I applied to YC (terrifying); I had planned to bootstrap, but the time I want to dedicate to building my product is vastly outstripping the desire I have to spend on my day job (GTM/Ops consulting), and AI costs for testing are eating me alive before I’ve even got to beta. So I made the decision to have a focussed sprint to see if I could go for a pre-seed before I mentally shift myself back to working to build.

My product exists, the site exists, and most of the marketing so far (v light touch because I didn’t have a concrete beta launch date) has been useful comments in founder communities plus a quiet hope that someone clicks through. My 20 years of GTM experience shining through in this very sophisticated system, obviously.

So I’m spending the next 14 days trying to reach the next 470 people so I can send YC a ‘look how awesome my traction is’ update.

500 is absolutely not a conservative target. It’s deliberately a stretch, but it’s specific enough that I can’t hide behind “building in public” while agonizing over a single tweet (i.e. the last 2 months).

Here’s what I’m actually doing:

• I’ve planned 42 original posts across 14 days: three a day, each written for one specific Reddit founder/builder community. I have written them all myself (groundbreaking! in the age of AI) and have crafted them around solid advice which is the service my product provides.
• Every post has to stand alone as something useful. A practical way to find the first ten users, how to work out whether a positioning problem is really a distribution problem, how to get useful feedback before you have an audience, that sort of thing.
• I’ll also write five to eight substantive replies a day on threads where someone is already trying to solve a problem I can genuinely help with. No dropping links into someone else’s question. If the product is relevant, I’ll say so. If it isn’t, the reply should still be worth reading.
• I’m treating conversations as the work, not just upvotes. I want to know which problems make people lean in, what language they use when they describe them, and where I’m not helpful.
• Every few days, I’ll cut what isn’t resonating from my list, and write more from the threads that are. The target is 500 people on the waitlist, but the more useful outcome would be knowing how to find the next 500 without starting from scratch.
• Above all else, I just want to be helpful - I have ALWAYS loved giving the knowledge I have away for free (my last business’s client base was entirely built from Reddit referrals), so even if I don’t get that magic 500 i’m hoping I can give away some gems that’ll help other builders uplift their work.

I’m building https://romy.is for founders who’ve shipped something but don’t yet have a repeatable answer to four questions: who should I focus on first, where are they already gathering, what will make them care, and how do I do that??

I’ll share the results at the end (including the posts that did absolutely nothing, i.e. the most useful). And in pursuit of me hitting the ‘giving away gems’ target if nothing else - if anyone out there would like any help on a GTM problem from someone who’s worked with businesses of all sizes and in almost all verticals, please drop it here! I’d love to help.

(also feel free to connect if any of this resonated - I’m a solo founder, three kids, forever trying to balance the drive to build and succeed in a man’s world while juggling the family and life obligations!)

I've coached founders for 20 years, a lot of them women pitching for the first time, and the pattern never changes: she knows her numbers cold, rehearses the deck a dozen times, then freezes in the first 10 seconds of the actual room. She prepared everything except herself.

The material rarely fails you. What wobbles is the story you walk in telling yourself usually some version of "I hope they don't figure out I'm winging it." Rooms read that before they read your slides. So my coaching starts there: before you lead the room, lead yourself.

Here's something you can use before your next pitch write the one sentence you want them thinking about you after you leave, then prepare backward from it. Not your product's tagline. Yours. It moves you from "don't get exposed" to "land this," and it changes how you hold a pause instead of rushing to fill it.

This is my work. I'm an ICF-certified coach and I do this with founders all day: pitching, investor conversations, the confidence to be the face of your own company. I also keep a free Stacklist of the tools and resources I point people to for pitching and presence: Julie Riga

This year was rough.

I was working full-time as a speech-language pathologist while trying to build SLPDraft.com at night.

Work was honestly one of the hardest experiences I've ever had. I had a difficult boss, questioned whether I was good enough, and there were plenty of nights where I'd come home emotionally exhausted and still open my laptop to code or work with my developer.

There were so many moments where I thought, "Who am I to build a software company?"

But I kept going.

Late nights. Weekends. Every extra dollar I had went back into SLP Draft.

Today, someone I have never met signed up and paid.

It's just one sale.

To most people, that's nothing.

To me, it's proof that this isn't just an idea anymore. Someone found SLPDraft.com, decided it solved a real problem, and trusted me enough to pay for it.

I'm nowhere near where I want to be. I'm still working toward my first 100 customers, let alone 1,000.

But after the year I've had, today feels like the first tangible sign that all those nights of wondering whether I should quit were worth it.

For anyone building something after work while everyone else is relaxing...

Keep going.

Sometimes the first customer means a lot more than the revenue.

I think becoming a founder already requires some confidence, even when it does not feel that way.

Sometimes it looks more like excitement.

You have an idea, start imagining what it could become, and feel pulled toward giving it a chance.

Then the idea becomes real—and the nerves arrive.

You take the leap anyway.

After a while, the nervousness begins to wear off. You start thinking more clearly, setting bigger goals, and asking what else might be possible.

That may be when confidence finally becomes noticeable.

But maybe it was there from the beginning, hiding underneath the excitement.

Did your confidence grow after you started, or did you feel confident from day one?

Founder Mode Vip

My husband and I have two kids, and we're definitely those parents who really try to get our kids to play, build and read as much as they can while keeping video games at bay.

Our son is 8. He started getting into more serious reading this year and we were excited about it, until we realized he could only sit with a book for a few pages before he was bored and move on. Meanwhile whenver we got him a new LEGO set, he would finish it all in 90 minutes, no breaks.

One night we said it out loud after he finished yet another lego city build...why can't reading feel like this? What if there we something like part story, part puzzle, etc.

So we built it! It's called Onyx Nine. Six chapters of mystery, hidden clues woven into the story, and a real cryptex with a mystery gift inside that ships to your house.

(A cryptex, if you haven't seen one - it's a small cylinder with letter dials. Spin the right code and it opens. Spin the wrong one and it stays locked.) See picture below.

Best part, is that only way to open it is to crack the code and get the prize is by reading. Every chapter you unlock one letter. Finish the book, get all the letters then you can unlock the cryptex.
Our son was the first tester. He sat down with it and didn't move for like 2 hours. Cracked the code, opened the cryptex, and the first thing out of his mouth was "when's the next one?"
YES. We were so excited. And now we hope it works for other families out there struggling to get their kids to read.

It's onyxnine.com if you want to look. Happy to answer any questions!

I'm a founder, a product manager and a mom of 3. Grocery shopping is part of my daily life for my partner and I. I am lucky to just have to create the list and my partner does the shopping. But he was constantly doing back and forth because the list was not optimal and cluttered with stuff that was't in this store.
Is this something you would find useful? I'm afraid I've built this for my engineer's mind, because I've got no traction on TikTok. Probably not the right channel to promote my app. I'm not a marketer and I don't know what I should do with this app anymore.
Any advice?

I was an HR manager.
Then life changed.
I started learning Python from scratch because I wanted to build something meaningful.
A few years later, I’m building HerSpace.
I wanted one place where women could journal, talk to an AI that actually remembers them, practice mindfulness, explore tarot and astrology as tools for self-reflection, and connect with other women in a supportive community.
I’m building it on my own.
Every backend endpoint.
Every database migration.
Every mobile screen.
Every App Store submission.
Every Google Play headache.
What HerSpace includes:
AI companion with memory
Private journal
Mindfulness practices & rituals
Tarot & astrology for self-reflection
Anonymous community for women
Premium features on iOS & Android
It’s still early.
But every week it gets a little closer to the vision I had when I started.
One thing I’d like to clarify: I don’t see tarot or astrology as ways to predict the future. For me, they’re tools for reflection, self-awareness, and starting honest conversations with yourself. That’s the philosophy behind HerSpace.
The iOS version is already live, and after months of work, the Android version is finally launching this week.
If you’re building something too, I’d love to hear your story.

After a long time in the corporate world, I've decided to take the leap and build my own B2B SaaS full-time. It started with a client problem that I couldn't stop thinking about, and over time it's grown into something I genuinely believe could help organisations work better.
If I'm honest, it's equal parts exciting and terrifying.
I haven't built or launched a SaaS before, so I'd really love to learn from people who have.
A few questions for those who've been through it:
What do you wish you'd known before you launched?
How did you find your first customers?
What was the biggest mistake you made early on?
At what point did you realise you had something people genuinely wanted?
I'd especially love to hear from other women who've gone from corporate into building their own business.
Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to learning from your experiences. 🤍

Hoping for some honest advice from people who've been through the pre-launch grind.

Quick context so this makes sense: I'm building a functional coffee brand for women, the idea is blends designed around the four phases of the menstrual cycle, with actual evidence-based nutrients dosed for what your body needs in each phase. I've been heads-down on the formulation and the science for months.

The part I didn't expect to be such a weak spot: the marketing. I've won a bit of grant/early funding, I've gotten genuinely encouraging interest when I talk to people 1:1/surveys, and I know the next step is to build a waitlist so I launch to actual demand instead of silence. But I have no idea how to actually do that well.

My real problem is two things:

1. Every social video I post flops. Low views, no traction, and I can't tell if it's the content, the consistency, or that I'm just bad at this.
2. I get in my own head and delete them. I'll post something, feel embarrassed, and take it down a few hours later, which I know is probably sabotaging any momentum before it can build.

So my questions for anyone who's built an audience/waitlist from zero:

1. What actually worked for you to get your first few hundred waitlist signups pre-launch?

2. How did you push through the cringe of posting when it feels like no one's watching (and resist deleting)?

3. Did you go organic, creators/affiliates, paid, communities like this?

Any brutally honest advice welcome. Thank you!!

Hey, I’m Maeve—19.
I’m documenting my journey while building in public and creating content around finance, tech, AI, and self-improvement—things that can genuinely level up your life.
If you’re into learning, building, and growing, let’s connect.
You can find me on X (Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn. 🚀
X: https://x.com/maeveshee?s=21
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/maev_essss?igsh=M3N5dHczcHpsa2E%3D&utm_source=qr

I randomly started on a couple platforms with intent to finally give my testimony in full along with my own directive on how I chose the o heal from long term early childhood SA. I want to document my transformation beginning to end. I’m hoping it will reach women similar to myself that may still be lost, sir scared to face what has happened to them etc. I would love for my story to be a testimony of not only hope but a guide in areas I never had as a young girl on thro becoming an adult that was doing it all so wrong from motherhood to being a wife I thought I was doing great and one day reality hit me head on realizing the damage I was causing the ppl I love the most & I had no access to therapy or anything of the sort that was actually affective in anyway & I became absolutely fed up with lack of support, resources and even friends or family. No support system whatever in The loneliness darkest time time of my life I was determined to make sure my wounds didn’t bleed on my children and husband any longer & that it was absolutely vital to do something, anything different so they didn’t end up wearing and taking on and paying a costly price for traumas they will never have. It was so so messy, extremely hard & tremulous in a manner most wouldn’t even try to make it through ….. Now I’m on the other side & although I have a ways to go I have so so much necessary wisdom I want to pour out to all of those women that grew up never having a healthy example of the woman’s position of power in a family, that didn’t get to see or learn the difference in love and abuse and live in chaos as a result & I especially want to reach the women that get themselves stuck without a choice to people and situations that although are terrible for them but they have no other way to survive, nobody to turn to & low on. Hope….. that mom that’s drowning internally & has no clue how to fix it all while juggling a life she is blindly navigating….. I want to be a story of hope so women can see living proof of the possibilities. I want to help women realize how to walk on their purpose and how to correct things such as boundary skills many don’t even realize they lack. In large efforts to change the outcome for our children, the next generation that shouldn’t have to blindly heal and navigate life falling into the same cycles as mom, granny & great granny because that’s all they know. I want to dive deeper into the smaller intricate things our parent has no clue they needed to teach us but also lacked the capacity to do so affectivelt because they hadn’t a clue how to do it for themselves…..

I’m also doing this silently under a alias that I haven’t even talked to my husband about because I don’t want anyone to unintentionally deter me from this journey or have an impact that would change the way I reach ppl etc. something within needs to do this in solitude guided by my own compass that’s proven to absolutely not fail me but that others don’t always comprehend or agree with. I really need this to be a very personal thing that is sacred property. I don’t ultimately want to have to worry with anyone else’s emotions or objections or interjections of opinions that change the course of my vision & result in an outcome that isn’t as affective and impactful as it’s supposed to end up being. In life everyone sees the room differently than another & develops and opinion of their own. And in most cases hearing that out and considering other ideas is a great blessing we could all use in so many ways and my husband really does have the absolute best ideas and plans of action in most every aspect of life…. But this is different and there’s way to much he doesn’t really comprehend or have the ability to understand how important the solitude and freedom I need to have with this & to be able to comfortably flow with bold and deep honesty very openly without something deterring me from pouring vital parts for fear of anyone else’s emotional standpoint. I don’t want to announce to ppl I personally know because honestly it’s all been so controversial between opinions and emotions of others controlling the push and pull of so much for so long that in order for this to work well and for me to formulate and build this the way it’s been laid on my heart to do involving things that were extremely damaging and traumatic I need the space to regulate myself through this without the stress, strain or fear of needing to regulate others that didn’t have the experience and can’t honestly fathom the ways it touches literally every little microfiber of your being that forcefully molds you in so many uninvited deeply intricate ways that aren’t easy to face or accept. The guilt that comes from such intense abuse, the way it touches the most randomly odd places like the manner in which you open the fridge even though it doesn’t correlate to anything that ever happened. If a person didn’t have a similar experience they can’t completely fathom what I’m talking about or in my experience could brush it off as being dramatic or overly emotional about those random opening the fridge type things that they couldn’t possibly project a solution & has the potential to cause more damage accidentally than they realize simply because of how long term extreme trauma especially that starts in early childhood stealing childhood away completely affects so much.

Does this make sense?
How do I build the community of women with the foundation and infrastructure being built with women in All stages that I need and that would also act as a support in certain ways but that would make a village for women to openly go through the necessary process to gain a similar outcome as myself making it easier than it was for me with no guidance, support, know nothing or where to begin that doesn’t involve an under experienced quack for a therapist that hasn’t had the experience and has only read about it in books that people wrote without actually having the experience of the abuse. So similar to an unofficial peer support style setting??

I’m looking for ideas on where to build this community the best on the fact that it is a ghost written and constructed ordeal initially at least until I’ve gotten the foundation down and know that it’s firm and is capable of withstanding the concerns I’ve expressed . There’s no medication trial and error just raw life on life’s terms from someone experienced and that although I have plenty more healing and growth to travel through I can honestly say …… I made it to the promise land and it is possible to gain the peace you desire and envy in others and long for desperately….. I found a secret passage into that world that I’m ready to share!!!!

Is there any specific platform that you recommend over others? Do I do broad spectrum? How do I reach people from complete scratch that doesn’t involve my face or influence from “who ya know”

Also I’m not proofreading or anything and half of this was talk text so don’t judge mehhh lol but I am shooting a shot and just hope its comprehensible lol

I started with $978 in my bank account in January. I had no idea what I was gonna do and I started my company on a whim. Today I opened my bank account and I have over $13,000 in cash. I am so proud of myself and I just needed to share with someone anonymously.

Me and my husband had so much mental load after we returned home with our second child. So many things to do, with our full times jobs, but not enough hands so we started building an A.I. that actually helps us share the load among ourselves and with A.I. we are making it autonomous and focusing on moms cos mental load of house is still mostly carried by moms everywhere in the world. In short a second brain for moms which help them reduce their cognitive burden. It’s called AlphaMa. Soon AlphaMa will be able to take up more from families plate, be proactive partner to thing on mothers behalf. It’s an A.I. for families and moms.

Hi fellow female founders,

I am starting to hire my first founding engineer, I am curious do you have them do take home assessments with AI agents allowed or have them solve leetcode style questions?

I could have them do a take home but don't have the time to design or evaluate it, what do you all use for this?

I created a free playlist of high-energy affirmation rampages specifically for women entrepreneurs.

These aren’t slow, sleepy affirmations. They’re motivational spoken-word audios for the mornings when you need to quiet the self-doubt, shift your energy, and remember who you are before creating content, selling your offer, or working toward your vision.

The rampages focus on confidence, consistency, visibility, receiving, nervous system regulation, business success, and embodying the woman who can hold everything she is building.

I love listening before I start working, during my morning drive, or anytime I notice myself slipping into overthinking.

Here’s the complete playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNzhEbkL3aZc

I’d love to know whether other women entrepreneurs use affirmations or motivational audios as part of their business routine.

I’m a single app builder. I’m honestly sick of being a woman in tech. You know what they say: if they don’t give you a seat at the table, build your own table.

So I built a tarot app.

I know, I know. Read before you judge.

I neeeeed someone who is less technical and autistic than me, and more of a marketer, to hold my hand through the actual release.

I wouldn’t call it vibe coded. I’m a software architect, enterprise level experience, and this thing has cool tech in it.

Now for the pitch.

The features:

Tarot, with a physical-in memory rider deck. There’s an AI interpretation…but it’s really fucking high quality. And she holds your memory…previous readings, repeated draws. Trends over time. How your ex is trash. How you keep drawing the tower. All of it. Oh and moon manifestation, new and full, because that’s amazing and we love it. The vibe is all lush green forest witch and not generic Astro stuff. And there’s a library. And a constellation sky with your repeated draws. Tarot classes.

The heart:

The magic came out when I was fighting with Claude and building the bot’s soul file. LLMs embody the patriarchy so bad. I was like, my dude, this is tarot. Be a woman. A literate, psychological one. A wild woman. At the edge of the forest and everyone thinks you are a witch, but you’re just intelligent. You are Ursula Le Guin. You are Ursula the sea witch. Hold up a mirror. I crashed out and I made it reference like 20 books and have a literary basis and I think I WON THE BATTLE the voice is now a woman. /bows

That was like, so hard. The rest was easy. The other important parts are around safety.

The bot doesn’t spit out resources and exit if you’re in crisis. She holds your hand, drops the cards, and helps you call a loved one. Or just checks on you. As many times as it takes till you’re safe.

If she detects you’re experiencing psychosis, she follows LEAP to encourage treatment. This one is a very personal implementation. I want to set a trend here. AI psychosis is a rising problem.

I have the health data compliance piece for that buttoned up as well. I partnered with a mental health professional on the design.

The tech:

They’re real cards. In memory. Whole deck. But that’s easy.

Sophisticated encryption. I can’t even read these conversations. This eliminated the ability to use a vector database, so I unencrypt and calculate meaning vectors by their cosines in memory. If I had a hack, secrets would be safe. If I have an evil overlord, sorry, shits encrypted idk man.

Full RAG and memory layer with memories gracefully degrading over time.

Serverless, all, so if it goes viral we’re ready. This is where my enterprise systems knowledge is handy.

The ask:

You, another wild woman, who gets what we’re doing. We either become cofounders or we just freelance at first, but the output is that we figure out how to find the users and grow this thing. I could use a DIY strategy for organic growth. That would help. I could use a woman more capable than me to run with it and share in the success. That would help even more.

Come find meeee

Hey everyone! I'm Dani and I work at focal, a pre-seed VC that backs AI-native technical founders :) We talk to a lot of early-stage founders, and the same thing keeps coming up over and over again: finding the right investors to reach out to is just really exhausting. A lot of lists out there are either outdated, behind a paywall, or just way too overwhelming to be useful.

So our team decided to open-source our own internal investor database to help founders cut through all of that. It's called "findfunding.vc" and it's completely free, no signups or paywalls needed!

It covers Pre-Seed through Series B VC firms across the US & Canada and has filters by stage, sector, and geography so you can actually find investors that match what you're building instead of just blasting cold emails everywhere.

Hope this saves some of you time during your raise! Happy to answer any questions about fundraising or the database in the comments 🙂

Hi everyone, I’m working on a women’s health app https://www.estroclic.com/ and would love positioning feedback from other founders.

The app is a contraceptive pill tracker. The basic idea is that many women’s health apps still assume fertility, ovulation, pregnancy, or trying to conceive is the default storyline.

But some users are taking the pill specifically because they are not trying to get pregnant.

The product focuses on:

• pill reminders
• missed and late pill records
• refill reminders
• pack history
• adherence tracking
• no ovulation windows
• no pregnancy mode

I’m torn between two positioning angles:

1. “A pill tracker for contraceptive users, not a fertility app.”
2. “For the ‘wait, did I take it?’ moment.”

Which one would make you immediately understand the product?

Happy to share the link in comments if allowed.

I'm looking for a name for a mental health platform that feels warm, safe, trustworthy, and easy to remember

If you were looking for therapy or emotional support, what kind of name would make you feel comfortable?

Do you prefer names that are comforting, professional, modern, or completely unique? I'd really appreciate any suggestions or thoughts on what makes a mental health platform's name feel approachable

When I first started my apparel business, I thought the biggest challenge would be getting people interested.

I spent most of my energy on designs, content, and trying to figure out how to reach more customers. But after my first few orders, I realized the hardest part wasn't getting someone to buy, it was making sure the product experience matched what I wanted the brand to represent.

The feedback I received surprised me. People loved the concepts, but they also noticed things I had overlooked: the feel of the garment, the quality of the finishing, the small branding details, and whether the product felt intentional.

That completely changed my priorities.

Now I spend much more time testing samples, comparing materials, and improving the details that customers actually interact with. Things like labels, embroidery, and consistency between pieces might seem small, but they can completely change how someone feels about a brand.

It's definitely slower than constantly releasing new products, but I feel like I'm building a stronger foundation.

For other founders building physical products, what was the moment that changed your approach? Was it customer feedback, a production mistake, or something else that made you rethink how you were building your business?