get started / who to talk to. I’m based in SF, and would love some recommendations. Eventually we need to pay back our investors the remaining sum after we pay out our salaries (minimum... 2 21 replies
Advice for a new grad? I will not promote. I am about to graduate university and committed to dedicating the next 10-15 years towards making a successful company to either be acquired, IPO, or just continue working on growing the company to multi-billion dollar revenues. Unfortunately I have no job lined up so I may have to move back in with my parents until I find a relevant tech job to at least save some money. Financially I'm not too worried because I know that my parents could help me, but I also want to make my own... 2 1 replies
How to get funding for startup ? I will not promote I will not promote. Software startup based out of Minnesota us. I've built and launched a product that is gaining traction, solving a problem that has frustrated software developers and product teams for years. The problem: Software development is slow, expensive, and full of inefficiencies. Developers spend hours on repetitive coding tasks, project managers struggle with bottlenecks, and businesses waste time translating product requirements into actual code. The solution: My product automates a large portion of software development. It acts as an AI-powered assistant for developers, taking high-level requirements... 5 4 replies
Do I stay or do I go? I will not promote Need advice from the community. Please bear with me, this is a bit long, but I’m trying to share all the relevant details. I am one of 3 cofounders. Commercial/biz CCO but also technically savvy with 20 years in the industry (me/A), our academic KOL who is CSO (B) and our CEO and tech lead (C). C took a year off from grad school to focus on growing the business with me. B is always more of a figurehead, lending cred with his reputation, jumping in on high level... 3 3 replies
UK national resident, starting business in USA (I will not promote) I’m a British guy starting an online Furniture business in the UK and the USA with my partner who is a Chinese national and lives in China. basically my partner is going to handle all of the supply chain i.e. product manufacture quality control supplier management. I will handle everything after that from marketing all the way through to operations and customer delivery. We have both known each other for over 15 years and have around 40 years combined experience in the business. In the UK, we have already... 5 0 replies
I will not promote!! Anyone else holding down a full time job... Anyone else holding down a full time job while trying to start or run or grow their startup during or after work hours? Anyone else guilty of a conflict of interest at the same time? I will not promote. I will not promote. I will not promote. I will not promote. I will not promote. I will not promote. I will not promote. I will not promote. 3 8 replies
Any early stage mental health startups looking for a core team member / co-founder? I will not promote I have no idea how this sub works tbh I’ve tried making other posts in the past but they never work. I have a bunch of 0-1 digital mental health startup experience and a solid clinical psych background - with all the layoffs, I’m not interested in investing too much time in a role with a bunch more competition, and I really enjoy early stage companies. Any thoughts welcome on how I can network efficiently in the US or find startups based elsewhere that might be open to this.... 5 6 replies
Defense Startups Future/Outlook (I will not promote, i will not promote) Hey guys, I've successfully progressed through the interview rounds at a startup defense contractor/company, and before accepting my offer, I want to hear the community's opinion on whether joining a defense startup right now is a good idea. We've seen the news about Trump's defense budget cuts, and I'm wondering if this is something to be concerned about for the next 4 years? Will the budget cuts see defense contractors losing their contracts with the government, and in turn, losing funding? Curious to hear your thoughts. I will not... 1 0 replies
Is getting VC investment a "privilege" or "meritocracy?" (I will not promote) I got a disheartening message from a founder about their capital raise. In it, there was the claim that raising funding is based on privilege versus a meritocracy. They said that because they did not have Ivy League backgrounds, they could not raise. Don't give up! I get it and the feeling sucks. But after watching hundreds of millions of dollars flow into startups through my experiences, I can tell you right now beyond a shadow of a doubt, it is (for the most part) a meritocracy. And I... 2 20 replies
My co-founder will only sell if mvp is at same level of professional apps with huge UX UI teams [I will not promote] Hi all, Having a bit of a rough patch with my cofounder, I am the technical cofounder who worked on the whole mvp to get it fully functional and a simple interface. As my other cofounder (who is also technical) didn't work on the app creation process, i gave him the marketing and sales tasks while I focus on priority bugs. He comes at me after our first customer saying the app is not usable because he didn't understand why we had a usability issue after ONE customer had... 3 0 replies
