u/is_NAN

A few months ago, I had an idea to solve the Visa problem. People lose thousands of rupees due to incorrect routes leading to rejections and wasted time. Consultants are often not knowledgeable about all countries and try to fit applicants into a few known ones. To address this, I built Vizarank.

I wanted a tool that analysed a predefined set of data against an intended route and ranked the top four destinations. I developed multiple AI agents and optimised them for each visa pathway. Since AI has a knowledge cutoff, I ensured it had access to up-to-date policy data for responding to potential pathways.

I launched Vizarank on 2nd July 2026 and have since made several iterations based on user feedback. I currently have 96 organic users, and the initial response has been promising. People seem to like what they see, but none have paid yet. I definitely have much more value to add to this product, but I still need to validate the current version before putting more effort into it and building something that no one wants.

A year ago, I quit my job for a remote position, but then the client left due to financial constraints. Since then, I’ve been working on this idea. Having no prior experience in business, I never considered securing funds for it until I realised building the product was the easiest part and I’d overlooked the most important aspect.

I calculated the cost of Meta ads and need to spend at least PKR 3000 a day to expect at least one paid conversion (did my own research, not validated yet), which means I need to spend PKR 90,000 a month. This will break even, covering operational costs and ads.

At this point, I can take the risk, but it’s a one-shot deal. If it doesn’t work out, the funds will deplete quickly, leaving no room for survival. So far, I am a solo developer working on it, the business has been self-funded, and I don’t have any backup plan. I am stuck in a do-or-die situation. I'm having a hard time securing a remote job again, and if I go back to the 9 to 5 onsite role, this idea will be as good as dead.

I need someone to teach me what should be the approach from this point ahead so that I can achieve this dream and build something that gives me financial freedom.

Having built a SaaS business from Pakistan, and crypto no longer being illegal here, I’m wondering how sole proprietors should proceed. PVARA seems geared towards corporates.

Should I simply begin accepting crypto payments and keep records for FBR or is there a different process for small businesses?

Following up to thank everyone and share things I have learned regarding my previous post where you guys were very generous about helping https://www.reddit.com/r/PakStartups/s/1lU3TgsqyG

Everyone suggested different options but most of them wanted me to opt for foreign providers which was no optimal for 2 basic reasons:

1. High processing fee (for a PKR 499 product)

2. FX fee to buyer (since I'm targeting just Pakistan)

But the best option I found was using CREEM (my account got approved for paymens within 12 hours of submission), it acts as a MoR, I decided to go ahead with it as it was best for my case.

Now they don't natively support PKR but USD and EUR only so I came up with a solution, once you have a fixed price product on CREEM you have an option to override the price manually during checkout without using a coupon/discount

What I did is, I priced my product 999 PKR, whenever the user makes a checkout, I keep a USD-PKR price cached and use it to override the current USD value and charge the user in USD while still managing to keep it 999 PKR.

About my original price of 499 PKR, I plan to introduce a 50% off discount initially (not active yet) which will auto apply at checkout so the user is charged 499 PKR but now this will give them a sense of discount and when they see FX fee on their card this will still feel like a discount compared to PKR 999

As for the local payment gateway, I managed to partner with Bank Alfalah for their Payment Gateway which will take some time but I am not even worried about it anymore since my SaaS is already live, CREEM will still stay active and will be used in case I expand to other countries and dynamically switch providers basex on location once I have Alfalah Payments.

Thank you everyone who helped, if you plan to check it out, feel free to explore Vizarank it's a visa ranking product helping people who plan to move abroad make informed decisions before losing money to wrong decisions.

I know you might not be the optimal audience and I don't intend to promote my product here anyways but a feedback would be really appreciated.

I am a solo dev. I have a finished, working SaaS ready to launch. My COGS is $0.15 per report, and my target local price is 499 PKR. I am running out of funds, I don't have a job as a backup right now (Just don't want a job right now to avoid distractions while I am building something which means too much to me), and the payment infrastructure in this country is actually driving me into depression.

Every single "solution" is a trap. Here is the reality for an indie hacker in Pakistan right now:

1. The Offshore Trap (Gumroad / Paddle / LemonSqueezy) I can’t use them. For a 499 PKR (~$1.79) product, their fixed USD cent fees ($0.30 - $0.50) plus their 5-10% cut absolutely destroys my margins. On top of that, because it bills in USD, the user's local bank slaps a 3-4% FX markup and the SBP advance tax on them. So a 499 PKR product ends up costing the user 550+ PKR, and I only get to keep like 200 PKR.
2. The Local "Instant" Gateways (APG / NayaPay/ Safepay) There is nothing instant about them. You can't just spin up a developer account, grab a Bearer token, and test a live card. You are forced to submit your CNIC, FBR NTN, and rubber-stamped documents, and then wait a week while some compliance officer manually reviews your website before issuing production API keys. And when I finally got access to one of local gateways (RapidGateway) it turned out to be a disaster, they classified my business as High-risk product and allowed my to use just mobile wallets and bank transfer, I just accepted it and went ahead but to my surprise when I started testing the live integration out of 10 transactions 1 went through 3 failed before prompting for payment and 6 ended up in 500 Server error on payment page.
3. The Mobile Wallet Push APIs (JazzCash / EasyPaisa / Raast P2M) The absolute holy grail UX would just be asking the user for their number and triggering a USSD push request on their phone for them to enter their PIN. But SBP gatekeeps the pull APIs so hard that no personal account can access them without going through the exact same corporate merchant onboarding nightmare.
4. The DRB Mirage (Raqami / Mashreq) Everyone hypes up the new digital retail banks, but they operate under the exact same SBP anti-money laundering laws. Shiny app, same 14-day corporate API gatekeeping.
5. The customer support Every single time I have to talk to support, it gives me a headache. The support system of Pakistani apps is just a circus, the representatives are just making wild guesses as if we both are trying to find out the same thing. My recent experience with JazzCash Business was absolute worst, I created an account they instantly gave me an account with Title plastered with my name + "Shop", I requested name change via app followed by 9 helpline calls, 4 emails over the course of 11 days, and they just figured it out today that my name change request errored on their system and now I need to delete the account and create a new one (deleting the account also needs to raise a support request)

I am exhausted. I just want to ship my code and pay my bills.

At this point, I am about to just build a manual "Upload your EasyPaisa screenshot" queue and manually verify payments from my bed just to survive this launch.

How are you guys surviving this? Are there any actual zero-day developer workarounds I am missing, or is the manual screenshot flow really the only way for a me to bootstrap?

I am a solo dev. I have a finished, working SaaS ready to launch. My COGS is $0.15 per report, and my target local price is 499 PKR. I am running out of funds, I don't have a job as a backup right now (Just don't want a job right now to avoid distractions while I am building something which means too much to me), and the payment infrastructure in this country is actually driving me into depression.

Every single "solution" is a trap. Here is the reality for an indie hacker in Pakistan right now:

1. The Offshore Trap (Gumroad / Paddle / LemonSqueezy) I can’t use them. For a 499 PKR (~$1.79) product, their fixed USD cent fees ($0.30 - $0.50) plus their 5-10% cut absolutely destroys my margins. On top of that, because it bills in USD, the user's local bank slaps a 3-4% FX markup and the SBP advance tax on them. So a 499 PKR product ends up costing the user 550+ PKR, and I only get to keep like 200 PKR.
2. The Local "Instant" Gateways (APG / NayaPay/ Safepay) There is nothing instant about them. You can't just spin up a developer account, grab a Bearer token, and test a live card. You are forced to submit your CNIC, FBR NTN, and rubber-stamped documents, and then wait a week while some compliance officer manually reviews your website before issuing production API keys. And when I finally got access to one of local gateways (RapidGateway) it turned out to be a disaster, they classified my business as High-risk product and allowed my to use just mobile wallets and bank transfer, I just accepted it and went ahead but to my surprise when I started testing the live integration out of 10 transactions 1 went through 3 failed before prompting for payment and 6 ended up in 500 Server error on payment page.
3. The Mobile Wallet Push APIs (JazzCash / EasyPaisa / Raast P2M) The absolute holy grail UX would just be asking the user for their number and triggering a USSD push request on their phone for them to enter their PIN. But SBP gatekeeps the pull APIs so hard that no personal account can access them without going through the exact same corporate merchant onboarding nightmare.
4. The DRB Mirage (Raqami / Mashreq) Everyone hypes up the new digital retail banks, but they operate under the exact same SBP anti-money laundering laws. Shiny app, same 14-day corporate API gatekeeping.
5. The customer support Every single time I have to talk to support, it gives me a headache. The support system of Pakistani apps is just a circus, the representatives are just making wild guesses as if we both are trying to find out the same thing. My recent experience with JazzCash Business was absolute worst, I created an account they instantly gave me an account with Title plastered with my name + "Shop", I requested name change via app followed by 9 helpline calls, 4 emails over the course of 11 days, and they just figured it out today that my name change request errored on their system and now I need to delete the account and create a new one (deleting the account also needs to raise a support request)

I am exhausted. I just want to ship my code and pay my bills.

At this point, I am about to just build a manual "Upload your EasyPaisa screenshot" queue and manually verify payments from my bed just to survive this launch.

How are you guys surviving this? Are there any actual zero-day developer workarounds I am missing, or is the manual screenshot flow really the only way for a me to bootstrap?

Edit: Thank you so much everybody for your everything was very helpful and it made me find the best optimal solution for now while I'm figuring out local providers.

Hello everyone,

I’m currently building a product tailored specifically for the Pakistani market, but I’ve hit a bit of a roadblock with user verification and could use some advice.

As a software engineer, I’ve spent years working with international clients and organizations that rely on global giants like Twilio for OTP verifications and SMS communication. However, in my experience, these international gateways are incredibly problematic when targeting Pakistan, frequently getting delayed or outright blocked due to carrier restrictions and strict fraud filters. In fact, I face this issue so often that I have to keep a foreign SIM card active just to bypass the headaches during testing.

So my question to fellow builders is: What services are you actually using to reliably verify Pakistani phone numbers?

I’ve dug into a few local SMS gateways, but it's tough to judge their deliverability and uptime from the outside. Given how massive WhatsApp is in Pakistan, I am heavily considering a hybrid setup: using an international provider like Twilio or Telnyx strictly for WhatsApp OTPs, and pairing it with a solid local provider for fallback SMS verification.

Ultimately, my main goal is just a clean, dependable phone verification flow. I would love to hear what stacks or local vendors you’ve successfully used in production!

Hello everyone,

I’m currently building a product tailored specifically for the Pakistani market, but I’ve hit a bit of a roadblock with user verification and could use some advice.

As a software engineer, I’ve spent years working with international clients and organizations that rely on global giants like Twilio for OTP verifications and SMS communication. However, in my experience, these international gateways are incredibly problematic when targeting Pakistan, frequently getting delayed or outright blocked due to carrier restrictions and strict fraud filters. In fact, I face this issue so often that I have to keep a foreign SIM card active just to bypass the headaches during testing.

So my question to fellow builders is: What services are you actually using to reliably verify Pakistani phone numbers?

I’ve dug into a few local SMS gateways, but it's tough to judge their deliverability and uptime from the outside. Given how massive WhatsApp is in Pakistan, I am heavily considering a hybrid setup: using an international provider like Twilio or Telnyx strictly for WhatsApp OTPs, and pairing it with a solid local provider for fallback SMS verification.

Ultimately, my main goal is just a clean, dependable phone verification flow. I would love to hear what stacks or local vendors you’ve successfully used in production!

Hey everyone,

I am building a tech product solo and my immediate goal is to get access to local payment gateways like Easypaisa, JazzCash, or Safepay to start processing transactions.

I originally thought I had to register a full SMC through SECP. But after some research, I realized setting up a Sole Proprietorship is the leanest and fastest way to get gateway approval right now. I plan to upgrade to an SMC later when the business actually scales.

I know the basic ingredients. I need to add a business to my individual FBR NTN, get a rubber stamp and letterhead, open a business bank account, and then apply to the gateways.

But honestly, I am stuck on the practical execution and do not want to waste weeks getting bounced around by bank managers.

If my end goal is getting that Easypaisa or Safepay merchant account approved as fast as possible, what should be my literal next step today?

A few specific questions:

1. Do I just log into the FBR Iris portal and add my business name, or is there a catch I should watch out for?
2. Which bank is the most startup-friendly for opening a Sole Proprietor account? I am a digital business, so I want to avoid banks that demand proof of a physical shop or massive paperwork.
3. Once the bank account is active, how long do Easypaisa or Safepay actually take to approve a Sole Proprietor?

Any guidance from founders who have bootstrapped this exact route would be hugely appreciated. Where should I get started?

Thanks!

I’m planning a short 3-4 day leisure trip to Islamabad from Lahore just to disconnect from work for a few days. I recently found out there will be Marka-e-Haq related ceremonies/events on May 10, and now I’m wondering if arriving that day is a bad idea. Current plan is to leave Lahore around 6 AM, take a couple of breaks on the way, and reach Islamabad around 1 PM. I’ll be staying in F-6.

I’m not too worried about the motorway itself, but I really don’t want to start the trip dealing with heavy security blockades, road closures, diversions, or hours of traffic around Islamabad/Red Zone areas. My arrival day plan is mostly just check in and rest. For people familiar with how these events usually affect the city, would arriving around that time still be manageable, or would postponing to Monday make a noticeable difference?

Traveling from Lahore to Islamabad for 3 nights with my wife and a kid.

Looking for the best area to stay. Priorities are:

- clean and quiet

- safe parking

- easy food access

- family-friendly

- easy access to famous attractions.

Would appreciate real recommendations from people who’ve actually stayed there recently.