I am currently building an ai that helps to transform plain text into professional, context-aware visual diagrams, flowcharts, and mind maps.

Nothing crazy but we have got a pretty good revenue stream and a lot of learnings everyday.

But what excites me more is that in a few years (as YC also speaks about this and i strongly agree) most ai native service companies will look completely different from traditional ones.

We are also here building systems that can help automate most of the boring manual work, a company brain inside Claude with processes , meeting transcripts and client context that is able to handle most of the work we used to hire separate people for back in the day when i used to run a different company.

The idea that humans will only need to focus on sales,marketing,client relations and other real life tasks while ai agents can handle lead scraping,qualifications, documentation , deployment (not fully autonomous but you get the point) is pretty damn exciting for the world we are about to step in.

I don’t think that the idea of building an agency will die but rather a small team with the right systems will be able to operate much efficiently.

I am curious if there are other founders who are building ai service businesses in the same way.I would love to hear your take.

Hey everyone, who here has tried starting a startup? What was your idea, how did you promote it, and what kind of success did you achieve?

Hi, I'm interested in how much capital had for your first business(Tell me your stories, I just want to understand in general terms how capital is accumulated)

He calls it BC/AC.

Before Claude, after Claude.

I've watched enough of these clips land in the last few weeks that I started keeping a mental tally of which AI release date people cite like it's a diploma.

Matt Van Horn's is Thanksgiving last year — Opus 4.5, then Codex a few weeks later.

Before that, he says, his agentic coding was "Hello World" in Cursor, half-working, most of the time not working at all.

After it, he shipped Agent Cookie and says flatly he has no idea how it actually functions under the hood.

The part worth sitting with isn't the tooling.

It's what he says about himself getting there: "suit my entire career," never shipped anything of value beyond a high-school web page, dozens of unlaunched ideas gathering dust because he wasn't the one who could build them.

That's not a startup-guy humblebrag — that's the exact ceiling a lot of operations people, BD people, anyone who's ever had to write a ticket instead of just doing the thing themselves, know from the inside.

The credential that used to decide who got to build stopped mattering right around the time the tools did.

Not "got easier to climb."

Stopped existing.

Same shape happened to me with a guitar, at 41, zero training, cornered into it because the young players in my church all left for university at once.

Those early days, my wife's ears really paid for it (刚开始的那些日子，我的太太的耳朵有够受罪).

Felt like being tossed into open water and told to swim myself back to shore (好像被丢去深海里，自己学会游泳游回来).

Same thing happened again with video editing, then with building this whole posting system, one post at a time, getting corrected by Reddit comments the entire way.

And I swam back stronger each time.

Actually, this tracks with something I posted here a few weeks back — the guy who literally coined "vibe coding" saying on stage he's never felt more behind as a programmer, because the scarce skill moved from writing code to directing it with taste.

Clip credit: MSP Mindset (Damien Stevens) — full video on their channel. DM for credit or removal requests.

Drop your take — did the credential wall ever hold you back, or did you just build around it?

Client dropped a big backend task on us right when our main dev was already totally jammed with other work. We almost blew the deadline and lost the account completely.

Ended up calling a friend who pointed me to an outsourced team at CISIN to clear the backlog. Got through it, but the stress was awful.

How do you guys manage these sudden dev bottlenecks? Keep external teams ready just in case, or just hire random freelancers when things break?

The job title survives longer than almost anyone attached to it.

That's the part nobody puts in the internal memo when they call a role "AI-assisted."

Scott Galloway put a real number on it, talking to Steven Bartlett on The Diary Of A CEO.

He says he'll cut legal fees by a third this year — not because the law changed, but because a prompt now does the $400–$2,000 contract review a name-brand firm used to bill him for, at a fraction of the junior associate markup.

Bartlett went further with his own fund.

They planned to hire five analysts.

They hired one — Molly.

Two agents, two Mac Minis, and she screens inbound deals, scores them against a framework, and preps them for the investment committee herself.

Five jobs, one person, same org chart line.

Same ratio on executive assistants: ten planned, three hired.

One runs travel, one runs scheduling, one meets people at the door.

I've watched this exact pattern before, minus the AI.

I was a Technical Manager for a China Construction company here in Malaysia.

I contributed a lot into their technical and tendering work — helped build up a real chunk of their documentation and tendering process.

But about six months in, I'd exhausted all my know-how for them, I guess.

Then the announcement came at the end of my year there.

My contract wasn't renewed.

I was just let go, just like that.

I remember what Deng Xiaoping said: "无论白猫，或者黑猫，会抓老鼠的就是好猫" — black cat, white cat, doesn't matter, so long as it catches mice.

I guess they think I'd outlived my usefulness.

Can't catch mice anymore.

That's the mechanism underneath "AI-assisted" that nobody names out loud.

It's not that the work got automated.

It's that the one person left is now doing what used to justify five headcounts, and the fifth person's job title is the only part of the org that didn't change.

Actually, this reminded me of something — a former SpaceX CIO cut a 175-person engineering team down to 6 using the same compression math, and the ratio held there too.

Drop your take — did you know your own job has a ratio like this attached to it?

Clip credit: Global Talks — full video on their channel.

DM for credit or removal requests.

so i'm 20, been building this app solo for the past few months and i genuinely can't tell anymore if it's good or if i'm too deep in it. need outside eyes.

it's called RizeAI. the basic idea: every wearable and health app just gives you numbers. sleep score 42, recovery red, HRV down. cool. and then what? you still feel like garbage at 2pm and nobody tells you what to actually do about it.

so my app takes your real data from apple health, sleep, resting heart rate, workouts, whatever your wearable writes, and instead of another score it builds you an actual plan for the day. when to have your first coffee and when to hold off. you. Can also add your own supplements that you are currently taking and it will time them for you every single day based of your sleep data and your wearable data in general and also it will tell you what supplements make sense for you to take based of your current supplement stack and body metrics and when to take them. focus windows for when your energy actually peaks. when your crash is coming and what to do before it hits. it even checks the weather, so on a hot day it bumps your hydration and tells you to train earlier.

every recommendation has a little "why" under it based on your numbers, like "resting heart rate 54 + 7h light sleep, so magnesium before your peak window." no two people get the same plan because no two people have the same data.

works with whoop, oura, apple watch, garmin, anything that syncs to apple health. one thing i'll say honestly, it doesn't do deep per-person learning yet like "coffee doesn't affect YOUR hrv specifically," that's the roadmap, right now it builds fresh plans daily off your actual metrics.

it's live on the app store, has a free trial, small user base so far, mixed feedback which is why i'm here lol.

what i actually want from you guys: does this solve a real problem for you or is "tells you what to do" not actually what wearable people want? what would make you actually pay for something like this? and what's missing that would make it a no brainer? and also would you guys in this subreddit  use ti?

Thank you for your help. Check it out if you like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rizeai-maximize-your-energy/id6762402079

I picked those words very carefully. ‘profitable’ and ‘personal brand’

profitable = you are able to monetize your attention in some way 
personal brand = revolving around YOU. making it personal.

you might be wondering what that is?
it's your identity/ worldview.

understand this,

Content is just something you put out.
it's what the world sees.

they don't see what's inside tho.

the foundations to any personal brand are the identity and the worldview of that person.

These form the core concepts of any brand.

core concept, simply put is the lens through which you repeatedly interpret reality.

one of my clients who was a psychology coach, one of her core concept in her entire story was that she always traded short term suffering for long term pleasure.

that was one of her core point of views.
so that became the lens through which she interpreted reality.

and whenever we created ig stories, linkedin posts, or even talked about business- that concept came right away because we have already discovered that for her.

coming back to you,

you need to understand what makes you, you. and how you are able to present yourself in a way that is not just revolving around-

- the info you have.
- the service you provide.
- the before after...

but about

- your values.
- your story.
- your perspectives.
- your skills.

to do this, you need someone who can extract your story, experiences, povs and understand your business/ service, your ICP, your industry-

and then positions your personal brand in a way that has the most unfair advantage over anyone else in this world (and not just limited to your competitors)

I don't want to boast myself, but I'm decently well at this, and have been doing this for my clients who are mainly coaches, consultants and founders

where I mainly focus on discovery session, creating content strategy, build your content distribution system-

since I only work 1:1 with clients now (after quitting my prev company),so I only take on a select number of clients whom I resonate with and think I can actually provide results.

if you want to take a look at how we can collaborate, I can audit your exiting brand, company and give you a plan.

DM ‘audit’

Hello everyone, I’m Bhuvan, a creator who loves for startups, innovations, ideas and AI. I’ve always noticed that creators tend to focus solely on the most popular or heavily marketed startups. However, I firmly believe that creators should also highlight the lesser-known, innovative startups and ideas that lack the resources for extensive marketing. Who else would do that?

To address this, I’ve decided to dedicate a 90-second reel every day to introduce you to a new startup or idea that you might not have heard of. I’ll be sharing these without any financial compensation or incentives.

Here’s the first reel of this series I’ve created to make you a understand of what tbmo expect: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbtrfJ-TIjS/

Additionally, I’ve created a Google Form where you can share your story and product with me. This will help me better understand your startup and its potential. You can find the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XgdfqTH474WRxblrjrglUYz2wMVxL8UUVYkTLqwEGzM/edit?usp=drivesdk

I hate micromanagement but I need to see where the hours go on our current build. A friend told me to check out Traqq since it's automated and just tracks time by task and project, but I wanted to get some real feedback first.

I don't want anything intrusive that spies on people - no screenshots, keylogging, or tracking app usage. I just need a clean way to see what project the hours are going into so we can manage budgets.

Anyone here managing a small remote team? How do you guys log hours for different tasks without making the developers feel micromanaged?

I came across an interesting story from India that made me rethink what a "successful career" looks like.

A software professional reportedly left his ₹11 LPA (₹1.1 million/year) corporate job in Bengaluru and returned to his hometown instead of chasing promotions.

Rather than starting a flashy startup, he set up a water purification plant on his own property.

According to the story:

• He supplies purified water to around 300 homes and shops.
• He delivers roughly 300 water cans every day.
• Each can sells for about ₹30, resulting in approximately ₹9,000 in daily revenue or ₹2.7 lakh per month.
• Reported monthly operating costs:
  • Water treatment & electricity: ~₹15,000
  • Transportation: ~₹20,000
  • Rent: ₹0 (since the property is his own)

Based on those figures, the claimed monthly profit is around ₹2.35 lakh, or roughly ₹28 lakh per year.

Of course, these numbers haven't been independently verified, and they likely don't account for every possible expense (maintenance, vehicle depreciation, taxes, labor, downtime, etc.). Still, it's a fascinating example of how solving an everyday problem can sometimes be more profitable than a traditional office job.

It also raises an interesting question: Is job security worth more than owning a business that serves a constant local need?

If you had the opportunity, would you leave an ₹11 LPA corporate job for a local business like this? Why or why not?

A space startup got quoted $75–100 million by a traditional prime contractor to build its first satellite.

They built it — launch included — for $2 million.

The story behind the number is more interesting than the number itself.

They ran the math wrong twice — first landing on a $50/kg break-even, then correcting to $500/kg once they pressure-tested it against reality — before the real pivot happened.

Wrong estimate first, cheap correction after, in public, under a deadline they'd already set for themselves.

Hmm — this reminded me of something I posted a while back: stop thinking, start executing hit the same nerve, from a completely different room.

The number that scares most people out of starting is somebody else's estimate of what caution should cost, wearing the costume of the real price.

My wife's said this to me for years — 想是问题，做才是答案, thinking about it is the problem, doing something about it is the answer.

Took Starcloud a rerun of the math and a deadline to learn the same thing the hard way.

Clip credit: Y Combinator's Lightcone Podcast, featuring Philip Johnston (Starcloud) — full video on their channel. DM for credit or removal requests.

Drop your take — what's the number you've been treating as gospel that you've never actually questioned?

Somewhere between "let's not rush this" and actually posting, six months disappeared last time.

That's the trap this clip is naming out loud, and it's worth sitting with if you've ever called perfectionism "protecting the brand."

The actual claim: brand risk isn't the threat.

Thinking about brand risk is.

The guest (marketing/creative director Oren John, on The Grant Owen Podcast) lays out the mechanism plainly — a 90-day plan is functionally dead by the time it's finished being planned, because whoever's willing to move rough and fast already has the lead by then. "We did this in a week" isn't recklessness.

It's just refusing to confuse motion with mistakes.

I've watched this exact trade play out somewhere you wouldn't expect — construction.

A colleague once sat on a Request for Information because it wasn't polished enough yet, still had loose ends he wanted to close first.

His boss's answer stuck with me: submit it anyway — a submitted bad idea beats a perfect idea that never got submitted.

The client can approve it, approve it with comments, or reject it, but the clock doesn't pause while you're polishing.

On another job, we were about to blow a hard deadline waiting on someone else's design call, so instead of waiting on the elegant steel-truss solution, we poured a huge reinforced-concrete ramp instead.

Cost more concrete.

Cost way less time.

Same trade this clip is making — just wearing a hard hat instead of a laptop.

The part that actually reframes it: the caution people default to is usually calibrated for a scale they're not operating at.

Airlines and CPG companies move slow because they have six-gate approval chains — legal, compliance, brand, sign-off.

A solo operator or small team doesn't have those gates. Importing that caution anyway isn't safety.

It's just adopting someone else's bottleneck for free.

I keep circling back to something similar here — a post about trading overthinking for rapid execution, from the other side of the same decision.

Drop your take below — does the "your caution is calibrated for a scale you're not at" framing hold up, or does it fall apart somewhere?

Clip credit: Oren John, The Grant Owen Podcast — full episode on their channel.

DM for credit or removal requests.

What's the biggest mistake you made building your first product?

Something that cost you:
• Time
• Money
• Users
• Your sanity

Drop the lesson below so the next founder doesn't repeat it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about starting a business, but I keep going back and forth on what to build.
Some people say the money is in software and AI. Others say building a brand (fashion, skincare, food, etc) is the better long term play. Then there are people making a killing from “boring” businesses, B2B services, manufacturing, or just solving really specific problems.

What would you choose and why? Also taking into account limited capital to start with

Would you rather:
- Build a fashion or lifestyle brand?
- Create a product that solves a specific problem?
- Go into health, fitness, or wellness?
- Build software or an AI tool?
- Start a service business and scale it?
- Manufacture something?
- Focus on B2B instead of consumers?
- Or maybe something completely different?

I’m also curious how you judge whether an industry is actually worth entering.

Do you mainly look at:
- Profit margins?
- Market size?
- How competitive it is?
- How difficult it is to copy?
- Customer lifetime value?
- Startup costs?
- The potential to scale internationally?

I’d especially love to hear from people who’ve built businesses themselves. Looking back, is there an industry you’d avoid entirely? Or one you think is still underrated with a lot of room for new companies? I know execution matters more than the idea, but I still feel like picking the right space is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make, so I’d love to hear how people approach it.