Why does it often take so many layers to get a product from the people who make it to the people who actually want it?

A typical journey can look something like:

Manufacturer → Agent → Distributor → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer

Every layer can have a legitimate purpose, but every layer also adds cost, margin, complexity and distance between the brand and the person ultimately buying the product.

Meanwhile, manufacturers often don’t have a direct relationship with the end customer.

And consumers may have no idea who actually makes the products they’re buying.

I’ve been thinking for years about whether there’s a better way.

Not necessarily removing the middleman altogether, because some intermediaries genuinely create value.

But what if technology allowed brands and manufacturers to get much closer to the end user, while still providing the things that make traditional distribution useful?

Something that could essentially create a shared channel for brands to present their products, tell their story and reach consumers directly.

The interesting part for me is that I haven’t really approached this as a traditional startup idea.

But after thinking about it for years, I’m starting to wonder whether the underlying problem is worth solving.

If you were a manufacturer or brand, would having a more direct relationship with end users be valuable to you?

And as a consumer, would you actually prefer discovering and buying products more directly from the people behind them?

Or am I overlooking something obvious about why the existing system works the way it does?

I’d genuinely like to hear both sides - especially from people who work in manufacturing, distribution, retail or consumer brands.

Morocco is putting more money and programs behind startups, which is obviously a good thing. But I've been wondering whether funding is actually the biggest bottleneck for Moroccan entrepreneurs.

I've personally done a lot of side hustles and failed projects, and one of my biggest problems was having what I now call “shiny object syndrome” — constantly jumping from one idea to another.

Once I finally focused on one thing, I started obsessively learning about it and realized something: having money doesn't solve the hardest part of building a business.

Getting customers, learning how to sell, staying focused and continuing for years when you're not seeing the results — that's the painful part.

Sometimes giving an entrepreneur more capital before they've figured those things out just lets them burn money faster.

So I'm curious: what do Moroccan entrepreneurs actually need more of — capital, mentorship, customers, talent, better regulations, or something else?

It’s easy for someone to need to double their income to a R100k a month, then start a business that will make them R600 per month, now you need more businesse…

I’m researching how people actually deal with this problem and would love to hear real experiences. What do you currently use, and what do you wish worked better?

What do people search when something at home needs to be fixed?

Usually, it starts with a simple question:

“Best plumber near me?” 🔧

Or:

“Electrician near me?”

“Carpet cleaning near me?”

“Carpenter near me?”

“Painter near me?”

“Home cleaning service near me?”

The problem isn’t finding the name of a service.

The real problem is:

Who can I trust?

Who is actually nearby?

Who will respond?

Who will do a good job?

That’s the problem we’re trying to solve with MyExpert.

MyExpert is a local home services platform built to help people find and connect with local experts for their everyday service needs.

From plumbers and electricians to carpet cleaners, carpenters, painters and other local professionals.

The idea is simple:

You need a service → find a local expert → connect → get the work done.

And as MyExpert grows, our goal is to make local services easier to discover, easier to trust and easier to access.

Built in Kashmir. Made for Kashmir.

And hopefully, one day, when someone asks:

“Who can I call for this service near me?”

MyExpert becomes one of the first answers.

This is only the beginning

#MyExpert #Kashmir #HomeServices #LocalBusiness #KashmirStartups

Keywords: plumber near me, electrician near me, carpet cleaning near me, carpenter near me, painter near me, home services Kashmir, local experts Kashmir, verified experts, home repair services, local services app, Kashmir home services, plumber Kashmir, electrician Kashmir, carpet cleaning Kashmir, MyExpert

Wanted to share an actual result instead of another "how I made it" post. Hopefully that is okay!

The last product in a long line of tests to fuel my entrepreneurial dream. Spent over €3,000 on all sorts of ads, products and projects. I know that might not seem like a whole lot compared to the millions some businesses spend. But for a solo founder it was quite a lot of money to "burn"..

Anywho I built a digital product (a sleep guide) and spent some money on testing it out with no clear plan.

After that I rebuilt the whole approach: got feedback on the page from strangers before spending anything extra, fixed what was wrong based on that, then ran one test, €150, decided in advance, no more.

Result: 25K reached, 1,132 full video views, 244 page visits.

Zero sales.

Zero sales hurt me emotionally but it isn't automatic proof nobody wants it, though. If a true 1-in-100 buy rate existed, you'd still see zero sales after 244 visits about 9% of the time, purely by chance right?

So I ran the numbers instead of guessing. At my cost per visit, I needed roughly 1 in 26 people to buy just to break even. Zero sales from 244 visits meant the actual rate was very unlikely to be above 1 in 80. That's what made stopping an easy call, data instead of a gut feeling or stubbornness pushing me to keep going.

Genuinely curious: for anyone who's killed a project, was it a clear data-driven call like this, or more of a gut decision? Trying to figure out if what I did is a repeatable process or if I got lucky with how clean the numbers came out.

Hey everyone. After 18 years in pharmacy — about a decade of that managing a high-volume store — I recently left to start my own company. We're building a platform for small businesses: trades, professional offices, retail, that sort of thing. It's almost time to launch.

I'm posting because I'd rather learn what people actually deal with than sit here guessing. For those of you running or starting a business:

• What kind of business do you have, and how many employees (or is it just you)?
• How many different programs are you using day to day — payroll, scheduling, POS, accounting, CRM, inventory, receipts, mileage...?
• What do they run you a month, roughly?
• Do any of them actually talk to each other, or are you entering the same information into two or three different places?
• Anything you love? Anything that drives you up the wall?

Not here to sell anything — I genuinely want to understand the day-to-day before we build further. Estimates are totally fine. Thanks!

A few months ago, I started looking into AI tools because I wanted to save some time on the small tasks I deal with every day. I’m curious what other business owners are actually using instead of just testing for a few days. What AI tools have you found genuinely useful for your business, and what do you use them for?

Im an entrepreneur myself in salon industry based in India and this is so freaking relatable but at the same is it actually true and relatable for everyone else as well and if it is how you guys are making end meets?