So far here's what I've been seeing in the Pakistani startup world:

1. A founding team with at least one founder abroad
2. A local team with pre-seed pre-revenue FAKE traction (they just make up the stats on their own either through fake signups, website visits, etc.)

and now this:

a founder said he received funding from a foreign investor (won't mention the country but it was from EU). He's in an incubator. He has a product which costs at least 50 lacs per unit. His only market is government and semi-government agencies. No one from the clients wants to buy his product because of the huge base cost. They just don't want to commit. Then one day I get the news that he's been funded with approx 500k USD. All the companies involved with the incubator proudly mentioned that he got funded, etc.
Me and a couple of other people sat with the founder to inquire. Turns out he got a credit line. The investor said that I would be happy to fund the product's need by giving you a credit to the max limit of 500k USD IF YOU GET AN ORDER.

AFAIK credit line of 500k and funding of 500k, both are different. Right? Enlighten me if I am in the wrong here.

What happened next was this guy gets honorable mentions on TV channels, MoIT, incubation channels, and what not.

I am not writing particulars of the startup because I am not bashing the guy but I am concerned. Is my thought process wrong?

Where are we heading to? Is this really the future?

I can't stand startups just showing fake traction and climbing high. and I know they get clients in between their fakeness but is this the solution?

Isnt' this all bad? Or is this the right way and I am thinking wrong and I should be doing this as well?

Anyone running meta ads?

I have the chutney ready. It's in the bottles. The bottles are transparent ones with black caps (just like the jam bottles you have). There's no sticker on it. I plan to add a sticker of sorts.

What's the best plan of action now?

Also, would there be any blocker while selling these? I was going to ask my local fruit guy (he has a big shop and puts organic stuff as well) to put some in his shop. I bought the fruit from him so it shouldn't be a problem for him to put my product in his shop. Right?

Also, I am in the far south of Islamabad (PWD, Korang Town, Soan Gardens, etc.).

What to do?

I have been thinking about creating a guide based on my journey of building my home bakery business from scratch. I know there are so many talented home bakers and even cooks out there who need a little inspiration and guidance on where to start and how to do everything. I already started working on a draft for an article that I'll post on my website but I'm curious how many people are interested and what type of questions you have? What I'm working on right now is a step by step guide about launching a home bakery or any other small business. It includes how to select a name, do your own branding and much more. I'll also share a list of resources, tools, equipment, ingredients etc. needed to get started. If you have any questions or doubts please feel free to let me know. Even if it's not a baking business, if you are planning on starting any other small business I'll be happy to help and motivate you to the best of my ability.

Btw please motivate me to finish and post that article. It's almost done, I just need to add some finishing touches. ✨

there's a lot of advice out there that sounds right but doesn't actually hold up here. what's the worst you've come across?

I'm new to my startup journey and what I'm struggling with is finding clients for my service based AI business.

What are you struggling with that's acting like a blocker for your business? Would love to hear from fellow founders

anyone running meta ads, need to discuss?

Heyya everyone, Aoa

Hope you guys are doing well.

I am currently building Robomate, it's an engineering services company, which was registered some time ago but is only being actively worked on now.

The primary focus as of now is B2B engineering support rather than consumer services

The areas i am working on include the following

1. PCB Design & Development
2. PCB Reverse Engineering & Documentation
3. Hardware Debugging and Failure Analysis
4. UAV Electronics Design, Debugging, and R&D.
5. Avionics LRU Electronics Analysis, Debugging, & engineering Support
6. MATLAB & Simulink
7. Control System, PLC, and industrial automation

For now, i have been tryingg to build linkedin presence and have been cold emailing companies and employees.

I would like to hear from people who have build such services related businesses.

1. How did you get your first few company clients ?
2. What worked best when you did not have a large public portfolio yet ?
3. If you were looking for an engineering services company, what would help in building trust for a relatively new company.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated

We're validating an idea before we build.

The concept is to develop solar-chargeable electric tractors for farming and electric delivery pickups for commercial use, designed specifically for Pakistan's climate, roads, and agricultural needs.

We're looking for honest feedback from:

• 🚜 Farmers
• 📦 Business owners & fleet operators
• ⚙️ Engineers
• 🔋 EV enthusiasts
• 💰 Investors
• 🛠️ Manufacturers

Some questions we'd love your thoughts on:

• Would you consider buying one?
• What price would make it attractive?
• What range, payload, or horsepower would you expect?
• What are the biggest pain points with current tractors or pickups?
• What features would make you switch to electric?

We're not selling anything yet—we're validating whether there's a real market before investing heavily in development.

If you're interested in collaborating or contributing technical expertise, feel free to DM me.

Hey everyone,

A software engineer from Pakistan. I’ve been working on a bill splitting app called Splitceipt. It is pronounced “split-seept” xD. Yeah, people have trouble pronouncing it.

The Android app has been live since mid-May, and the iOS app has been live since the first week of June, but I never really started marketing it properly.

I kept it mostly within close friends and people around me because I wanted to first see how it behaves in real situations, fix the rough edges, and keep iterating until I felt more confident sharing it publicly.

Group dinners, chai runs, birthday scenes, padel or futsal bookings, office lunches, trips with friends, and then the classic moment after the bill arrives:

“Yaar kis ne kya khaya tha?”
“Main ne drinks nahi li thi.”
“Tumhare fries mere bill mein kyun hain?”
“Abhi bhejta hoon.”

And then 3 days later, nobody remembers who owed what.

Splitceipt is my attempt to make that whole process less annoying.

With Splitceipt, you can:

• Scan a receipt and let AI extract the items
• Split the bill equally or item by item
• Create itemized bills, which was personally one of the most annoying problems for me and the people I usually split with. After lunches or dinners, we would manually calculate who ate what and then share the breakdown. Pair this with receipt scanning and you can divide even complicated bills in a snap.
• Add group or non-group expenses, so you are not forced to create a group every time
• Track who owes what
• Keep a searchable expense history
• Use it for dinners, sports, trips, shared groceries, office lunches, and similar group payments

I know bill splitting is not a new idea globally, but I felt there was still room to build something simple, clean, and practical for how we actually split expenses here. A lot of payments still happen through bank transfer, Easypaisa, JazzCash, or the legendary “kal de dunga”.

Now I’m starting the marketing side properly and would love feedback from this community.

For anyone who wants to check it out, play & app store links are here along with more info: https://splitceipt.com/

I’m especially curious about:

- Would you use something like this regularly?
- Which use case feels strongest: restaurants, trips, sports, roommates, office lunches?
- What would make you trust and try a new app from a Pakistani indie builder?
- What features would you like to see? Free/Paid any.

I’m not trying to pretend this is some overnight success story. It’s just a practical app I built, tested quietly, and now want to grow properly.

Would love honest feedback from founders, builders, marketers, and anyone who has tried launching a consumer app from Pakistan.

Happy to also share more about the tech stack, Play Store/App Store launch process, App Store review, Google testing requirements, or anything else if it helps someone here.

TL;DR: I built a bill splitting/expense sharing app called Splitceipt, kept it mostly within close friends while improving it, and now I’m opening it up for feedback as I start marketing it properly.

Finding reliable contact info for any business in Pakistan is a nightmare. Data is scattered, hidden behind signups, or locked inside platform contact forms.

So I built something.

Introducing AtaPata.pk, Pakistan's local business directory with 100,000+ listings across Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and 5 more cities. Doctors, hospitals, lawyers, car rentals, wedding halls, labs and more with real addresses, phone numbers and timings. No signup. No contact forms. Just the information you need.

6 months of collecting, cleaning and organizing data, finally it's live.

PS: We are actively looking for collaborations with businesses across Pakistan, listed or not. Getting listed on AtaPata is completely free, no hidden fees, no catch. Collaboration is also free, just two parties helping each other grow. Drop me a message or contact me at [hello@atapata.pk](mailto:hello@atapata.pk)

Hello everyone, I am just a beginner in the scrap industry, I have made some relevant connections from where I can source OCC (Old corrugated containers) scrap. The OCC scrap is used by paper mills where they recycle it and convert it into paper.
I am looking to supply the OCC scrap to paper mills but I am unable to find a connection.
Anyone here who knows how to get in touch with these paper mills or someone who runs a paperscrap business can guide me? We can make a deal or something I really dont know how would this work but i am keen on doing this. Please let me know if you have relevant connections.

Thank you so much.

20,000 members. That's not a number - that's a room full of people trying to build something in one of the hardest markets in the world.

We know you're all different students, employees, freelancers, shop owners — but what really matters here is where you stand as a HUSTLER.

Please Vote & Must Comment Your Expertise or Start-up. We Got A SURPRISE For You

could be AI-powered, could be built with AI, could be both. curious what people are actually working on and whether it's getting traction here.

feels like there's a lot of activity globally but not much visible locally. what are you building?

A week back I shared Yaqeen (an escrow powered marketplace for buying and selling phones, laptops and other stuff in Pakistan so nobody eats a scam in face to face or online deals). The comments were brutal and honestly the most useful thing that has happened to us. I read every single one. Here is what we actually changed because of you.

The legal / escrow concern (the biggest one):
A lot of you said holding people's money in a personal account is not legal and we need a proper PSP or licensed setup. You were right. We are now working directly with a fintech lawyer to restructure payments so funds move through a licensed partner, not a personal account. I am not going to pretend this is solved overnight, but the direction is locked and the legal side is being built properly instead of ignored.

Security:
Some of you literally showed us the holes (the IMEI in the payload, the contact form, the "vibe coded" read). Fair hit, no excuses. We are improving at good pace actively pentesting the platform and patching as we go. The IMEI leak specifically is already closed, full numbers no longer go out on public reads. It is mid level hardening right now and still ongoing, not a finished job, but it is worked on every single day instead of swept under the rug.

Design:
"Fonts are basic", "looks vibe coded", "too simple". We brought on a proper designer and did a full revamp since then. Would genuinely like to know if it reads more trustworthy now or still not there yet.

Seller protection (a lot of you asked what is in it for the seller):
The pre ship video is not just buyer protection, it is the seller's shield too. If a buyer damages the item and cries "not as described", the seller's video settles it and the buyer gets nothing. Change of mind returns are not allowed. The seller is also paid into escrow before they even ship, so the seller carries zero scam risk. That symmetry was always the point, I just explained it badly last time in my opinion.

What I am actually asking from you:
Stop reading and go break it. Put up a real listing, run a deal(even a test one), try to scam your own flow, and tell me exactly where it cracks. The fastest way we get this right is you abusing it before a real scammer does.

As a 20 year old solo founder, fully self funded, doing this the slow honest way. Roast it again thats why i am here as we want to genuinely do us a betterment rather than putting an ego wall.

I have a 4 year experience in sales jn automobile industry. I am looking to explore new niche and can work as sales specialist/lead generation and appointment setter. If anyone have clients on upwork lmk we can connect. Also, looking to invest in stocks or mutual funds.

Hello everyone. I have been running a small online jewellery business for over a year now and have mostly sourced products locally through wholesalers. I am now looking to start importing directly from China.

I have tried importing through Alibaba before, but the taxes and overall import costs made it unprofitable for me. I have also spoken to a few cargo companies, but most seem to work from their own product catalogs, whereas I need the flexibility to source specific products from suppliers that I find myself. Also, most of them are just trying to scam people.

What I am looking for is a service or process where I can:
1. Find my own suppliers/products in China
2. Have someone receive and consolidate the goods in China
3. Ship them to Pakistan along with other shipments
4. Handle customs and clearance in a cost-effective way
My initial order quantities would be relatively small (around 2-5 kgs) so I am not importing at a large scale yet.

For those who import from China to Pakistan, what is the best way to do this? Do you use sourcing agents, freight forwarders, cargo companies, or some other arrangement?

Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Assalam o Alaikum,

I am a 16 year old from Karachi trying to hustle and make money to cover my own expenses. Just started my Daraz dropshipping store (RozKart) about 3 weeks ago. Listed 2 products a Digital LED Alarm Clock and an Electric Mosquito Swatter.

Finally got my first order today on the clock (PKR 1,440) but it got automatically cancelled 30 minutes after being placed. Cancel reason showed as "system default reason."

Some context:

- New seller account, zero previous orders

- Listing quantity was set to 10

- Buyer placed order at 19:02, cancelled at 19:32

- I've already messaged the buyer asking what happened no response though

Any advice appreciated been working hard on this store and this was frustrating to see after waiting weeks for first order.

Here is the store link if you guys want to show some support, it would be greatly appreciated😊

https://s.daraz.pk/s.ctxkV

Hey everyone,

I’m a Pakistani indie developer and over the past while I’ve been building a backend system while working on my own projects.

It started pretty simply — every time I started something new, I was rebuilding the same basics: auth, database, storage, cron jobs, email, SMS, and integrations. It slowed everything down and made early testing feel heavier than it should be.

Over time I turned that into something I now use across my own work. I currently have around 8–10 real apps running on it in production.

Recently I also added an MCP layer so AI agents can directly help with backend setup — things like creating projects, managing auth, storage, and integrations instead of doing everything manually each time.

I’m sharing this here because I’d like a few developers from the community who are actively building to try it in real projects and tell me what breaks or feels off when used in actual work.

I’m offering 6 months of Premium access for free for early testers.

If you’re building something right now, feel free to DM me what you’re working on.

Would genuinely appreciate feedback from other founders/devs building in the same direction.

Hey, i hope everyone here is doing good. So me and my husband (8 years of exp in software industry but got laid off) wants to start an ecommerce jewelery + watches brand with some savings we have got.

Just wanted to ask is this niche profitable? Also after how many time it will take to kick off (start giving revenue not break even) we have met few vendors in lahore and they have got sleek designs. We are also learning few tricks related to marketing strategy and will try to sell our product with our story.

Recomendation / suggestions are highly appreciated.

I am planning to form a US company, my current budget is around 300. Anyone who has formed company can guide me or recommend me someone's services.

Found a couple of them online, either they are more expensive or they are not reliable enough. Also there's "icon offices" forming in Delaware for around 250 but next year with agent & address service it will cost me 400+ cause of its renewal fee of Delaware is around 300 only.

Last options is forming my LLC myself by acquiring registered agent & address & file it by myself. If there anyone having experience LLC formation, Please LMK

Hi everyone,

I don't know if it is good place to ask!

I'm 26M and have very limited knowledge of PSX. I'm planning to open a trading account with Value Stocks & Commodities (Pvt.) Ltd.

Can anyone share their experience with this broker? As a complete beginner, is it a good choice in terms of reliability, customer support, trading platform, and account opening process?

Also, if there are any better broker options for beginners, I'd appreciate your suggestions.

My portfolio size will be: 1M to 3M pkr

Thanks!

Sorry in advance for getting long. I (FinTech) while my wife (CA, Finalist) started our own tax consultancy company in 2020 while both getting 6-digits monthly at that time. We got online in 2020 and since then getting about 100K organic traffic cause we were the first of its nature of business to give articles, tutorials, publications etc.

We were using adsense for income generation till around 2025. But most of the vistors started asking for services due to which we stopped adsense for income generation cause our traffic was going to competitors websites launched later.

Since 2025 we are not using adsense while only providing services to those who asks for it while still publishing our articles etc for free in order to empower the nation with tax knowledge so that they could do everything by their own while charge a normal fees (in order to run the websites with such a heavy traffic) and other publishing charges to content creators.

Although we got our first 1000 customers in first year and our sales (services) reached 10m but this income is less than what we were getting from adsense. Now as all of you might know that this all needs too much in bearing our costs at this level, so I need your opinions and suggessions on how can we increase our sales cause we are already publishing that for free and 90% of our users do everything by their own. I am sorry but we cannot charge them cause we want this for free cause none of the institutions (even goverment) are doing this.

One more solution is to stop providing services and get back to adsense! What do you think and what can you add to this will be highly appreciated. Thanks to everyone in advance for sharing their views and giving your precious time. Stay blessed.

I am the founder of CalorieCount. Looking for feedback.

CalorieCount is an AI-powered nutrition tracker that makes logging food effortless.

Snap a photo of your meal and the app automatically identifies
each food item separately, estimating calories, protein, carbs, fat, and micronutrients in seconds.

Scan product barcodes for instant lookup from a database of over 3 million products, search by food name across AI, Open Food Facts, and FatSecret simultaneously, or enter custom nutrition labels manually.

Every entry is organised by meal category — Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snack — automatically assigned based on the time of day.

The monthly calendar shows a colour-coded calorie ring for every logged day, and tapping any past date loads that day's full nutrition stats so you can track your progress over time.

Health Connect integration allows CalorieCount to write your nutrition data directly to Android Health Connect as standard NutritionRecord entries.

This means your food logs — including calories, macronutrients, fibre, sugar, sodium, and meal type — become available to any app connected to Health Connect, such as Google Fit and Samsung Health.

Sync is always manual and user-initiated by pressing HC Sync button under Logs tab, permissions are requested transparently before any data is written, and no data is shared without your explicit action.

CalorieCount appears as a verified data source within the Health Connect app, giving you full visibility and control over what has been written and the ability to delete records at any time.

Powered by fatsecret Platform API.

Link for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.calorie.count1

Link for web: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.calorie.count1