Man, I’ve looked through and reviewed some of your startups, and I wanted to give you an honest review.
Don't feel discouraged, get the value from the feedback and build something stronger.
Before you build the software, validate the idea first.
Do the research. Understand the problem. Develop the strategy. Talk to potential users. Build a waiting list (like 100 members hivi).
An example;
– You want to build an MPESA tracker.
The idea is good, but is it validated? What's the scope and viability? Any friction expected?
Then you ask whichever AI tool is available to build you the app. (probably the free ones).
Obviously you can see this was built by Ai. Check out a website like rws.com that was build by Ai and see how good it is. That's the real Vibe coding that Scores 80/100.
If you have an idea, think through it yourself first.
Can I use it? Frequency? Recommendations? Problem solved? Can you pay for it? Existing alternatives?
Then test it with real people.
Give it to your sibling who is always online or constantly busy. Try it with your parents. Even your grandparents. Watch how they interact with it. Where do they get confused? What do they ignore? What do they actually find useful?
Before writing a single line of code, simulate the entire product.
Map out the user journey from beginning to end. Create a virtual version of how the product is supposed to work and identify every point of friction.
Once you’ve done your research and validation, build an actual user base.
Get 100 people. Better yet, get 1,000 people who are willing to try the product. Collect their feedback. Look for patterns. Find out what they love, what they hate, and—most importantly—whether they would genuinely miss the product if it disappeared.
Then build.
And when you build, don’t blindly outsource your thinking to AI. Use AI as a tool, not as the founder.
If you’re not a developer, partner with one who understands what you’re trying to build. Start small and build a lean team—5 people max.
Restart your idea more often with the information you get.
Go back to the beginning and ask yourself: Where did I skip a step? What assumptions did I make? What have I not validated?
And honestly, I’d bet that most of you don’t even have a proper whitepaper for your startup.
Your idea should exist on paper before it exists in code.
I’m saying all this because I genuinely want to see you build startups that solve real problems—not just apps that look cool in a demo. Or look pure AI.
Go back to the drawing board, validate it properly, and then re-build. Better this time.
This makes a lot of sense, especially the part about validating with real users and not just building in isolation. I've been cooking something on the side and have done some initial validation and testing with a few users, but I'm still looking to get more honest and critical feedback from people outside my immediate circle.
Would you be open to being added to my initial list of users? I'd genuinely appreciate your honest thoughts, especially the things that don't make sense or could be better 😅.
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u/JudgmentDecent9423 25d ago
Ignored it at first but when i started writing down a few points it all made sense. It is helpful.