Building out a roadmap for a browser-based tools site and want to add
what's actually missing, not just guess.
What's something you find yourself needing regularly — file conversion,
calculation, generation, whatever — where every option is paid, clunky,
or makes you sign up just to try it?
Not pitching anything, genuinely collecting ideas.
Hey everyone, I’m looking for advice from founders who have gone from building a product to growing it and potentially raising funding.
I’ve spent the last 1.5–2 years building a software product from scratch. It’s fully functional, and I’ve personally been using it actively for the past 6–8 months, continuing to improve it based on real use and feedback.
There’s a small group of early users, and the feedback has been encouraging. They’ve told me they can’t imagine going back to managing their daily routines without it. It started with a problem I experienced myself, so seeing it make other people’s lives easier has been the most rewarding part.
I recognize that enthusiasm from a small group isn’t the same as proving a business at scale. That’s where I’m looking for guidance.
I’m keeping the name and product details private for now because I’m here for advice, rather than promotion.
My questions are:
For anyone who’s been through this, what would you focus on next, and what would you avoid?
I’m comfortable building and improving the product. Getting it in front of the right people and figuring out the business side is the next challenge. Would appreciate hearing from people who have made that transition.
Thanks
I am interested in relocating with my family and starting a small business with decent returns.
Doesn't matter, if it is South America, Africa, Asia or Europe, but the opportunity has to be better, and there should be ease of doing business as a foreigner.
Please feel free to share your suggestions!
I'm a software engineer, and I've realized that I keep repeating the same pattern with businesses I start.
I'm very comfortable building the product. I can design the architecture, write the software, launch the website, build the mobile app, add features, and keep improving it.
But then I get to the part where I actually need people to pay for it, and that's where I struggle.
My current business is a tech learning platform aimed at software engineers and people preparing for technical interviews and certifications. I've built a web app and mobile app with interview practice, technical lessons, communication practice, and other learning tools.
The product exists. The problem is distribution.
I don't have much traffic, I don't have an audience large enough to reliably generate customers, and paid users are basically nonexistent right now.
I'm starting to realize that continuing to build features is probably the easiest thing for me to do, but not necessarily the thing the business needs.
For entrepreneurs who were also builders first:
How did you go from "I built something" to consistently getting your first 10, 50, or 100 paying customers?
Did you focus on cold outreach, content, YouTube, SEO, paid advertising, partnerships, communities, or something else?
And at what point did you realize you had a product problem versus simply a distribution/sales problem?
I'm especially interested in hearing from technical founders who had to learn sales and marketing after years of focusing mostly on engineering.
I am looking for answers that are beyond the basic productivity increase like (Claude, chatGPT etc.)
Are there significant gains or just incremental gains?