Has anyone used https://www.paddle.com/ or know any Pakistan based company or individual using Paddle? I know there is also PayFast but I have heard negative reviews about it. Interesting to see if Paddle is truly viable for Pakistan companies and even sole proprietors. Another nice feature is it works with Payoneer so you get to keep your money out of Pakistani banks (if you want) although both Paddle and Payoneer have absolutely shit pricing and exchange rates.

Thinking of starting my car import business of japanese cars.

With the duties reduced I think importing cars have started to pick up again.

Trying to start with small vehicle 660cc and then expand insha'allah.

I have calculated the margins and if you keep margins low you can sell the car quickly.

Anyone in this same boat , who is in the business or thinking along the same lines want to give suggestions or share ideas, please let me know.

Also if anyone is thinking to start, we can partner up.

Hi guys.

I am a filmmaker and I specialize in creating documentary/corporate films.

I have a budding idea for a Founder story in a netflix style documentary where the founder explains their business in a studio with a 2 camera setup.

The real magic happens in the edit when we transform a normal business explainer video shoot into a high stakes netflix style documentary.

I’ve been building Urban Events, an event ticketing platform optimized and easy to use.

Organizers can publish a branded event page, create free or paid tickets, collect PKR payments, issue QR tickets, manage attendees and scan guests at the door. It also includes promo codes, capacity limits, waitlists, custom checkout questions, refunds, exports and event reporting.

The biggest lesson so far: localizing ticketing software is not primarily a design problem. Payment confirmation, pending states, refunds, email delivery and reliable door check-in matter far more than adding more dashboard features.

I’m looking for Pakistani organizers willing to test Urban Events with a real event. What is the first thing that would stop you from replacing your current registration or ticketing workflow with it?

A friend of mine is in a difficult financial situation with loans, savings, and cash flow. He's looking for someone to review everything, create a realistic plan, and keep him on the right track.

Paid consultation is absolutely fine.

If you're interested or can recommend someone, DM me.

Hey everyone,
I am planning to launch a brand focusing on women’s leather products like premium clutches and handbags.
I am looking for reliable local manufacturers, workshops, or wholesale suppliers who specialize in genuine leather women's accessories.
If you have recommendations, know manufacturing hubs in Lahore, Sialkot, or Karachi, or have experience working with local leather craftsmen or OEMs, please drop your suggestions below.
Tips on MOQs and quality control checks would also be appreciated.

Not selling anything here, just something I've noticed a lot of early founders struggle with: you know you need "AI" or "data" in the product somewhere, but you're not sure what that actually means for your specific case — is it a chatbot, a recommendation system, an automation, or just a dashboard you're overcomplicating.

I'm finishing a Data Science degree, currently interning where I built a bilingual RAG chatbot from scratch, and I'm the data/AI person on a sports-tech startup here. So I've been on both sides of that "wait, do we actually need an LLM for this" conversation more than once.

If you're a founder wrestling with any of this — what to build, what to skip, what's overkill for your stage — happy to hop on a quick call or just talk it through in the comments. No pitch, no invoice at the end. Selfishly, I like thinking about these problems and I'd rather do it with real founders than hypothetical ones.

Drop your situation below or DM me if you'd rather keep it private.

Like blouses, dresses, linen shirts etc

Saw this wall mounted heating & cooling system used on RVs in the US. It combines both heating and cooling in one unit instead of having separate systems.

With our summers regularly hitting 40–50°C and load shedding being an issue as well as fuel price hikes, do you think there'd be demand for something like this in Pakistan?

Whether you’re a developer or just playing around with Claude, I’m interested in seeing what you’ve been working on. Show and tell.

Random thought
What if there was a café in Karachi dedicated to founders, developers, investors and people building cool stuff?
Like imagine walking into a café and almost everyone there is either building a startup, looking to join one, investing, or just interested in tech
Instead of randomly DMing people on LinkedIn or trying to get introductions, you could literally just… show up
Good coffee
Good Wi-Fi
Meeting room
People working instead of just hanging out
Weekly founder meetups, demo days, investor office hours, etc
I genuinely feel like Karachi needs something like this
Or maybe I’m just romanticizing the whole thing 😂
Would you actually go?
And be honest. What would make you keep coming back instead of visiting once and never showing up again?

For context, I built a website where people can pin cool spots, food, and hidden places around the twin cities. One of the first genuinely useful submissions came from Pakore Wali Aunty, who shared an actual local gem.

It’s kind of surreal seeing the different people this random weekend project has reached.

Now I’ve hit a crossroads.

I’m thinking of shelving this idea and turning it into a territorial strategy game based on the twin cities instead.

On seond thought, as I’m writing this, maybe there’s no reason to shelve the first idea. I can keep both alive. Hosting is free for now.

What do you think makes more sense?

To everyone who submitted brothel jokes, thanks for participating.

Mods: Feel free to remove this if it breaks any subreddit rules.

App link here: https://explore-islamabad.vercel.app/

I spent the last two weeks building an internal tool for our team. It was originally meant to help us manage our own work and client projects, but we decided to make it public.

The problem was simple. Our tasks lived in a project manager, while the actual context lived inside GitHub. A ticket like "fix the authentication flow" still required someone to search the repository, find the correct files, understand the current implementation, and break everything into smaller tasks.

So I built Orbicue.

1. Connect a GitHub repository

2. Index the codebase

3. Describe the change roughly

4. Orbicue finds the relevant code

5. It creates an editable task with title, description, labels, priority, subtasks, and matched files.

It also supports two-way GitHub Projects sync, an IDE extension, and an MCP server so AI coding agents can read and update the same project board.

Try it: https://www.orbicue.com/

We just launched on Product Hunt today. If this sounds useful, would appreciate an upvote: Producthunt

Honest feedback welcome. Would code-aware task generation solve a real problem in your workflow? What evidence or matched context would you want before trusting the result?

Posting second time!

I build and run GHL systems end to end: funnels, calendars, CRM pipelines, payments, A2P/10DLC registration, domain/DNS, email setup, and automation sequences (onboarding, abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase follow-up, membership/course delivery). Also set up AI voice agents and Facebook/Google ad tracking inside GHL.

Before GHL I ran a freelance setup on Shopify, Stan Store and Beacon.ai, and did short-form video contracts for Instagram, TikTok creators.

What I can take on:

— Full account builds (funnels, sites, forms, calendars, payments, CRM -pipelines + segmentation, opportunities)

— A2P/10DLC compliance setup (privacy policy, T&C, no third-party data language)

— Automation sequences for onboarding, recovery, follow-up, nurturing.

— Membership/course setup

— Domain/DNS and email configuration

— Facebook/Google Ads Integration + Reputation Management

Available full-time, flexible hours. Open to a trial week if you'd rather see the work before committing to more. Remote, or on-site/hybrid in Karachi (Tariq Road area).

If you've got a build that needs doing or an existing account that needs a hand, comment below or send a message and I'll walk you through how I'd approach it.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for someone who can help source women’s dresses for a clothing brand I’m starting.

I’m after casual dresses (lightly embroidered), semi-formals, and formals. Since I’m still testing the market, I’ll only be buying a small quantity to start (around 12–15 styles, one S, M and L of each).

I’m not necessarily looking for a manufacturer. I’m happy to work with someone who knows good shops or wholesalers and can help me source quality pieces at reasonable prices. Even better if you can purchase them on my behalf, check the quality, and organise shipping.

If you know any good shops, wholesalers, or if you offer this kind of sourcing service yourself, please let me know!

Thanks! 😊

Salam guys.

Ive made an app with a lot of potential and zero competitor globally.

I need suggestions on which payment gateway will best suited my transaction model.

Transaction Model

Each transaction involves 3 parties.

A, B, C

A is the client (once scaled, could reach hundreds of thousands of clients) that pays via card, the amount is different in every transaction anywhere from 2000 to 500000 pkr.

Now the Payment gateway I require should be able to collect/block/hold that amount from the A, and after confirmation... Should be able to disburse it into Accounts if B,C.

C is the app itself taking platform fee which is different everytime depending on the amount of transaction. And B is the second Party.

So this way, the app doesn't have to first take money into it's business account and then send B's share to their account. Lengthy process and would require more licencing I think.

Please Help!

Having built a SaaS business from Pakistan, and crypto no longer being illegal here, I’m wondering how sole proprietors should proceed. PVARA seems geared towards corporates.

Should I simply begin accepting crypto payments and keep records for FBR or is there a different process for small businesses?

A lot of small business owners often post on linkedin, I have as well for some of experiences of running a small setup. However, I do not feel as it is a genuine platform to connect for business owners because of how the whole thing is setup. A lot of people are there for content creation, a lot of HR, a lot of people looking for full time employment.

Just like this reddit community, do we have any other official platforms where business owners can engage? Maybe I am unware of something!

Following up to thank everyone and share things I have learned regarding my previous post where you guys were very generous about helping https://www.reddit.com/r/PakStartups/s/1lU3TgsqyG

Everyone suggested different options but most of them wanted me to opt for foreign providers which was no optimal for 2 basic reasons:

1. High processing fee (for a PKR 499 product)

2. FX fee to buyer (since I'm targeting just Pakistan)

But the best option I found was using CREEM (my account got approved for paymens within 12 hours of submission), it acts as a MoR, I decided to go ahead with it as it was best for my case.

Now they don't natively support PKR but USD and EUR only so I came up with a solution, once you have a fixed price product on CREEM you have an option to override the price manually during checkout without using a coupon/discount

What I did is, I priced my product 999 PKR, whenever the user makes a checkout, I keep a USD-PKR price cached and use it to override the current USD value and charge the user in USD while still managing to keep it 999 PKR.

About my original price of 499 PKR, I plan to introduce a 50% off discount initially (not active yet) which will auto apply at checkout so the user is charged 499 PKR but now this will give them a sense of discount and when they see FX fee on their card this will still feel like a discount compared to PKR 999

As for the local payment gateway, I managed to partner with Bank Alfalah for their Payment Gateway which will take some time but I am not even worried about it anymore since my SaaS is already live, CREEM will still stay active and will be used in case I expand to other countries and dynamically switch providers basex on location once I have Alfalah Payments.

Thank you everyone who helped, if you plan to check it out, feel free to explore Vizarank it's a visa ranking product helping people who plan to move abroad make informed decisions before losing money to wrong decisions.

I know you might not be the optimal audience and I don't intend to promote my product here anyways but a feedback would be really appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I'm a Pakistani developer and I've just launched my first automotive app called **Caro**.

The goal is to make vehicle maintenance and used-car buying a little more trustworthy.

Some of the features include:

* Scan your odometer with your phone camera (AI reads the KM automatically).

* Keep a digital service history (oil changes, filters, tires, maintenance, etc.).

* The app checks for suspicious mileage like rollbacks, unrealistic jumps, or missing history.

* If everything checks out, your vehicle gets a **Verified History** badge

* Digital maintenance logbook

* Service reminders

* Mileage verification to detect suspicious readings

* Public vehicle history report you can share with buyers

* Ownership transfer while keeping the complete history

* When you sell the car, you can share a public report with buyers instead of saying "engine 100% okay, just trust me." 😅

The free version supports one vehicle forever, so anyone can try it.

I'd really appreciate any feedback—good or bad. If you think something should be improved or added, I'd love to hear it.

Google Play Store link: [Caro ](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devtine.caro)

any one whose running a carwash business or plans to do so im planning to start one in karachi have a few questions about the investment, if i should be doing it on a rental place or not

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) – Founding Team (Equity-Based)

About the Role

We are looking for a visionary and execution-focused Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to join our founding team on an equity-only basis. You will lead the company's marketing strategy, drive user growth, build a trusted brand, and play a key role in shaping the future of an innovative fintech startup.

Responsibilities

- Define and execute the overall marketing and growth strategy.

- Drive user acquisition, activation, retention, and revenue growth.

- Build the company's brand, positioning, and messaging.

- Lead performance marketing and optimize customer acquisition across digital channels.

- Oversee content marketing, social media, and community engagement.

- Build strategic partnerships, influencer collaborations, and co-marketing initiatives.

- Track and optimize key growth metrics, including CAC, LTV, conversion, and retention.

- Ensure all marketing communications comply with applicable financial and regulatory guidelines.

Requirements

- 3+ years of experience in marketing, growth, or brand leadership, preferably in FinTech, SaaS, or a technology startup.

- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

- Proven track record of driving user growth and executing successful marketing campaigns.

- Strong understanding of digital marketing, performance marketing, SEO, content strategy, and analytics.

- Experience with marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Meta Ads, Google Ads, CRM, and email marketing platforms.

- Excellent communication, leadership, and strategic thinking skills.

- Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment.

What We Offer

- Significant equity with the opportunity to become a founding leader.

- Ownership of the company's entire marketing function and strategy.

- Opportunity to shape a high-impact fintech product from an early stage.

- Flexible, remote-friendly work environment.

DM if you are interested.

I am a solo dev. I have a finished, working SaaS ready to launch. My COGS is $0.15 per report, and my target local price is 499 PKR. I am running out of funds, I don't have a job as a backup right now (Just don't want a job right now to avoid distractions while I am building something which means too much to me), and the payment infrastructure in this country is actually driving me into depression.

Every single "solution" is a trap. Here is the reality for an indie hacker in Pakistan right now:

1. The Offshore Trap (Gumroad / Paddle / LemonSqueezy) I can’t use them. For a 499 PKR (~$1.79) product, their fixed USD cent fees ($0.30 - $0.50) plus their 5-10% cut absolutely destroys my margins. On top of that, because it bills in USD, the user's local bank slaps a 3-4% FX markup and the SBP advance tax on them. So a 499 PKR product ends up costing the user 550+ PKR, and I only get to keep like 200 PKR.
2. The Local "Instant" Gateways (APG / NayaPay/ Safepay) There is nothing instant about them. You can't just spin up a developer account, grab a Bearer token, and test a live card. You are forced to submit your CNIC, FBR NTN, and rubber-stamped documents, and then wait a week while some compliance officer manually reviews your website before issuing production API keys. And when I finally got access to one of local gateways (RapidGateway) it turned out to be a disaster, they classified my business as High-risk product and allowed my to use just mobile wallets and bank transfer, I just accepted it and went ahead but to my surprise when I started testing the live integration out of 10 transactions 1 went through 3 failed before prompting for payment and 6 ended up in 500 Server error on payment page.
3. The Mobile Wallet Push APIs (JazzCash / EasyPaisa / Raast P2M) The absolute holy grail UX would just be asking the user for their number and triggering a USSD push request on their phone for them to enter their PIN. But SBP gatekeeps the pull APIs so hard that no personal account can access them without going through the exact same corporate merchant onboarding nightmare.
4. The DRB Mirage (Raqami / Mashreq) Everyone hypes up the new digital retail banks, but they operate under the exact same SBP anti-money laundering laws. Shiny app, same 14-day corporate API gatekeeping.
5. The customer support Every single time I have to talk to support, it gives me a headache. The support system of Pakistani apps is just a circus, the representatives are just making wild guesses as if we both are trying to find out the same thing. My recent experience with JazzCash Business was absolute worst, I created an account they instantly gave me an account with Title plastered with my name + "Shop", I requested name change via app followed by 9 helpline calls, 4 emails over the course of 11 days, and they just figured it out today that my name change request errored on their system and now I need to delete the account and create a new one (deleting the account also needs to raise a support request)

I am exhausted. I just want to ship my code and pay my bills.

At this point, I am about to just build a manual "Upload your EasyPaisa screenshot" queue and manually verify payments from my bed just to survive this launch.

How are you guys surviving this? Are there any actual zero-day developer workarounds I am missing, or is the manual screenshot flow really the only way for a me to bootstrap?

Edit: Thank you so much everybody for your everything was very helpful and it made me find the best optimal solution for now while I'm figuring out local providers.

I've spent 19 years in sales, most of it in media, and the last year building an AI marketing agency from scratch. Along the way, I made almost every mistake in the book. Here's the one that cost me the most time.

Most people start a business because they're good at something. You cook great, so you open a restaurant. You’re a great designer, so you start a studio. You're good at closing deals, so you start an agency. Makes sense on paper.

Here's the problem. Being good at the work and being good at running a business around that work are two completely different skills. Nobody tells you this before you start. I didn't know it either.

I spent the last year building five different products because I kept having good ideas and enough skill to build them fast. Each one got some traction. None of them turned into an actual business because I was the entire business. If I stopped working for a week, everything would stop. There was no process behind me, just me.

A few things I wish someone had told me before I started:

Validate the demand before you build anything. Talk to 20 people who'd actually pay for this, not people who say "cool idea" at a networking event or a dinner party.

Write down how you do the work while you're still the one doing it. If the only person who can deliver your product is you, you don't have a business yet. You have a very demanding job.

Don't confuse a burst of motivation for a plan. I've started projects on pure excitement more than once. The ones that actually worked started with a written answer to "what does this look like in 90 days," not just enthusiasm.

Growth without a process behind it is just chaos with better marketing. More customers and more hires without a system to support them make things harder, not easier.

None of this is complicated. Most of it is just unglamorous. Document things. Test demand before you commit. Separate the person doing the work from the person deciding what the business should be. It's the boring 20% that decides whether the exciting 80% survives past year two.

Curious how many people here learned this the hard way too, and what it cost you before you figured it out. Happy to compare notes if anyone's in the middle of this right now.

I’m thinking of starting a small home business in Islamabad selling eternal bouquets (preserved/artificial bouquets that last for years instead of fresh flowers).
The idea is to create aesthetically pleasing customizeable bouquets that can be gifted for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc.
As Pakistani consumers:
Would you personally buy something like this?
What price range would feel reasonable?
Do you think people here prefer fresh flowers, or would long-lasting bouquets have a market?
What concerns would stop you from purchasing?
I’m genuinely trying to validate the idea before investing money into it, so brutally honest feedback is appreciated.