u/parikrut

TL;DR: I build software. I'll build yours for free. I keep the right to sell it to other businesses later. That's the whole deal.

Suspicious stuff out of the way first: I'm not selling anything, not collecting your email, and not looking for a job. No free trial that becomes $99/month in 30 days.

I'm 28, based in Toronto, and I want to start a software business. But I've watched too many people build something clever nobody asked for. So I'm doing it backwards — find a real problem first, solve it for free, then see if there's a business in it.

What I'll build: anything. I've built Inventory Management Systems, Sales CRM platforms, and an AI Inference Gateway for open-source models. If it's complex, I'm more interested, not less.

Three signs this is for you:

🔹 You're paying monthly for software you half-use — 30 features, you need 4

🔹 You're doing it manually because the real tool is priced for companies 50x your size

🔹 Your workflow is three tools and a spreadsheet duct-taped together

Why you're doing me the favor:

I'm not being charitable. I want a real testimonial from a business actually using what I built, and the right to sell that software to other companies later. You get free custom software. I get proof it works and a product to take to market. Clean trade, nobody pretending.

What to do: drop your problem in the comments or DM me. The messier, the better.

Fair warning — bigger builds take a few months. But you're not paying, so the only thing you're risking is a comment.

TL;DR: I build software. I'll build yours for free. I keep the right to sell it to other businesses later. That's the whole deal.

Suspicious stuff out of the way first: I'm not selling anything, not collecting your email, and not looking for a job. No free trial that becomes $99/month in 30 days.

I'm 28, based in Toronto, and I want to start a software business. But I've watched too many people build something clever nobody asked for. So I'm doing it backwards — find a real problem first, solve it for free, then see if there's a business in it.

What I'll build: anything. I've built Inventory Management Systems, Sales CRM platforms, and an AI Inference Gateway for open-source models. If it's complex, I'm more interested, not less.

Three signs this is for you:

🔹 You're paying monthly for software you half-use — 30 features, you need 4

🔹 You're doing it manually because the real tool is priced for companies 50x your size

🔹 Your workflow is three tools and a spreadsheet duct-taped together

Why you're doing me the favor:

I'm not being charitable. I want a real testimonial from a business actually using what I built, and the right to sell that software to other companies later. You get free custom software. I get proof it works and a product to take to market. Clean trade, nobody pretending.

What to do: drop your problem in the comments or DM me. The messier, the better.

Fair warning — bigger builds take a few months. But you're not paying, so the only thing you're risking is a comment.

Hey Brantford,

Long-time lurker. I've got about $100k sitting in a savings account doing basically nothing and I've been going back and forth for months. Figured I'd ask people who actually live here instead of reading generic advice online.

Option 1: just invest it. The boring answer is ETFs in a TFSA and forget about it. But I'm curious what people here actually do — anyone doing rental property in Brantford or Paris? Is the math still working at current prices and rates, or is everyone cash-flow negative and hoping for appreciation?

Option 2: start something here. This is the one I keep coming back to, because I'd rather build something than watch a number go up and down. But I don't want to open the fifth vape shop on Colborne and be closed in 14 months.

So the real question: what does this city actually need that we don't have?

What I'm asking:

1. If you had $100k to put into a local business, what would you open here and why?
2. What service or shop have you wanted to use in town and just couldn't find?
3. Anyone who runs a business here — honest reality on rent, staffing and dealing with the city? Would you do it again?

For context: my background is in software engineering and I could put in 20 hours a week. Not trying to get rich quick, just want something steady that's actually useful to people here.

Appreciate any honest takes, including "don't do it, keep your money."

Two years ago I built and sold a custom inventory management system to a company. It worked, they still use it, and I thought I'd cracked something. I hadn't. I got lucky once and I've been unable to reproduce it since.

For context, I'm employed full-time as a software engineer here in Ontario. This isn't a survival post — I'm not scrambling for income. What I'm missing is the skill I never had to develop: finding the businesses that need this and getting them to say yes.

Building I can do. Scoping, delivering, supporting — all fine. Sales is the wall.

What I'd like to hear from this sub:

1. Owners — if your inventory is currently a pile of spreadsheets and habits, what would have to break before you'd pay someone to build you something custom?

2. Devs/consultants — how did you get from a one-off deal to a real pipeline? Did you partner with a salesperson, niche down hard, or something I haven't thought of?

3. Is bespoke software still worth chasing for a solo builder, or is the answer to productize something narrow and sell it repeatedly?

Happy to talk through the technical side if anyone's curious. Genuinely here for advice, not a pitch.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.

I'm 28, male, working full-time as a software engineer. Stable job, decent pay, no complaints there. But I want to build something of my own that could eventually replace my salary.

Problem: I have zero experience with this. I've never sold anything, never run a business, never freelanced. I can build software, but that's apparently the easy part. I don't have a product idea I'm attached to and I don't have a "pain point" story — I just know I don't want to be an employee for the next 30 years.

What I'm looking for:

- How did you find your first thing to work on when you didn't have an obvious idea?

- Did you start with services/freelancing/consulting first, or go straight to a product?

- What's a realistic timeline before something starts covering real bills?

- What do you wish someone had told you in year one?

Happy to be told my expectations are unrealistic. Just want honest input from people who've actually done it.