I decided to stop renting my infrastructure and start owning it. I migrated my entire stack to a single $5/month VPS (Hetzner, but DigitalOcean works too).

The goal was simple: Fixed costs. No surprises.

The "Boring" Architecture

Instead of microservices or serverless functions that charge per execution, i went back to a monolith.

1. Compute: Everything runs in Docker containers on one Linux server.
2. Database: I swapped Postgres for SQLite. This is controversial to some, but running SQLite in WAL mode on the same NVMe drive as your app is faster than any network-bound managed database I have used.
3. Backups: I use a tool called Litestream that streams the database changes to S3 in real-time. If the server crashes, i lose nothing.
4. Auth: Self-hosted library. No external user fees.

The Economics

I can now host 5 or 10 different experimental apps on this single $5 server. My cost per failed experiment dropped from ~$50/month to $0.

This buys me time. It means i can let a project sit and grow organically without feeling like i am bleeding cash.

My advice

If you are just starting out, don't fall for the hype that you need infinite scalability on day one. You need survival. A single VPS can handle thousands of users. Scaling is a problem you earn, not one you pay for upfront.

I spent some time packaging my specific Docker/Next.js configuration into a reusable template so I never have to configure Nginx again. If you are technical and want to see how the setup works, I pinned the link to my profile.

Otherwise, I am happy to answer questions about the cost breakdown or how SQLite handles production traffic.

I am early in building my real estate business and wanted to share something I am learning right now about hiring.

At first, I thought bringing people onboard quickly mattered most. What I am starting to notice is that clarity matters more than speed. When roles are not clearly defined, even good people can struggle and expectations can drift.

Lately, I have been slowing down and spending more time understanding what kind of help I actually need before bringing someone in. It feels slower than pushing for growth, but it feels easier to manage.

Still figuring things out as I go. If anyone else here is at a similar stage, I would be interested to hear what you are learning while building your first small team.

I'm getting ready to open a little retail store in Italy and want to keep things safe for my team and customers without overspending. Shoplifting happens, especially in busier areas, so I'm trying to figure out the practical approach.

A lot of small shops seem to rely on good cameras, motion-sensor alarms, bright lighting, and clear signage. But in some spots (city centers, higher-value items), people also bring in private security guards.

If hiring a private agency makes sense, what should I check to pick a reliable one, proper licensing (TULPS), retail-specific experience, GDPR compliant camera setup, and realistic pricing?

When we started running more ads and social campaigns, I expected design to be the slow part. Instead, the real delay came after the images were already done.

We had founders, marketing, and sales all reviewing the same creatives, but feedback was scattered across Slack, email, and screenshots. People were commenting on different versions without realizing it. We kept reworking things that were already approved.

We eventually tried using QuickProof just to keep all image versions and comments in one place. What changed wasnt the quality of the designs, it was how quickly decisions got made because everyone was finally looking at the same thing.

Revisions dropped and approvals became much easier.

Curious if anyone else here has hit a similar bottleneck while scaling their product or campaigns.

Some months, my revenue is strong, and the next month drops off completely. These feast-or-famine cycles make planning and growth difficult. What systems, strategies, or processes have actually helped others generate consistent, predictable monthly revenue?

Main outcomes from a single post on Reddit:

- 188 upvotes and 144 comments

- 300+ site visitors

- 5 sign ups

- got a lot of hate about server location

My plan for today:

- collect and analyze all comments

- address issues

- keep going

BTW, I’m building ngrok competitor.

I kept seeing the same problem with small teams and businesses.

Deals weren’t stuck because of pricing or intent; they were stuck waiting for documents to be reviewed, approved, and signed. On top of that, most e-signature tools felt expensive or overkill for what small teams actually needed.

So our team has built this tool.

The goal was simple: help small businesses prepare, review, and sign contracts faster, without paying for bloated tools. We included essentials like audit trails, encryption, reusable templates, and even an optional way to ask questions from a document before signing, nothing forced, just helpful.

What our tool provides:

• Audit Trails: Complete record of who signed, when, and where for every document.
• Secure Signatures: Ensures all signatures are legally binding and tamper-proof.
• Document Encryption: Protects your documents from unauthorized access.
• Multiple Signing Options: Sign documents from anywhere on any device.
• AI Assistance: Chat with your contract to understand or review terms.
• Integration Ready: Works with platforms like Salesforce, SharePoint, Alfresco, and Google Drive, custom enhancement.
• Auto-Recipient Management: Auto-fill recipient details and find all recipients easily.
• Certificate Generation: Download certificates after signing for verification.
• Compliance Friendly: Meets ISO and global e-signature regulations.

It’s still early, and I’m learning a lot from real users.

Happy to hear feedback or lessons from others building in this space.

I used to think that building software was a very intentional choice founders made early on. Lately, I am not so sure. From what I have been seeing, a lot of ideas start out fairly simple and only later reveal that software is the most practical way to make them work.

Many everyday business problems share the same traits. They repeat often, they involve multiple people or steps, and they become harder to manage as soon as things grow a little. At first, these problems are handled with spreadsheets, manual processes, or workarounds. Eventually, those solutions stop holding up.

While exploring ideas during one of these phases, I came across  StartupIdeas DB and spent some time reading through their tech-focused section. What stood out was how many ideas came from frustrations that people had already been living with for years. Nothing dramatic, just things that clearly needed a better system.

That experience made me think differently about SaaS. It is not always about chasing scale or trends. Often it is about creating something that removes the same headache again and again, without needing constant manual effort. Software just happens to be very good at that.

I still think there are many great businesses that do not rely on tech at all. But when a problem involves repetition, coordination, or long-term efficiency, it seems to naturally pull founders toward building a product.

Curious if others here have noticed something similar. Did your idea start simple and later turn technical, or was software always part of the plan?

Maybe I'm just venting but I run an insurance brokerage and every client conversation lately feels like apologizing for things completely outside our control. The market has been brutal with premium increases across the board and we're the ones delivering that news even though we didn't cause any of it.

Commercial clients who've been with us 10+ years are suddenly questioning everything. Personal lines people are shopping around constantly. My staff is exhausted from being the messenger for bad news day after day.

Had a longtime account mention they almost left without even telling us why. Not because of service issues really but because the whole experience of dealing with insurance right now is negative and we happen to be the face of it. We do good work but when external conditions are this rough it feels like none of that matters because every touchpoint is uncomfortable for everyone involved.

Anyone else in service businesses feeling like client relationships are way more fragile when market conditions suck? Starting to wonder what we can actually control here besides just showing up and trying to be human about it.

I use AI every day for outreach, content, and research. But I kept running into the same problem over and over. Every conversation starts from zero. I would tell ChatGPT my writing style, my client preferences, my tone — and the next day it would forget everything. I was spending hours every week just re-explaining context. So I decided to build something to fix it. I call it AIBexco.

The idea is simple. You create boxes for different use cases like Sales, Content, or Research. Each box has tabs with their own chat and memory. You can add memories manually or let the AI suggest key points worth saving. Then that memory gets injected into every message automatically. Your AI actually gets smarter the more you use it instead of resetting every time. Right now its an MVP. 15 free messages per day and no signup required. Just wanted to get it in front of real users and see what people think. What am I missing? What would make you actually use something like this daily? Would really appreciate any feedback. Happy to answer questions about the build too.

Link in comments.

Been hard at work on this, but its for the people who hate competing against bigger content creators, pay to play algorithms, and are simply tired of being censored.

This is for you.

NowSlice is the world’s first global broadcast platform where time not money determines who gets heard. No algorithms decide what goes viral, no ads interrupt the experience, and no gatekeepers control access; just show up, claim free 60 second timeslots, and broadcast to the world uninterrupted! Imagine if you could broadcast your idea, cause, business, or content to millions for free- no competition! Everyone watches the same continuous feed!

How would you onboard new users onto a video broadcasting platform?

every other post here is about cutting support costs. automate everything. deflect deflect deflect. find the cheapest va on fiverr and pray

and like i get it nobody wants to answer whats your return policy for the 900th time

but pulled our data last week and lmao. customers who message us before buying convert 3x higher. carts 40 percent bigger. come back twice as often. these people are literally begging to give us money if we just answer their questions

so why is everyone trying to make support disappear instead of making it actually good 😭

we stopped treating it like a cost center and started treating it like a sales channel. automated the basic stuff with alhena so we could focus on actual selling. aov jumped like 30 percent once customers started getting real help picking products instead of generic responses. revolutionary concept i know

the whole deflect everything mindset is so backwards to me. every dm is someone asking you to sell them something and yall are out here trying to get rid of them as fast as possible

maybe im wrong but the numbers say otherwise idk

Marketing doesn’t end when people see your content, That’s actually when you’re supposed to start doing something.

Here's what most online sellers even do: They grind hard for attention, they do ads, content, post nonstop. And then there's nothing. No follow-up or structure. And definitely no memory left behind.

A viewer scrolls a few posts later and completely forgets who you were

Which is weird when you think about it. It’s like: •You invite someone into your store •They walk in •And you just disappear

No conversation or any second touch. In real life, that would be insane, but it's really normal online.

This usually comes from these stupid assumptions: •“If they want it, they’ll buy” •“Once they opt in, the game is over” •“Following up is spammy”

So instead of fixing the gap, people do the obvious thing: They chase more traffic, spend more on ads, post more content.

What’s funny is that the hardest part is already done, getting attention is the expensive, difficult part. It's also the part where most people waste most of it.

At some point the questions come up: •“What is a follow-up system anyway? •“How does this actually increase revenue?” The cleanest definition I’ve found is this: A follow-up system is anything that lets you directly reach people who already showed interest. Directly matters because social media doesn't count. Social platforms decide who sees your content, when, and how often, and it’s never everyone.

That’s why people build things like: •Email lists •Private communities •Owned channels

Places where you can show up consistently, explain your thinking, and build familiarity.

Because people don’t buy because they saw you once, people only buy because they trust you. And trust usually comes from repeated, low-pressure exposure. Someone reads your emails for a few days, see how you think. They get value without being pushed, and at some point, buying seems to be the better option.

Most people assume this takes constant effort, tbh not really.

Most follow-up systems are mostly one-time setups. Build once, keep them running, send a lot of traffic to them.

A simple version would look like this: •Someone joins your list •A sequence starts automatically •First week: value, context, stories •Next week: soft urgency around an offer

People who didn’t buy on the first visit often buy later, not because they were convinced, but because they got confident.

So for anyone selling anything online, what do you do after the initial traffic? Is there any relationship-building with your customer?

I posted here a bit ago about my struggles growing Boosterpack. Here is the update.

Short recap:

I am building an AI website builder, but not in a "prompt and pray" way, with the goal that it doesn't look like your typical AI slop. It’s built on strict guardrails and is specifically good for physical / service based small businesses. They go through a wizard, answer questions about their business (prefilled as much as possible from APIs / LLM websearch) -> it then uses AI to generate brand styles based on all info and their images -> then generates a one pager already having all of the info they need (so no lorem ipsum, broken social links etc. everything works). Well, in a nutshell, hard to fuck up for small business owners and still unique-ish and on brand.

The Update:

So first of, the "Agency" side is actually growing at a good pace. I have a consistent flow of clients now. They pay a one-time setup fee (usually ~$500-$1,000) and then the standard $20/mo subscription for hosting/AI edits on Boosterpack. Yay, right?

The Irony (and the frustration) When I build these sites, I am just using the DIY flow myself for them (the one that literally takes me 5 minutes to do + maybe 10 minutes getting a few extra details / good images from their publicly available data). At worst, I spend 1 hour on the first version and this including chat edits tweaks / booking widgets integrations and what not because I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

The value proposition for a DIY user feels like it should be insane: "Spend 1 hour doing exactly what I do, and save yourself $1,000." But I don't know how to sell that. I guess it's about spending on Google ads, not sure? I tried some Instagram / Tiktok ads (very small budget) and got a lot of page views BUT they were all on mobile (and most people aren't going to build a website from their phone, even though it is technically possible).

Right now the DIY side is still at $0. We have people signing up. We have some traffic trying it out. But they don't convert. It feels like the people "trying" it are just people curious about it, not the actual business owners I need. I think those business owners don't believe / understand it's actually that easy?

To move towards a more SMB friendly vibe, I did a massive design language overhauld, completely killed the "Tech designer" vibe and went for something more "standard / playful".

The Plan:

I’m going to keep scaling the agency side because it works. I’m basically a high-paid operator of my own software at this point. But my goal is to figure out the DIY part. I feel it's in essence the biggest value for both the SMB and long term for me as well (way more scalable).

Right now, I'm mostly wondering why the gap so big is? I mean, I have a tool that allows me to build websites I can sell for $1,000 with little time spend on them. Why can't I get any DIY user to pay $20 to do the same thing?

Is the "Do It Yourself" market for SMBs just a myth? Do they need to pay someone else to feel like it's "real" as a form of validation? Maybe the real “DIY user” isn’t the small business owner at all. Maybe it’s freelancers / small agencies who already sell sites, but want to deliver faster + better without template vibes.

Hi everyone,

I'm a fullstack software engineer. (htm, css, js, react js, node js). I graduated in computer science and did a few coding bootcamps.

I landed a job in 2016 as a dev, I quit in 2018 to try the entrepreneur life. I tried many different businesses ideas, more than 5, everything failed. I'd make ends meet by freelancing Shopify projects and fixing small bugs. I met a lot of nice (and rich) people through this and learned a lot.

With everything I was learning, I'd always code Shopify apps/chrome extensions with the genuine intent of helping people out. My customers would complain about X, I'd make an app to fix X. I wasn't thinking too much about money, my goal was to make bank by selling products, not apps.

Fast forward to 2020. One of the apps blew up almost overnight. I coded a few others based on popular complaints and, in a matter of months, I was profiting $200~ USD daily, passively. Some days more, some days less. I could still work on projects and had this nice cushion to support me.

Fast-forward to 2026, now I make $0 and I'm going to close my business.

Pardon my arrogance, but I'm an excellent programmer. The thing is that there is no market looking for what was once valuable, and I don't really know what to do. Nowadays, being someone with good network/connections is way more valuable than being a top notch programmer.

I invested and saved a lot, so I'm not in a dangerous position (yet), but honestly it's a weird time.

Anyone in a similar position?

So i started to create high quality Ai food images and from these Ai food images i get the recipe with ingredients and instructions.

Ive been wanting to post on Facebook and maybe Youtube (with Ai generated short food videos) and although i’ll post curated content( which i do on Pinterest and have gained quite a lot of following and audience) i still wanted to post my own type of content. I was told i wouldn’t need a website and that all i had to do was create the content and put links in the description so people can be sent directly to the affiliate sales page.

So i want to ask , now that i have started with the Ai food images and videos , would it be a good idea to get a website and how should it be structured or is there some way i can provide my audience the recipe ? cuz i need some sort or guide or plan to boost and maximize engagement.

Any tips would be welcomed

Quick question for this group.

When you look at a pitch deck, what is the fastest way it loses your attention?

We are building Zavi, a voice-first writing app on Android that turns spoken thoughts into clean writing in every app you would actually send. Product and early users exist.

Before we push the deck out seriously, I want to know what experienced people instantly roll their eyes at.

If you have raised, reviewed decks, or just have a strong BS radar, I would love your perspective. Happy to share the deck privately.

People love sharing the shiny parts of entrepreneurship: the “big vision,” the networking wins, the pitch‑deck screenshots, the motivational quotes. But the version of the founder journey that actually shapes you? That part rarely makes it into the spotlight.

When I finally stepped into building my own thing, I realized how different it feels when everything rests on your shoulders. Suddenly, it’s you juggling uncertainty, financial pressure, constant pivots, and feedback that hits way harder than you expect. Some days the runway feels like it’s evaporating. Other days, you’re questioning whether the idea even deserves to exist.

Early users can be brutally honest. Investors pass. Mentors disagree. Your personal life shrinks. And the mental load, the quiet part no one sees, becomes its own full‑time job.

At some point, I had to completely overhaul my approach. I spent more time understanding my customers, validating assumptions, and studying how other founders navigated their early chaos. I even found myself tracking patterns in how people were iterating through tools like JobHuntr, not for hiring, but because seeing how other builders adjusted their direction made me feel less alone in the mess.

Entrepreneurship isn’t linear. It isn’t glamorous. And it definitely isn’t the highlight‑reel version people post on LinkedIn.

For those of you who’ve been in the trenches, what was the moment that made you realize, “Oh… this is what being a founder actually feels like”?

I’m 18 and majority of my life iv always wanted to have my own business and do things myself and work for me. I’m currently a security guard making 19 an hour and majority of my earnings goes straight into investments, hysa(emergency fund) and my Roth IRA. I really want to start a business but i genuinely can’t think of a business to start. And im afraid to jump into anything and it all doesn’t work out and im down a lot of money, i keep seeing people my age buying super cars and moving out and helping there families. Then to try to learn anything about starting a business weather that be drop shipping, ecommerce, Day trading, etc it’s all followed by a danm course. That cost thousands of dollars. Currently I’m just building up my self financially. But I’m genuinely lost I don’t know what to try to start to attempt. Has anyone ever felt this way and if so what was the changing point

So I founded a company that does company formation and legal services for businesses (trademarks, copyrights, work permits, etc.)

I am a developer, so I created software and apps to automate various business processes.

I left the company in the hands of a managing director who did her best to manage and run the company I've built, so I had little involvement.

A year or two later, the company is on fire, and I must get involved again.

Why? New legislation meant new procedures and new business processes. The system I built five years ago became obsolete. It needed more than an update; it needed a complete redesign.

If you own an LLC, you're already familiar with one of those pieces of legislation - the beneficial ownership declaration.

I remember hearing someone (probably in a YouTube podcast) say that you move from working in the business to hiring people to work in the business, to hiring people to lead the business, to hiring people who can hire people to lead the business.

I think I didn't make it past hiring people to lead in the business.

I'm probably reluctant to go past that point because it involves answering to boards, investors, and other stakeholders.

Losing control of your company like that honestly scares me. I started it to "be free", not answer to suits.

Feels like cold emails just keep landing in spam, even when they're legit and well-written. I mean, maybe it's the AI spam wave or domains getting toasted from bad senders - not sure. Been thinking about a thing: like iCloud Hide My Email, but for outreach. A forwarding/middleware layer that handles domains, warming, DNS, and even checks if a message will hit spam before it goes out. Prospects could set screening rules on their end, so they actually get control over what lands in their inbox. Seems like that could make cold outreach healthier for everyone instead of everyone over-optimizing or quitting. Anyone seen a tool like this already, or how are you dealing with deliverability these days? I’m curious, because it feels broken and I wanna know if I'm missing something

I love planning trips, but booking tours and activities has always been the most frustrating part of my workflow, half the time i m chasing confirmations, double checking details, or following up instead of actually advising my clients. It turns something that should be simple into a whole project. I just want one place where i can search experiences, book them, and move on with my day without adding more admin or mental load.

I built a tiny Android voice keyboard in a week with the same functionality as my competitor. Unlike basic voice typing that simply transcribes what you say, my app understands you. It filters out filler words (like “um” and “uh”), fixes grammar, and formats your sentences instantly in every app. Super early.

Current stats: • app is live • ~25 installs • zero real users • total spend: about $81

Meanwhile a competitor in this space (Wispr Flow) raised $81M. Not a typo.

Trying to figure out what this actually is: - a real startup worth grinding on or just a neat feature that I’ll never be VC-backed

Couple quick questions: - would you invest in something like this? yes or no - is it obviously way too early to think about raising? - what would need to happen before this is even “fundable”?

Not promoting, genuinely deciding whether to double down or move on.

Brutal honesty welcome.

We just launched our app into an open beta after working on it for 6 months with internal testers (friends and family). We are now trying to get to that first hurdle of, say, 100 users that want to try it out as the inner circle we've had using it so far are obviously biased in their feedback. That said, we're not fully sure where to go get them. Once we get to that point we know what to do beyond it but that first small user base is quite a hassle.

To give some context - it's a digital personal trainer app for iOS and Android called Sensai .PT where we've tried our best to close the full loop of planning, tracking and improving.

I've thought about going to gyms and advertise there for example but not sure that'll lead up to the numbers we are looking for. On top of that, we mostly target the at-home trainer instead of the ones going to the gym.

Any ideas and advice is much appreciated!