u/rohitkumar074

Thinking of starting an AI agency.. like actually starting it, not "someday" starting it..

I'm not looking for co-founders who wants a title and all..

looking for people who genuinely love building — the kind who'd be tinkering with this stuff even without a business attached to it..

no fixed plan.. no "here's your role." just direction + hustle + figuring it out as we go..

what i want in people:

Serious about actually shipping, not just talking about it

love the process.. not just the outcome..

want to grow with this long term, not hop off when it gets hard..

bring some real skill (dev/design/sales/whatever) but flexible about wearing multiple hats early on..

if you've been sitting on the same energy — wanting to build something real instead of scrolling ideas all day

Haha.. this is your sign...

Lesss goo

Let's connect (DMs).

Thinking of starting an AI agency.. like actually starting it, not "someday" starting it..

I'm not looking for co-founders who wants a title and all..

looking for people who genuinely love building — the kind who'd be tinkering with this stuff even without a business attached to it..

no fixed plan.. no "here's your role." just direction + hustle + figuring it out as we go..

what i want in people:

Serious about actually shipping, not just talking about it

love the process.. not just the outcome..

want to grow with this long term, not hop off when it gets hard..

bring some real skill (dev/design/sales/whatever) but flexible about wearing multiple hats early on..

if you've been sitting on the same energy — wanting to build something real instead of scrolling ideas all day

Haha.. this is your sign...

Lesss goo

Let's connect (DMs).

I’ve been in tech for a while like...I know the things ( have to learn a lot obv)...and I’m looking to launch my own AI agency this year.

The market is absolutely insane right now?? worldwide AI spending is projected to hit $2.52 trillion in 2026, and enterprise adoption has shifted from demos to production systems that actually touch revenue and core workflows...

Before I go all in..I want to understand the landscape.

Main question -- What are the top underlying niches on which I should look upon ??

Who are the top players I should be studying? What models are working? For those already running AI agencies, what would you do differently if you started today??

I’ve been in tech for a while like...I know the things ( have to learn a lot obv)...and I’m looking to launch my own AI agency this year.

The market is absolutely insane right now?? worldwide AI spending is projected to hit $2.52 trillion in 2026, and enterprise adoption has shifted from demos to production systems that actually touch revenue and core workflows...

Before I go all in..I want to understand the landscape.

Main question -- What are the top underlying niches on which I should look upon ??

Who are the top players I should be studying? What models are working? For those already running AI agencies, what would you do differently if you started today??

It's a real story of mine, when I was 19 I joined a newly based startup with some people as a product designer and devloper, as the startup was in its early stage of developing MVP and all..

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And to be very honest here...I was the one at that time doing majority of the work..even doing decks... Research everything ..talking to clients and more while other co workers were not that much involved

​

I burnt out but still kept working cause I know I will be getting a got equity if this will work..ngl I was there cause I know I can earn a good money that's why I was so much dedicated

​

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But but but...the real problem was that 27 yr old ..founder ( who was real bullshit man..now I realise...) he used to bully me on the daily basis...at first I was taking the things like a feedback..like you are really bad at work and all...but with time he used to say - you are disgusting...got for nothing ...( These are not even 1% what he said to me ) nd because of that I was always ready to leave the comp cause of the disrespect...but yk what

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I always end up there again cause...he used to apologise every single time when ever I was leaving the company..like apologize like hell ..like it will never happen and all..but yk..what

​

​

​

It always happen again...

​

​

And a lot of sleepless nights (with wet eyes..most of the time )because of that man..cause he always...end up criticising me for nothing? You are the worst and all...

​

But fortunately one day I was sobbing like..hell at night again ..and my roommate saw me nd came ..and asked what happened...( I never used to share my things to anyone -the biggest mistake that I have ever done ..as I thought.. I will look stupid)

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But that night..I told her everything...and what she said is

​

Just the things I know but I don't know..how ..I was handling that nonsense... I mean if someone will do anything like that even 1% of that..i will leave no matter what..

​

​

And at that night..

She comforted me ( really love her much ...) and told me ..he's just manipulating you..to work..there and abusing you ...that's pathetic

Just leave..and block everyone from that company

​

And she did one more thing..

She called him (the so called founder ) and said him just one line..what the hell you did to her??

​

And he was so bad he stared abusing my friend ..like you are a ho#..and motherfuc@#..

​

I mean seriously...?

And at that day I learnt a very big lesson...and I think you guys know..what lesson was that..

​

( I worked there for 8 months unfortunately) Really fucked up with my mental health and mental peace..as well as my physical health too..

​

​

It's a real story of mine, when I was 19 I joined a newly based startup with some people as a product designer and devloper, as the startup was in its early stage of developing MVP and all..

​

And to be very honest here...I was the one at that time doing majority of the work..even doing decks... Research everything ..talking to clients and more while other co workers were not that much involved

​

I burnt out but still kept working cause I know I will be getting a got equity if this will work..ngl I was there cause I know I can earn a good money that's why I was so much dedicated

​

​

But but but...the real problem was that 27 yr old ..founder ( who was real bullshit man..now I realise...) he used to bully me on the daily basis...at first I was taking the things like a feedback..like you are really bad at work and all...but with time he used to say - you are disgusting...got for nothing ...( These are not even 1% what he said to me ) nd because of that I was always ready to leave the comp cause of the disrespect...but yk what

​

I always end up there again cause...he used to apologise every single time when ever I was leaving the company..like apologize like hell ..like it will never happen and all..but yk..what

​

​

​

It always happen again...

​

​

And a lot of sleepless nights (with wet eyes..most of the time )because of that man..cause he always...end up criticising me for nothing? You are the worst and all...

​

But fortunately one day I was sobbing like..hell at night again ..and my roommate saw me nd came ..and asked what happened...( I never used to share my things to anyone -the biggest mistake that I have ever done ..as I thought.. I will look stupid)

​

But that night..I told her everything...and what she said is

​

Just the things I know but I don't know..how ..I was handling that nonsense... I mean if someone will do anything like that even 1% of that..i will leave no matter what..

​

​

And at that night..

She comforted me ( really love her much ...) and told me ..he's just manipulating you..to work..there and abusing you ...that's pathetic

Just leave..and block everyone from that company

​

And she did one more thing..

She called him (the so called founder ) and said him just one line..what the hell you did to her??

​

And he was so bad he stared abusing my friend ..like you are a ho#..and motherfuc@#..

​

I mean seriously...?

And at that day I learnt a very big lesson...and I think you guys know..what lesson was that..

​

( I worked there for 8 months unfortunately) Really fucked up with my mental health and mental peace..as well as my physical health too..

​

​

Bro was unemployed 4 months ago..

Now he's charging $5000/month per client to "manage their reddit presence" and i still don't fully understand what that means.

Like what do you actually do? write posts that don't sound like ads? build karma on fake accounts? seed conversations in subreddits without getting banned?

Because reddit's whole personality is that it hates marketing..so how is this a real business that YC startups are paying for?

Someone explain this to me .. and if anyone here runs one of these, genuinely how did you get started?

(Tbh..I'm a little jealous)

Bro was unemployed 4 months ago..

Now he's charging $5000/month per client to "manage their reddit presence" and i still don't fully understand what that means.

Like what do you actually do? write posts that don't sound like ads? build karma on fake accounts? seed conversations in subreddits without getting banned?

Because reddit's whole personality is that it hates marketing..so how is this a real business that YC startups are paying for?

Someone explain this to me .. and if anyone here runs one of these, genuinely how did you get started?

(Tbh..I'm a little jealous)

Bro was unemployed 4 months ago..

Now he's charging $5000/month per client to "manage their reddit presence" and i still don't fully understand what that means.

Like what do you actually do? write posts that don't sound like ads? build karma on fake accounts? seed conversations in subreddits without getting banned?

Because reddit's whole personality is that it hates marketing..so how is this a real business that YC startups are paying for?

Someone explain this to me .. and if anyone here runs one of these, genuinely how did you get started?

(Tbh..I'm a little jealous)

Ykw .. first i thought to start a small startup (but 50k is not enough rn for the ideas that I have for that startup)

And the thing is that, I don't want my moneny to be just in the bank acct ...with some mim interest

Do you guys have any sort of idea..?

I mean if you guys have 50k rn what you guys will do to get the best of the best returns out of it ..( maintain liquidity as well)

Do i put it in nifty 50 and forget it exists for 10 years?

Do i move it to US markets through vested and let rupee depreciation do half the work for me?

Do i just buy sovereign gold bonds and sleep easy?

Do i say forget assets, start a small service business and try to turn it into cashflow in 60 days??

Or do i just hold cash and wait for the market to correct?

Every option has a case...little confused rn..please help

Okkayy.. so I was stress‑testing my retirement spreadsheet at like 1am (we’ve all been there..noh..?) and found something that genuinely broke my brain for a minute.

One sec...

Your portfolio goes +50% one year.. then ..50% the next..

Average return??You’d say 0%. Makes sense.

Nope.

$10,000..$15,000..$7,500..

Two years of chaos and you’re down 25%. Annualised, that’s brutal ..13.4%... not zero.

The “average” didn’t just lie. It pickpocketed your future.

Here’s the bit that should terrify anyone who’s ever opened a retirement calculator...

There are two completely different “averages” and almost nobody tells you which one they’re feeding you.

1. Arithmetic average .. add up the yearly returns, divide. For the S&P 500 since 1926..that’s around 12.4%...

2. CAGR average... the number your actual money compounds at. Same market, same history. Roughly 10.2%.

That 2.2% gap sounds like a rounding error until you run the numbers...

$10,000 left alone for 30 years... If we plug in the fantasy ..12.4%...$333,000.

If you use the real 10.2% the market actually delivers..$186,000..

That’s.. $147,000.. of retirement money that was never real..Not fees.. Not bad stock picks. Just volatility quietly chainsawing our compounding while the calculator showed you the prettier..fake number...

This is called ..volatility drag.. and the stock market is nothing but volatility...

And the “10% average year” everyone talks about??? The S&P 500 almost never actually returns 10% in any given year... We live through the chaotic real‑world version ...(of our leaders )..+30%, –20%, +15%, –40% – and over decades that chaos silently hacks away at your compound returns...

Now adjust for inflation .CPI’s averaged about 3.1% a year since 1928...That crushes our 10.2% nominal CAGR into a real return of roughly 6.9% .our $186,000 in future dollars would only buy what ..$76,000. buys today.

The “average return” story just keeps unravelling.

Genuinely curious if anyone’s actually lived this out in real life ... do your retirement calculators even say which “average” they’re using? Because if it’s not explicitly the geometric, real‑world number... you might be planning around $147,000 of imaginary money just like I almost was.

Lemme know plss..

Every finance influencer says some version of this. zero of them explain how...

Here's what they're actually describing...

the wage trap ...you trade hours for money... stop working, money stops... this is 95% of humans including doctors and lawyers...

The ownership move ..you own something (stock, property, a business, even a youtube channel) that makes money whether you touch it today or not....

that's it. that's the whole "secret." it's not mindset...it's not waking up at 5am.. it's literally just: do you own assets or do you only own your time...

The uncomfortable part ... building an asset usually means MORE work upfront, for free, for a while, before it pays you back. nobody puts that in the inspirational quote...

So the actual move isn't "stop trading time for money." it's "trade time for money short-term, on purpose, specifically to build something that stops needing your time."

most people skip step 1 and just buy the quote on a poster...

what asset are you actually building right now, or are you still in step 1....???

Every finance influencer says some version of this. zero of them explain how...

Here's what they're actually describing...

the wage trap ...you trade hours for money... stop working, money stops... this is 95% of humans including doctors and lawyers...

The ownership move ..you own something (stock, property, a business, even a youtube channel) that makes money whether you touch it today or not....

that's it. that's the whole "secret." it's not mindset...it's not waking up at 5am.. it's literally just: do you own assets or do you only own your time...

The uncomfortable part ... building an asset usually means MORE work upfront, for free, for a while, before it pays you back. nobody puts that in the inspirational quote...

So the actual move isn't "stop trading time for money." it's "trade time for money short-term, on purpose, specifically to build something that stops needing your time."

most people skip step 1 and just buy the quote on a poster...

what asset are you actually building right now, or are you still in step 1....???

Was messing around with a compound interest calculator at like 1am (we've all been there) and ended up in a whole rabbit hole... sharing bc the numbers actually surprised me...

Say someone starts investing $60/month at 22, into something like a broad index fund (~10% average annual return, roughly what the S&P 500 has done long term)... no increases, no extra lump sums, just letting it sit untouched...

by 40 — same $60/month the entire time, nothing more — the corpus crosses $85k+... by 50 it's past $300k. same amount the whole time, no raises, no bonuses added in.

And the wild part?? most of that growth doesn't even happen in the first 10-15 years, it's all backloaded into the later years bc compounding just stacks different once it gets going. .

not financial advice, literally just nerded out on a calculator lol... but it did make me rethink the whole "i'll start investing when i have more money" mindset...

Curious if anyone's actually lived this out and if it holds up irl once you factor in inflation, fees, market crashes etc.

Okay ..so i have a stable job but i'm tired of my salary being my only income source...i want to build something on the side but every time i search online it's the same recycled advice .. dropshipping, print on demand, sell courses... like okay but has anyone actually made real money from this?

I'm not looking to get rich overnight... even an extra 5-10k .. a month would genuinely change things for me...

so what actually worked for you? how did you make your first real money outside your 9-5? and how long did it take before it was actually consistent?

drop the real stuff pls..not the youtube thumbnail version ...lol

Okay so i've been investing for a bit now but it still feels like i'm just vibing and hoping for the best ngl....

I have mutual funds, a few stocks, i read the news.

... but i still don't fully understand why numbers move the way they do...

Like what actually made investing click for you? books, specific people you follow, a different way of thinking?

would love to hear from people who've been through this. drop whatever helped you ...!!

I'm currently 20.

Give me one piece of advice you'd wish you knew at my age.

Could be about anything