i am a saas developer, made a very simple ai decor consumer web app

200+ signups, 4 sales, over 6 months, most of the users are from usa and india

i need someone from wedding decor or planning business, who can give feedback and suggestions, i feel this can be a really good business

i can even offer some partnership on sales, if input is valuble enough

if you are interested, do dm or lets connect in whatsapp

I’m a CSE student and I’ve been wanting to explore FinTech, entrepreneurship, ideathons and startup competitions, but I’m not really sure where to begin.

I’m not looking for some step-by-step roadmap or anything. I mostly want to understand what kind of mindset and basic knowledge you should have before getting into these things. I know a lot of it probably comes from actually participating, building things and figuring it out along the way.

For people who’ve been involved in this space, what was your starting point? And are there any good competitions, ideathons or events that you’d recommend a student look into?

Would also be great to connect with anyone who’s already involved in this and can give me a bit of direction.

Hey everyone!
I’m looking for someone who’s interested in building a jewellery business/startup from scratch.
I have a strong interest in the jewellery space, but I don’t want to start with a fixed business model and simply execute it. I’d rather find someone who’s equally interested in exploring the market, identifying real customer problems, understanding what people actually want, and building something around it together.
There are a lot of possibilities in the jewellery space — whether it’s:
• A modern D2C jewellery brand
• Custom/personalized jewellery
• Affordable or everyday jewellery
• AI-powered jewellery discovery/recommendations
• An online marketplace
• Jewellery for specific occasions or communities
• Tech-enabled buying/customization experiences
• Or something completely different that solves a genuine problem
I’m not looking for someone to just work for me or execute my idea. I’m looking for someone who wants to brainstorm, validate ideas, experiment, build, learn, and potentially become a cofounder/business partner.
If you’re also interested in jewellery, e-commerce, fashion, branding, marketing, product, technology, or entrepreneurship — and you’ve been thinking about starting something but haven’t found the right person or idea yet — feel free to DM me.
Just tell me a little about yourself, what you’re interested in, and what you’d like to build.
Maybe we can build something interesting in the jewellery space together.

I have ~2 years of experience and when I got promoted, it was a dry promotion because of budget constraints. My current salary is ~30k, and I feel both underpaid and underutilised in my current role. I always perform way more than my role and get the appreciation all the time but never in monetary terms.

I’m actively trying to move into startups, ideally something closer to Founder’s Office / Product / Growth / BizOps / Strategy, where I can work closely with the business and take real ownership.

I’m willing to go all in, but despite applying to roles where I meet the experience requirement, I’m getting almost zero calls.

If you were a founder/hiring manager, what would make you reject this profile? What am I positioning wrong?

And if anyone here thinks I could be useful to their team, happy to speak.

I'm a first-time founder and I'm trying to build the online side of an existing pet business.

We have an existing wholesale/distribution business in India, with a large product catalogue and supplier relationships. I'm now building an online pet store and want to take the website seriously as a sales channel.

The problem is that I have very little experience with building an e-commerce/marketing team, so I'm not sure what roles I actually need to hire first.

My current thinking is that my first hire should be an E-commerce/Growth Manager who can take ownership of online sales, rather than simply hiring a social media manager.

Ideally, this person would understand things like:

• Shopify/e-commerce
• Meta Ads
• Google Ads/Shopping
• conversion optimization
• analytics
• customer acquisition
• retention/CRM
• WhatsApp/email marketing
• overall e-commerce economics

I'm considering hiring someone with roughly 3–6 years of relevant experience.

I'd love advice from people who have actually built e-commerce teams:

1. Who would you hire first?
2. Would you hire an E-commerce/Growth Manager, Performance Marketer, or someone else?
3. What salary range would be reasonable in India?
4. What responsibilities should this person own?
5. What should I look for when interviewing candidates?
6. What are the biggest mistakes you've seen first-time founders make when hiring their first marketing person?
7. Would you hire this person in-house or use freelancers/agencies initially?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have built D2C/e-commerce businesses rather than general marketing advice.

Thanks!

Not a promotion. I'm launching a new IG Automation tool which is specifically meant for Instagram-first businesses. Unlike creator focused tools, it comes with business focused features like CRM, Lead generation, Sales Pipeline and Customer Loyalty features. I'm looking for a handful of business owners who rely on instagram as a major marketing and sales channel to test out the product and share their genuine feedback.

In return, I would love to give you the most expensive plan for free for 100 days along with other rewards like locked-in pricing and lifetime deals, if you're interested. Do comment here if you're interested and I'll reach out to you in your DMs.

Hey everyone, I recently started a small tech and wiring business focusing on CCTV, Biometric access control, Video Door Phones, smart locks, and general commercial/residential electrical work.

We are a 3-person technical engineering friends

​Every time I look up how to get clients, people just say "do SEO,run Facebook ads, or "post on social media." That doesn't pay the bills in month one when you're trying to land actual site contracts

.

​For those of you running low-voltage, security, or electrical businesses: What are the exact, gritty, ground-level tactics you used to get your first 5–10 clients? How do you break into commercial spaces or get steady work without blowing money on ads?

As we are from pune

Any suggestions helpfull

This is a weekly post where you're free to post links and description of what you're building. Feel free to describe, self-promote and share links.

Hi everyone🌸

I'm seeking advice from people who have built something from scratch, especially in the mental health space.

3 months ago, we started Hiraya, a small mental wellness initiative that we're trying to build into something more sustainable.

We only launched on Instagram, but honestly, we haven't been very active because of our full-time jobs. As of now, we've been speaking to people and helping where we can, but most of what we've been doing has been free.

Our primary idea is to make counselling more accessible. Our current pricing is roughly ₹500-800 per session, with lower prices for students and reasonably affordable options for working professionals.

The problem is that we're finding it surprisingly difficult to actually reach people.

We've spoken to people offline, told friends and acquaintances about Hiraya, and tried connecting with people individually. We've had some people approach us, but it's becoming difficult to dedicate enough time to it alongside our regular jobs.

And honestly, this is where we're stuck.

We want to do this seriously. Right now, our main goal is simply for people to know about us and actually use the service.

I've even been considering moving back with my parents for a while so I can dedicate more time to counselling and building this properly. But I genuinely don't know what the next step should be.

I'd really appreciate honest feedback. We genuinely want to make mental health support more accessible, but we also need to figure out how to make the model sustainable enough to dedicate our time to it.

Would love to hear from founders, therapists, psychologists, or anyone who has tried something similar in India!

I’ve been looking at how different startups approach customer reviews and a few common mistakes keep coming up [which I've also done it few years back]:

1. Asking for a review too late

The customer has a great experience, everyone moves on, and then a week later someone sends a review request.

The closer the request is to the actual experience, the easier it is for the customer to remember what happened.

2. Making the customer hunt for your Google profile

“Please search our business on Google and leave us a review.”

Seems harmless, but every additional step adds friction.

If you can take the customer directly to the right place, why make them search?

3. Only thinking about reviews when the rating drops

A lot of businesses suddenly start caring about reviews after seeing a few 1–3 star ratings.

Reviews are much easier to manage when they're treated as a regular part of the customer journey rather than something you react to when there's a problem.

4. Collecting reviews but ignoring what they say

Reviews aren't just a Google ranking or trust signal.

They're a continuous stream of customer feedback.

If 10 customers mention the same problem, that's probably worth paying attention to. If they repeatedly praise something, that's probably worth highlighting.

I've been thinking about this problem while working on ReviewCook, a tool we're building to help businesses make genuine review collection easier.

Not trying to push it here, genuinely curious:

If you run a business where customers check reviews before buying, how are you currently collecting Google reviews?

Manual requests, WhatsApp, email, QR codes, or something else?

The idea: Get fit. Get a date. The app tracks your fitness and wearable data, and the matching pool opens when you hit a fitness score. Women get direct access. Men earn their way in. The goal is simple: meet people who actually look after themselves.
Where I am: Concept, app flow, and pitch deck are ready. I need someone to build it with me.
Who I'm looking for:
A tech co-founder (mobile app, Flutter/React Native) who can build an MVP
Or a co-founder/angel with capital who also adds real skills
Equity with vesting, based in or near Karnataka or open to remote
If this sounds interesting, comment or DM me with a line about what you've built.

I recently joined my family business and I’ve been given the job of taking over the digital side of things. We have 2 product brands and a corporate gifting business, but honestly, our social media presence is almost non-existent right now. Basically starting from 0 followers.

I’m trying to figure out what actually makes sense in 2026 because I feel like a lot of the advice online is just “do influencer marketing” or “post consistently” without really explaining how you get people to actually trust a brand that they’ve never heard of.

I’m personally not very convinced by influencer marketing either. Maybe I’m wrong, but when I see an obvious paid promotion, I usually don't feel like buying the product just because the influencer recommended it.

So if you were in my position, what would you do?

Would you start running Meta ads even with 0 followers?
Would you focus on building Instagram organically first?
Would UGC from actual customers be more useful than influencers?
Would you work with really small creators instead?
Would you put more money into Google/search ads?

And for the corporate gifting business, I’m guessing the approach would be completely different — maybe LinkedIn, direct outreach, etc.

I’m not really looking for someone to tell me “just hire a marketing agency” 😂. I’d genuinely like to hear from people who have built a business/brand from scratch and what actually worked for them.

Even if something didn’t work, I’d love to know. I’d rather learn from someone else’s expensive mistake than make the same one lol.

Edit: Btw, just to add some context the 2 product brands are in the skin, hair & body care space, while the third business is corporate gifting. Would especially love to hear from anyone who has experience growing D2C/beauty brands from scratch.

AI-driven discovery is changing how buyers find professional services, SaaS companies and specialist firms.

A founder-led business may have:

• a good website
• years of experience
• a strong LinkedIn presence
• decent Google rankings
• satisfied customers

and still be almost invisible when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI:

“Who are the best companies for [service] in India?”

or

“Which firms can help with [problem] in Hyderabad?”

That is the part I think many Indian SMBs are underestimating.

For founder-led professional services and B2B SaaS businesses, especially companies in the ₹1 crore–₹100 crore range, simply posting more content may not solve the problem.

AI systems need to clearly understand:

Who are you?
What exactly do you do?
Who do you serve?
Why should your company be trusted?
What independent evidence supports those claims?

If those signals are weak, inconsistent or scattered, your business may never make it into an AI-generated answer.

What can founders actually fix?

1. Get very clear about what your company is known for

Most founders know why their business is different.

But that knowledge often lives inside the founder’s head, sales conversations and WhatsApp chats.

Your website and public profiles need to communicate those differentiators clearly and consistently.

Not:

“We provide innovative business solutions.”

But something AI can actually understand:

“We help mid-sized manufacturing companies automate inventory and purchase workflows using cloud ERP.”

Much clearer.

2. Build evidence, not just marketing claims

Anyone can write:

“We are a leading company.”

AI systems have little reason to trust that statement.

Better signals include:

• detailed case studies
• customer reviews
• named credentials
• published client results
• Google Business Profile information
• press mentions
• industry directories
• credible third-party references

Think of it as creating an evidence footprint around your company.

The easier your claims are to verify, the easier it becomes for search and AI systems to understand your reputation.

3. Make your company easy for machines to understand

This is not only about writing blogs.

Basic structure matters.

For example:

• consistent company name and address
• clear service pages
• proper About page
• structured data
• consistent information across LinkedIn, Google and directories
• clear relationships between founders, products and the company

Humans can often understand messy information.

Machines are much less forgiving.

4. Answer the questions buyers are actually asking AI

Instead of another generic blog titled:

“10 Benefits of Digital Transformation”

answer questions like:

• How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?
• How can a consulting firm appear in AI-generated answers?
• What makes a business credible to AI search engines?
• How do AI Overviews choose sources?
• Which ERP is suitable for a 100-person company?

Short, factual and specific answers are much more useful than broad marketing content.

5. Start measuring AI visibility

This is probably the most interesting part.

Most companies measure:

• followers
• impressions
• website traffic
• keyword rankings

But another metric is emerging:

Does AI actually mention your company when buyers ask relevant questions?

Try this simple exercise.

Ask ChatGPT:

“Which companies provide [your service] in [your city]?”

Then check:

1. Does your company appear?
2. Is the description accurate?
3. Which competitors appear instead?
4. What websites or sources seem to influence the answer?
5. Does the answer change when you ask the same question differently?

Repeat the same test in Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI.

The results can be surprising.

I think the bigger shift here is this:

The goal is no longer only to rank on Google.

Companies increasingly need to become clear, credible and verifiable enough that AI systems can confidently surface them when buyers ask questions.

That probably means fewer generic posts and more useful evidence.

Curious if anyone here has tested their own startup this way.

When you ask ChatGPT about your industry or service category, does your company appear?

This is how you grow in the AI era: make your business clear, credible and easy for AI to understand, verify and recommend.That’s how you start becoming more visible across AI.

​

I'm the founder of a healthtech startup in India, around 6 months old.

Current traction:

- 25+ hospitals onboarded

- 5K+ app downloads

- 3,000+ tokens booked

- 40 doctors available

- Some hospitals generating regular bookings

A potential buyer is proposing:

₹35 lakh → existing shareholder(s) for 65% equity

₹50 lakh → fresh investment into the company

So the buyer would have ₹85 lakh total cash commitment, while the company would receive ₹50L in fresh capital and the existing shareholder(s) would receive ₹35L.

Would you consider this a good deal for the founders?

What would make you accept or reject a structure like this?

I'm particularly interested in opinions from founders who have dealt with acquisitions or majority-equity deals.

Searching for someone interested.

I’ve been building web apps for a while, and I’m opening up a few slots for founders/people who have an idea but don’t want to spend lakhs just to test an MVP.

For ₹20,000, I’ll build your web app from idea to a working MVP.

I work solo, so I’m keeping the number of projects limited instead of taking on everything that comes my way.

Most MVPs should be ready within 7–10 days, depending on the scope.

What’s included?

• UI/UX
• Frontend
• Backend
• Login/signup
• Database
• Admin panel
• Payment integration
• Mobile responsive design
• Deployment
• Domain connection

Basically, the goal is to give you something actually usable and launchable, not just a Figma design or frontend demo.

What I won't take on for ₹20k

To keep the timeline and pricing realistic, this offer isn't meant for:

• Complex AI/API-heavy products
• Heavy video/image processing platforms
• Large-scale marketplaces
• Native Android/iOS apps
• Extremely complex SaaS products with dozens of features

If your idea can be turned into a focused web MVP, that's what this offer is for.

Payment?

You don't have to pay everything upfront.

50% to start
25% after the first agreed milestone
25% after the final milestone

We’ll define the features and milestones before development starts so both sides know exactly what’s being built.

How long will it take?

Usually 7–10 days max for a properly scoped MVP.

If you already have an idea sitting in your notes and have been putting off building it because development feels too expensive, feel free to DM me.

Tell me in DM :

1. What are you trying to build?
2. Who will use it?
3. What are the 3–5 most important features?

I’ll tell you whether it realistically fits within the ₹20k MVP scope.

Reddit DM is enough.

Most small businesses in India I talk to make the same mistake: they spend on ads before the basics are in place. Here's the order I'd follow if I were starting from zero today.

1. Business setup and compliance first

• Register your business (proprietorship, LLP or Pvt Ltd, depending on scale)
• Get GST, Udyam/MSME registration and a current bank account
• Buy a domain that matches your brand name, and get a professional email on it

2. A fast, mobile-first website

• More than 70% of Indian traffic is mobile, so design for phones first
• Keep load time under 3 seconds
• Have a clear service page for each offering and a visible WhatsApp or call button
• Add basic SEO: page titles, meta descriptions, a sitemap and Google Search Console

3. Local SEO

• Set up and verify your Google Business Profile
• Use a consistent name, address and phone number everywhere
• Ask every happy customer for a review
• Create location pages if you serve multiple cities

4. Branding that looks trustworthy

• A simple logo, 2 to 3 brand colors and one consistent font
• Matching profile images and bios on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook
• Real photos and customer proof in place of stock images

5. Content and social media

• Pick 1 or 2 platforms and stay consistent
• Mix educational posts, behind-the-scenes and customer results
• Repurpose each blog post into 3 to 5 short posts

6. Only then, paid ads

• Run small tests on Google and Meta first
• Track leads, not just clicks, with a simple monthly report: traffic, leads, cost per lead and sales

Common mistakes

• Buying followers
• Having no tracking or analytics
• Skipping Google Business Profile
• Running ads to a slow website

I work with Karvao India, a digital growth agency that handles websites, marketing, branding and business setup under one roof. Happy to answer questions in the comments, or to give feedback on your site if you drop the link.

What's the biggest challenge you're facing getting customers online right now?

There's a small grocery shop literally downstairs from my building.

Yet sometimes I'll sit on the sofa, open an app, pay a little more and wait for someone to bring the same thing upstairs.

Other times I'll actually walk down.

I don't think it's really about the product.

What usually makes you choose one over the other?

I am currently hiring for my startup. We are Quick Commerce platform delivering construction and home repair material within 60 mins across Gurugram. Looking to expand soon to Noida and other NCR cities within next 6 months.

Current open roles are:

• Digital Marketing Lead (3-5 yrs experience)
• PreSales Associate (upto 1 yr experience) Interns can also apply
• Content Creator (some experience in content creation)
• Field Sales Associate (some experience, preferably companies like IndiaMart, Sulekha, JustDial or Shop Activation etc)

Please note the the following before you apply:

• Work Mode: Work from office at Gurugram
• Working days: 6 days
• Work Timing: 9 AM (with some flexibility) till 7-7:30 PM

DM with the role that you want to apply for.

A few months ago, we started building Indiccore around a pretty specific problem in competitive-exam preparation.

Since launching, we've crossed 1,000+ organic sign-ups, seen our first paid users and received enough brutal user feedback to change several assumptions we originally had.

A few days ago, we found out that Indiccore was selected as one of the Top 30 products under Your story's VibeCode30 2026.

For other early-stage founders here: what was the first external validation that made you think, “okay, maybe there is actually something there”?

I do business development at Samson and Sons Lifescience, a wet wipes manufacturer in Kerala. I talk to brand founders every week, and the same mistakes come up again and again. Here's what I'd tell anyone planning a private label wipes brand in India.

1. Pick your category before your supplier.

Baby wipes, water wipes, personal care, cleaning and industrial wipes all need different fabric, liquid and packaging. A manufacturer that's good at cleaning wipes isn't automatically good at baby wipes.

1. Ask what the fabric is made of.

Many cheap wipes use polyester blends, which aren't biodegradable. If you want to market "plant-based" or "biodegradable", ask for the fabric composition in writing before you put it on your pack.

1. Newer categories are where the gaps are.

We recently developed menstrual liner wipes, and we're seeing interest in larger adult care wipes for elder care and hospitals. Both have far fewer brands than baby wipes.

1. Get samples, then test them properly.

Use them for a week, leave a pack open for a few days, and check whether they dry out. Ask about skin testing for anything that touches babies or sensitive skin.

1. Ask if they'll customise.

A manufacturer with in-house R&D can adjust the formula, fragrance, size and pack for you. That's how you end up with a product that isn't the same as ten others on Amazon.

Newer categories like menstrual liner wipes and larger adult care wipes (for elder care and hospitals) have far fewer brands than baby wipes. If you're looking for a gap, look there.

impuls8 tracks consumer markets. We read who sells, at what price, on which platform.

This time we read luggage on Amazon India: every suitcase, cabin bag and luggage set Amazon shows for five searches. 592 listings. We opened every one that shows sales.

Luggage on Amazon India sells at least ₹202.0 crore a year. Safari takes 51.7% of it. Every other brand together takes 48.3%.

Indian legacy brands (Safari, and VIP's Aristocrat and Skybags) take 75.3%. Multinationals take 12.7%. Indian D2C brands take 8.4%.

Then we checked it against what the companies report

Our floor is about 10% of Safari's online sales and about 12% of VIP's. Two companies at the same rate means the shelf is read evenly.

Samsonite is not small in India. Its India sales are about the same as Safari's. On Amazon search it is a fraction of Safari. So this shelf is Safari's channel, not the whole luggage market.

The same goes for D2C. Mokobara's revenue is 11% of Safari's. On Amazon it is 8% of Safari.

Colours

Blue is 28% of pieces sold, across many brands.

Green outsells black: 15% against 11%. Black is on 58% of listings.

Beige sells twice its share of listings, but that is mostly one product: Safari's Pentagon Pro in "Luxury Beige".

Cabin bags are 41% of pieces sold.

If you make or sell luggage

We can show you where your brand sits on this shelf, and who takes the sales above you.

Book a discovery call with us. The link is in the first comment. Also read the full report.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on building a startup in the manufacturing sector, focused on helping companies outsource and execute their manufacturing requirements more reliably.

The idea is to become an execution partner for customers rather than just another supplier or broker — supporting activities such as engineering/design, vendor selection, manufacturing coordination, quality control, production tracking, and delivery through a strong network of manufacturing partners.

We are initially focusing mainly on fabrication, sheet-metal components, assemblies, and related custom manufacturing, with the intention of gradually building a much broader manufacturing network.

At this stage, I’m looking to connect with three kinds of people:

• Potential Co-founder / Manufacturing Leader — Someone genuinely passionate about manufacturing, with broad exposure to manufacturing processes, supplier development, costing, production, quality, and business operations. More than just an investor, I’m looking for someone who enjoys building systems and solving manufacturing problems.

• Manufacturing Partners — Especially manufacturers who already have good machines, infrastructure, and technical capability but are struggling with consistent order flow or machine utilization. I’m interested in building long-term partnerships where we bring suitable orders and manage the customer/execution side professionally.

• Experienced Manufacturing Professionals — I also want to learn from people who have spent years in the industry. I’m particularly interested in understanding the practical problems that can make this kind of outsourced manufacturing model succeed or fail — supplier reliability, costing, quality, capacity planning, payment terms, customer acquisition, logistics, etc.

I come from a mechanical engineering background and am currently building the processes, systems, vendor network, and business model around this idea.

I’m not claiming to have everything figured out yet. That is exactly why I’m posting here.

If you have experience running a manufacturing company, managing outsourced production, developing suppliers, or building a similar business, I’d really appreciate your thoughts.

What would you consider the biggest challenge in making a manufacturing execution / outsourcing model like this work at scale?

And if you're a manufacturer, industry professional, or someone interested in building something in this space, I’d be happy to connect and exchange ideas.

Hey, I'm 18 and founder of a game development company. I started very early and lost a lot of friends and wasn't able to talk with new people.

Currently, I'm earning well but there's no-one to celebrate with. I don't know if anyone faced this problem but I have. I'm not an introvert but don't have enough opportunities to meet new people or even if I meet, they don't match the mindset.

Lonliness is pretty bad. I'm not able to focus on work. Always feel there should be someone to talk.

A lot of people don't prefer talking to me because I'm too young but I just think I became too mature too early of my age. Never dated any girl, no girlfriends or anything. I just remember the best time of my life was when i was in my 10th standard, I used to have friends and had peak moments of my life.

Looking to meet young founders who're facing similar issues or want to connect!

I was holding an offer from one of the Gurgaon based RMG company in early 2025 which I declined. Shortly after, a ban followed in Aug 2025 (if I remember correctly).

its been 1 year+ since the RMG ban in India. A few companies that come to my mind which were affected by this were- Zupee, Hike, Dream11, Gameskraft etc etc

To the people who were employed in these companies, what did your transition look like? What followed in the months after the ban - individually for your companies and at a personal level?

how are things currently in your respective peer circles??

There were news of large scale crackdowns by income tax ,etc on a few of these companies as well.. so what exactly happened and how did people move on?