r/HowToEntrepreneur

Hello everyone, I am 22M and pursuing a business degree... And I am entrepreneurship oriented aiming to create something big in my country. I am working on a business startup with other people of different skills, whom I met both in university and online. It takes a lot of energy and learning to move forward. This of course, is normal for business life.

Now here's the thing: there's been a girl I have always liked from secondary school though I never made anything start( like a relationship there) I was a nerdy type back them. Right now she's in medical school whilst I am in business school. The universities are about 01:30 hrs apart.

I decided to just let her be ever since we finished high school so as I fully focus on my craft or development. Got advice from the "guidance counselors" who told me that it's better to focus on your goals and development right now since you are still young as you are just finishing high school. You might not even love the girl if you wait for some time. I admit I was so young then.

Fast forward to the future(years later), we are now both university students and I still like the girl. I constantly, everyday, choose my business ventures over going for her. But it feels like I am trading or playing dice with two most important parts of my life. I don't like the thought of choosing between the two though I know it might be the right choice. Thinking of balancing the two feels like I am just trying to defend myself whilst making the wrong decision maybe.

I need advice from everyone of you who have experience or knowledge on this situation. I believe you happen to know the right choice to make in this situation, though I might find it difficult to accept. Just tell me the truth as you believe, in your opinion, it is. How do you go about entrepreneurship when these two parts of life crushes?

Thank you

I recently launched a rideshare startup in Michigan called Wayvers after becoming frustrated with how much riders pay and how little drivers often receive.

When I started researching the industry, I was surprised by how much money rideshare companies make while both riders and drivers frequently complain about pricing. That got me thinking: what if the platform only took a small fixed fee instead?

Our model is simple. Wayvers keeps $2 per ride as the company fee regardless of distance, and the remaining difference stays between the rider and driver. The goal is to make rides more affordable for passengers while allowing drivers to keep more of what they earn.

We just went live in Michigan first then will move nationwide, and fortunately we have a marketing budget available. My challenge now is figuring out the most efficient way to spend it.

If you were launching a rideshare company from scratch in a single state, where would you put your first marketing dollars?

I'm not here to pitch the app. I'm genuinely looking for advice from founders, marketers, drivers, and riders who have seen what works and what doesn't.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Hi everyone,

I'm 21 and work full-time in finance, but I've always wanted to build something of my own. The problem is that I have no idea where to start, and the more I read online, the more overwhelmed I get.

One thing that's always stuck with me is how difficult it's been to find shoes that actually fit my feet comfortably. I even tried starting a small shoe reselling page on Instagram, but it never took off. Looking back, I think I focused on selling instead of understanding the problem or the customer.

Now I'm trying to start from scratch and learn the right way.

How do founders know if a problem is actually worth building a business around? What should someone with no startup experience focus on first? And how did you find mentors or communities that helped you grow?

I'm not looking for someone to hand me a business idea or a shortcut. I just want to learn how to think like an entrepreneur and build something that genuinely helps people.

I'd really appreciate any advice or stories from your own journey. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Narrowed it down to three product design companies and not sure how to make the final call. If anyone has been through this I'd appreciate some input on how to actually evaluate.

Rabbit product design: US-based, covers everything from patent research through manufacturing, senior engineers, hourly billing.

Gembah: Marketplace model, connects you with designers and factories globally, better suited if you want more control over each individual stage.

Lime Design: Smaller firm, Florida-based, focused on consumer products, more boutique feel.

Would appreciate any input on how you'd approach this decision.

I’m looking for a person who enjoys solving random problems & tasks.

This isn’t a fixed role like graphic designer or developer. Every day is different.

Examples of tasks:
•Create multiple product color mockups using AI (30–40 variations from one design)
•improve and format long Word documents, reduce unnecessary pages, fix spacing and layout
•Organize Excel/Google Sheets
•Research products, suppliers, software, or competitors
•Use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI tools to speed up work
•Simple image editing and presentations
•Help automate repetitive business tasks
•Other miscellaneous business operations work.

You should:
•Be comfortable learning new tools quickly
•Have good business sense, with technical knowledge
•Must have access to Laptop or Desktop
•Be able to work independently with minimal supervision
•Have strong English communication skills
•Experience with AI tools.

Nice to have:
•Basic Photoshop/Canva/Figma
•Basic Coding Knowledge
•Website building
•Content Creation
•Basic automation (Apps Script, Zapier, Make, etc.)

This is a remote, part-time role with flexible hours. If you’re interested, DM me with:

Your location and time zone
Your experience
Tools you’re comfortable using
A few examples of similar work you’ve done
Your expected hourly or monthly rate
I’m looking for someone who enjoys figuring things out and can become a long-term part of the business.
Thanks

I think this is such a great exercise.

You know what often happens when I do free feedback on business ideas and ask founders to describe what they do in two sentences?

"Well, it's complicated."

And I always say the same thing:

• If you can't describe your business in a simple one-liner, you don't really have a business.

Most people get a little cranky when I say that.

A one-liner is simply the answer to the question: "What do you do?"

It's a single statement that helps people quickly understand why they need your product or service.

Start with the problem, then position your product or service as the solution.

So, let's do this!!!

Drop your one-liner below. Even a caveman should understand it.

Speak soon,
Jan

For about $0.01 each, I'm gathering leads overnight. I drag a space on the map, specify by industry, keyword, name, business, and watch it work. It collects companies and individuals at those companies (or one or the other). I get names, emails, phone numbers, socials, and more all in one shot. I can set it to auto mode and it does this while I sleep...

The tool is free, but you have to obviously pay for the api usage...

It automatically plugs these individuals/companies into my custom CRM that features deal tracking and automated sales guidance/actions/scripts/messages.

Have a good day and keep going!

Hey! I have been working on this startup with my friend that converts plastic waste into stronger plastic used in furniture and appliances

We have been facing one issue that is, collecting the right plastic. Many contractors here don't classify the plastic and i agree that can be hard job while maintaining speed of delivery. Our a lot of time goes in classifying the plastic. So a portion plastic is not useful to us but now we own it so we had to manage it. A new problem we were facing

So we thought we are not just recycling the plastic but now we are also classifying it, and the contractor needs that for better delivery. Funny, but yeah we opened our another branch solving this. And now we are classifying the plastic for the contractors, it was much faster to generative revenue this way

It's funny but yeah sometimes a new idea comes out of older idea

This below is my pitch and currently I have bought the domain aayami.in and made the request access landing page and work on MVP is going on.

You know how buying something big for your home , a chandelier, a sofa, expensive tiles is always a gamble? You're standing in a showroom trying to imagine how it'll look back home, and half the time it turns out wrong.

I'm building something to kill that guesswork. A dealer just takes a few photos of their product, and we turn it into a 3D model. Then they send their customer a simple link no app, nothing to install. The customer opens it at home, points their phone, and sees that exact product sitting in their own room, at its real size. They can walk around it, see how it fits, before they spend a rupee.

It's for the people who sell this stuff showrooms, contractors, architects so they can close the sale without the customer second-guessing. And down the line, the bigger picture is letting someone style a whole room: drop in the sofa, the lights, the tiles, and actually see their finished space before buying any of it.

Basically, "try before you buy" for everything that goes into a home and the seller looks impressive doing it.

Need further guidance from you guys what should I first do next and what should I focus on?

Did some SEO for this domain site of mine. I am trying to do this seriously and see some serious opportunity here if done right.

I will be moving to dehradun due to job and will try to approach showroom owners and similar people there.

When unsuccessful entrepreneurs are asked "what people would you need to launch and scale your startup?"

They respond "NOTHING!".

They're living in a fantasy world where they can go rambo, SOLO.

They can use AI agents as employees, and they can vibe-code an app and then chill by the beach drinking pina coladas earning passive income.

Because "money is easy" and "entrepreneurship is easy".

"aN OnliNe gURu tOld mE thAt I caN eArn 10k/month pAsSiveLy"

And then you look at successful entrepreneurs.

You put them in a room together, and it's ALL ABOUT COLLABORATION.

"this is how I make money, how do you make money?"

"oh, that's interesting, I make money like this. Maybe if we do something together we can both earn more?"

BOOM, and the rich just got richer.

Collaborations exists on the top level, because they know you can't scale and grow without it.

Knowing how to collaborate is a superpower, it's a skillset you have to learn.

The rich are rich because they've mastered it.

And unsuccessful people will remain unsuccessful thinking "I can do it myself with AI agents".

Funny how that works.

I have decided that it’s my destiny to help migrants obtain status in the USA. It’s something I had considered for a long time. I think it’s important to note, that I am starting with nothing and looking to expand. I want to be able to give migrants the resources they need to obtain status and to provide assistance. I would like to start fundraisers, a gofund, donations, connecting with the right people, creating a community. Anything that can help aid. After being in a long term, long distance relationship with my beautiful Mexican lady who also only has visitors visa, it hit me that this was something I wanted to do. The distance between me and her has given me a lot of insight on just how difficult our system works here in America and the obstacles migrants have to go through in order to enter the country. I have friends who are also not legal, and the constant worries they have that they one day could be deported. Great and very humble people I might add and no entitlement. It’s very hard to see this, and it’s giving me hope that I have the ability to make something possible for people who feel it is impossible. I want to use platforms such as tik tok, instagram, and facebook to support my business. Is there any advice I can take here or things that I need to know. Anything helps.

I can't figure out how should I start ? What should I start ? what should I do ? and lot more this type of questions.

I can't start because everytime I doubts a lot , is everything covered ? Am I doing the right thing ? What if it doesn't work ? What if you waste time ?

As of now I was thinking of starting content creation, documenting my journey but I can't start because of the same habit of mine, doubting.

Everytime I ask for the perfect plan, in which everything is covered and I have to just follow it and I'll succeed but I know thing's don't work like this.

I want to start but I don't know how to overcome this fear and doubts before starting.

I m 17 year old and i want to be independent by 19 year so which type of start up would be good?

And also to launch start up what should i learn first,

Hey, i’m starting university next year. I’m moving abroad to a country where I don’t speak the language. This is the only way I can study. My Dad has been going through financial problems. He’s the most kind hearted man. I know he’s trying his hardest, but I know it’s hard and I want to help out. Is there anyway I can make money online? I’m really good at drawing and designing stuff. That’s what I’m gonna be studying in university so something like that. I’m looking into Etsy like making custom logos for people or designing their wedding card or business cards. I honestly don’t know what to do if anybody has any ideas please tell me and if you think the Etsy thing would work or has worked for you, please tell me how u did it

Thank you

TL;DR - These are the lessons I learned:
* We showed people this big, great SaaS - they told us all they wanted was a micro SaaS subset of it
* LinkedIn hates automation, but they're fine with content consumption

A while ago, the startup I was working at tasked me with building a process automation / AI agents framework. They tried n8n, Zapier and the usual candidates but didn't like them.

They liked the framework I built and thought about turning it into a product. So they started cold calling people to validate demand. The problem with cold calling: Most of the people you call aren't looking for a solution at the exact time you're calling them.

But one theme kept coming up: "Can we use this to automate find and contact leads?"

So, we built agents scraping LinkedIn for conversations where people were looking for what they had to offer. And it worked.

As it turns out, LinkedIn hates automation (automated posting, DMs etc.) and they take various measures against scraping (e.g. limiting profile search result count), but they're totally fine with content consumption. You won't get banned for scrolling the feed all day long - and neither will your AI agent.

So I built agents that do just that - and finds "warm" leads in the process.

I demoed it to a few more people and demo call gave me an idea. When I tried to explain to the other person how it worked: "Our agents are like a swarm of puffins scanning the ocean for fish - only the fish are your next customers."

And I thought, "wouldn't puffins make a fun landing page?". So I built prospectpuffin. Not because I set out to build a lead scraper. But because people kept asking for it. And because I like puffins. Let me know what you think.

I’ve been investing for a while and spend a lot of time studying business, wealth-building, and entrepreneurship. One thing I’ve noticed is that there is no shortage of advice online, but a lot of it seems outdated or disconnected from what people are actually experiencing in today’s market.
I’m curious what younger investors, entrepreneurs, and business owners are currently consuming and applying.
A few questions:
• What books have had the biggest impact on your investing or business decisions recently?
• Which podcasts do you listen to consistently, and why?
• What investing strategies are you actively using right now?
• What business growth strategies have produced real results for you?
• What advice did everyone say would work, but ended up being a waste of time or money?
• If you could go back 12 months, what would you tell yourself to focus on and what would you completely ignore?
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people building businesses, investing in stocks, real estate, cash-flow assets, side hustles, or any other wealth-building vehicles.
Looking forward to hearing what’s actually working in the real world versus what’s just popular on social media.