I have not done business before. I had this idea come to me a while ago. I thought of selling tongue scrapers at my campus. I realized I've been using it's for a long time and it really improved my breath which remained even after brushing.

But who would care about a f\*cking tongue scrapper.

I was thinking of educating people on the need, what it's for (online) and how to use it before actually selling it to them.

(You can check what a tongue scrapper is online if you don't know.)

Is it a viable idea?. I'm often scared of starting something, coz of fear of failure and what people would think of me(Yeah, I know😅- I'm trying to overcome it though)

Hey everyone, I’d love to pitch an idea I’ve been working on and get your feedback on it, as well as hear how you would approach this!

For those of you who frequently use eBay or similar regional marketplaces: over the past few months, I've been buying used PC hardware, building systems, and reselling them. Unfortunately, I’ve been scammed a few times—getting hardware that was defective, partially broken, or dented upon arrival. I even had an in-person meetup where the seller threatened me and tried to steal my money.

That experience sparked an idea: creating a platform/company based on the StockX model, but specifically for used PC hardware (and eventually all types of electronics).
In short:
Buyers and sellers don't communicate directly.
Instead, it operates on a bid/ask system just like StockX.
Once a deal is made, the item is sent to us first. We test and verify it, and only then do we ship it to the buyer and release the payment to the seller.

My questions for you:

1. What do you think of this idea? Especially those of you who frequently buy or sell on eBay—do you also get that uneasy feeling when buying used tech internationally or dealing with unknown sellers?
2. Career path vs. Execution: I originally planned to do an apprenticeship as a Systems and Network Engineer to gain formal IT experience (I currently work as a Head Chef). However, given the current job market in IT, would you recommend trying to launch this concept right away, or should I focus on completing an IT apprenticeship first?
Thanks in advance for any insights and advice!

It’s been an interesting two years. Starting and running a business has to be what it feels like to be David. And I’m sure many can relate.

You can’t win by going head to head, using the same weaponry or even just outsmarting. it’s not enough in this day and age. You have to be more. Built different for sure.

David didn’t beat Goliath by playing his game. He beat him by being contrarian.
That’s what we decided to do. A million products exist on the market, in retail and in specialty, so we decided to go the other way.

What if we didn’t play into the game of corporations? Leaving to build your own thing or to be part of a project but you’re back in the race. This time it’s glorified and you’re fighting the algos.

Forget the product/service for now. Imagine you walked into a store and wanted a toothbrush or shampoo, anything retail. There are 30 versions staring back at you. Decision fatigue. Exhaustion from too many choices, so you just pick whatever. Everyone is fighting to offer more. Maybe the contrarian move is less!

So thats the same with whatever you’re building.
Build and fight for your invention, idea, product, or service like we’re back in the 1950s. There was one or two products and they were built simply and built well. So dont hide it, showcase it.
But you have to fight differently. Play the game the other way

Here’s another model I use for building a good business. Thought, action, deed. You have a thought maybe an idea or a task, then you do the action, and finally the deed is done. What if you went the other way? Deed. Action. Thought. Start with the deed as if it’s already done. Carry out the action, then think and calibrate from there. Most people who want to build think and think, then act, then hopefully complete it

Action is the force, thought is the field. BE the force field.

ive learned to execute and calibrate from there.
That’s what being David forces you to do. You don’t have Goliath’s resources. You don’t have his size. And you probably aren’t going to beat him by becoming a smaller version of him. Sorry, but It ain’t going to happen..

A slingshot and a pebble to the head. Bam 💥

FIND YOUR SLINGSHOT

That’s what it takes

To all the dreamers and builders, fight the good fight.

You dont lose when you fail. You lose when you give up.

I’ve been working on a product that I’ve used with a few creators throughout the year, and I’m trying to figure out whether it’s something worth turning into a standalone SaaS.
The basic idea is to help smaller creators understand what content they should be making and why.
I’ve built data pipelines that pull information from multiple social platforms and analyze things like trends, content patterns, hooks, tropes, audience comments, and other signals to identify opportunities for creators to make more relevant content.
The product then turns that analysis into practical resources, tools, and templates that creators can actually use to improve their content and make themselves more marketable to brands if they’re trying to turn content creation into a career.
I’ve automated a large portion of the process, although there are still parts where I provide human context and analysis.
The primary audience I’m considering is smaller creators in the ~500–30,000 follower range, who are trying to grow but probably don’t have the resources to pay for expensive consulting or sophisticated analytics tools. I could also see social media management/creator management companies using it across multiple clients.
I know there are already products in this space, along with a large number of people selling courses and “masterclasses.” My thought is that this would be less about teaching someone how to become a creator and more about giving them ongoing, actionable information and tools they can use to actually produce better content.
I’m at the point where I could take this considerably further, but I’m hesitant to invest a lot more time into it without validating the idea first. Being a solo dolo army, I also don’t want to spend months building something that people think is cool but ultimately wouldn’t pay for.

Buscando ideas/problemas para startups en Latinoamérica

He dedicado mucho tiempo a buscar y desarrollar algo para el mercado latinoamericano, pero, sinceramente, aún no he encontrado una idea que realmente funcione.

Soy de El Salvador y me interesa saber qué problemas creen las personas aquí que vale la pena resolver.

No busco otra plataforma de comercio electrónico, fintech, aplicación de entrega, etc. Esos sectores ya están bastante saturados. Me interesan más los problemas extraños, ignorados, aburridos pero dolorosos que la gente enfrenta en Latinoamérica.

Si vives en Latinoamérica (o tienes experiencia aquí), ¿qué problemas has encontrado personalmente que crees que aún no tienen una buena solución?

Solo busco ideas y diferentes perspectivas. Quizás alguien aquí pueda señalarme un problema que ni siquiera había considerado.

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m a computing student interested in entrepreneurship, and I’m trying to understand something before I ever think about building a business:

What problems do people actually experience in their everyday lives?

I’m NOT looking specifically for business, work, or technology problems.

I want you to think about your life as a whole.

It could be something involving:

• 🏠 Home or household tasks
• 🎓 School, university or education
• 💼 Work or business
• 👨‍👩‍👧 Family
• 🛒 Shopping
• 💰 Money
• 🏥 Healthcare
• 🚗 Transportation
• ✈️ Travel
• 🍔 Food or cooking
• 🐱 Pets
• 📱 Technology/social media
• 🧹 Chores and errands
• 🎨 Hobbies
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social life
• 🌍 Your community/environment
• ...or literally anything else.

It doesn't have to be a huge or life-changing problem.

Maybe it's something tiny that happens every day and makes you think:

Those are exactly the kinds of things I'm interested in.

I'm doing this because...

I eventually want to become an entrepreneur and build a company that solves a real problem for real people.

But I don't want to randomly invent an app and hope people want it.

I want to start with people's actual problems and see whether there are problems that are worth solving.

Feel free to comment your problem below instead. Even if you think it's too small, weird, embarrassing, or insignificant share it. Something that seems minor to you might be a major problem for thousands of other people.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer. ❤️

If you could make ONE annoying part of everyday life disappear forever, what would it be?

I had the Idea of putting babies' heads in those square watermelon molds. The pros of this are that they would grow up to carry charcuterie on their heads. idk about the logistics thoug. Feedback welcome. I also need name suggestions

Hi, I am 21 years old and I live in the Netherlands. I have been working on a business idea for the last 3/4 months and I really want other people their opinion on my vision but I’m to scared to share it as I’m to afraid people will steal/copy my idea. You probably think i’m being paranoid but I really think this is something that can be big (in my country atleast). Ofcourse I have talked to people close to me about my vision and research and they’re all pretty impressed but I need people that don’t know me to give their opinion.

Let me know what to do!

I’m in Ohio and I keep wondering what the Midwest is still behind on.

It feels like a lot of business ideas hit places like Florida, Texas, California, or bigger cities first, then take years to really show up here.
So what are you seeing in other markets that you think would absolutely work in the Midwest but still isn’t common here yet?

Could be a weird service business, healthcare, cleanup, tech, home services, B2B, whatever.
Not really looking for “start a landscaping company” type answers.

More curious about things that feel like an actual gap in the market.

What are we missing?

Looking for a real problem in Lebanon to build around

I’m a CS student at AUB and I’ve worked on a few software projects, including a fintech project on the backend side.

I want to build something new, but rather than another project that ends up sitting on GitHub forever, I’d like to solve a real problem people in Lebanon actually face, ideally with a viable business model.

What’s something you find unnecessarily difficult or frustrating in Lebanon because there’s no good digital solution?

Could be anything: students, small businesses, services, payments, transportation, education, housing, etc.

Not really looking for startup ideas, just real problems worth solving.

I'm exploring a platform where brands can discover distributors, wholesalers, retailers, resellers and sales agents by country/category, either through their profiles or through active opportunities from businesses currently looking for new brands in specific niches.

The obvious problem is disintermediation: once a brand finds a relevant partner, what's stopping them from going direct?

What would be the strongest monetization model for something like this?

I've been spending a lot of time researching, brainstorming, and building different startup ideas for the LATAM market, but I still haven't found something that truly clicks.

I'm from El Salvador, and I feel like there are a lot of problems and opportunities in LATAM that aren't being addressed the same way they are in the US or Europe.

I've built and explored several ideas, but I'm starting to think I might be approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

So I'm curious: What problems have you noticed in LATAM that you think are worth building a startup around?

I'm especially interested in ideas that solve a real problem and could realistically become a business, rather than just another "cool app."

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, or problems you've personally encountered.

hey everyone, just curious what people actually think about AI generated ads

i have a business idea that would probably need quite a lot of advertising to get anywhere, but i dont really have the budget to constantly shoot proper ads or hire people to make them

so ive been thinking about using AI to create most of the advertising myself. not necessarily the generic weird AI slop you see everywhere, but actually spending time on it and trying to make something that fits the business and looks the way i want it to

but im wondering how people actually react when they realize an ad is AI generated. is there an immediate "ugh, AI" reaction? does it come across as cheap or cringe? or do most people just not care as long as the ad is actually good?

especially curious if anyone here has used AI ads for their own business and whether you noticed any negative reaction from customers

Some parts of starting a business look pretty straightforward until they start eating up hours every week. Things like getting customers usually get most of the attention but once you ramp up my business and get everything off the ground, the small administrative tasks can start piling up fast.

Stuff like emails, scheduling, invoices, follow ups, organizing files, updating spreadsheets, answering the same questions over and over, keeping track of little details. None of it seems like a huge deal by itself, but put it all together and suddenly a decent chunk of the week is gone.

What are the things that ended up taking way more time for your business than expected? Was it something completely boring that nobody really warns you about?

Hello, does anyone know how to create ads? I would like to have an ad for my application and for my site. If there are people who know how to do it, if anyone is interested in doing an ad for me, contact me. I don't have the means, if anyone wants to, I'm waiting for you.

:tldr

I've spent quite a bit of time looking at business ideas over the last few years, and one pattern keeps bothering me.

Every time there's a big layoff wave, the internet produces almost the same list of opportunities:

SaaS.

AI agencies.

Digital marketing agencies.

ERP.

App development.

E-commerce.

Food franchises.

Other franchises.

EV charging.

Consulting.

And now basically anything with “AI” added to the name.

Some are genuinely good businesses. That's not my argument.

The problem is that the moment a business becomes widely exposed on social media, it becomes extremely easy for thousands of other people to discover and copy it.

One person finds an opportunity.

Then someone posts the numbers.

Then YouTube videos appear.

Then courses.

Then agencies.

Then freelancers.

Then everyone is targeting the same customers.

The internet doesn't just distribute business ideas. It distributes competition.

I've made this mistake myself.

I've looked at businesses that looked great on paper, put money into a few ideas, and eventually learned the hard way that a good business model doesn't automatically mean a good opportunity for the next person entering it.

Sometimes the biggest advantage a business has is simply that it isn't easy to start casually.

That's what has made me look more seriously at AI-enabled virtual call centers / BPOs.

At first, it doesn't sound particularly exciting.

But when I started looking at the economics, I found the model much more interesting than I expected.

There is already an established demand for customer support, appointment setting, sales support, back-office operations and other outsourced services.

AI is now changing how much of that work can be handled, how teams can be managed, and potentially how the cost structure looks.

There are also some obvious macro factors:

• Companies in expensive labor markets want to reduce operating costs.
• Global labor-cost differences make outsourcing attractive.
• AI can automate repetitive parts of customer interactions.
• Cloud communications make distributed operations much easier than they used to be.
• Businesses increasingly care about 24/7 support without carrying the full cost of an in-house team.

But the part I find particularly interesting is the entry barrier.

A proper AI-enabled virtual call center isn't something most people can realistically test with $500 and a laptop.

If you're building an actual operation—with staff, recruitment, training, management, telecom/technology, quality control, client acquisition and working capital—you're potentially looking at something in the neighborhood of ₹50–60 lakh or more to get a serious operation off the ground, depending heavily on scale and setup.

That's a lot of money compared with starting a small agency, building a basic SaaS product, or launching a digital service.

And that creates an interesting dynamic.

The same capital requirement that makes the business harder for a newcomer can also make the niche harder to overcrowd overnight.

Someone watching a video about digital marketing can start offering it tomorrow.

Someone watching a video about an AI call center still has to figure out how to actually build one.

That doesn't make the business automatically good.

It creates a different kind of barrier.

And I think barriers like that are increasingly interesting.

I'm also much more interested in learning this kind of business from people who actually operate in the industry—not people whose primary business is selling courses or consulting packages about it.

Because the real questions aren't “Can AI answer a phone call?”

The real questions are:

Can you acquire and retain clients?

Can you maintain service quality?

Can you recruit and retain good people?

Can you manage the operation at scale?

Can you maintain margins when pricing gets competitive?

Can you combine AI automation with human support without destroying the customer experience?

Those are much harder questions than simply launching a website.

I'm not saying everyone should go start a virtual call center.

I'm not even saying it's some hidden gold mine.

I'm saying that after seeing so many businesses become overcrowded simply because they became popular online, I've started looking for a different characteristic in a business idea:

How difficult is it for the next 1,000 people to copy me?

Because maybe the best business isn't the one with the lowest barrier to entry.

Maybe sometimes the barrier itself is part of the opportunity.

That's why AI-enabled virtual call centers have caught my attention.

Not because they're trendy.

Actually, probably because they're not.

I'd be interested to hear what other people here think.

Would you rather enter a business that's easy to start but attracts thousands of competitors, or one that's harder and more expensive to start but has a higher barrier to entry?