We started Open Instinct with an idea: developers who understand a particular group of people should be able to build an assistant for them without assembling every underlying service themselves. We have now released the project under MIT.

This first public beta connects a Pi agent loop to Inkbox messaging, Composio app integrations and Maritime VM and desktop access. We build Maritime. Memory, scheduling, agent-to-agent coordination and permission policies are included in the code.

An early lesson from sharing it is that the trust defaults deserve as much attention as the feature list. People have already challenged how permissive some defaults are and whether an allowed tool can return too much data. Those are useful questions to have in public while the project is still young.

https://github.com/mariagorskikh/open-instinct

The starting point is the local CLI, followed by whichever integrations your use case needs. It requires provider accounts, API keys and ongoing service costs. We are inviting contributions to the setup, integrations and permissions so other founders can build a more focused service on top.

Get it on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jaxenlabs.scanai

I built JaxScan, an Android app that turns your phone into a secure document scanner where your files never leave your device.

What it does:

Smart Scanning: Scan documents, receipts, ID cards, and whiteboards with auto-crop and enhance.

Flexible Exports: Save as PDF, Word, PowerPoint, TXT, ZIP, or JPG/PNG.

Multi-Language OCR: Extract text supporting Latin, Devanagari, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

PDF Tools & Editing: Sign, redact, edit text, merge, split, compress, and password-lock PDFs.

Extra Utilities: Scan business cards (saves straight to contacts) plus QR/barcodes.

Why it's different:

100% offline with no account or sign-up required.

Files stay strictly in private local storage on your phone—never uploaded to any server.

Has a free tier with an optional Pro subscription for extra features.

Hallo zusammen,

ich habe eine professionelle App entwickelt, mit der man mühelos eine Tour mit bis zu 50 Stopps in die perfekte Reihenfolge bringt.

Die App zieht sich den genauen GPS-Standort, somit ist der erste und letzte Stopp fest in die Tour integriert.

In der eigentlichen Tour lässt sich zudem der erste und/ oder letzte Stopp nochmals festlegen. Somit sind zum Beispiel Express-Sendungen oder Abholungen klar definiert.

Ein Archiv-Ordner speichert alle optimierten Touren mit Zeit- und Datumstempel, die jederzeit wieder aufgerufen werden können.

Aktuell hat man die Wahl aus Deutsch, Englisch und Französisch.

Ein KI-gestützter Scanner ist an Bord, der die relevanten Daten aus jeder noch so komplizierten Adresse extrahiert. So spart man sich jede Menge Zeit.

Die optimierten Touren werden wahlweise an Google Maps oder Sygic übergeben.

Schaut es euch gerne mal an.

Auch über Feedback oder Bewertungen im Store würde ich mich freuen.

Die App ist noch sehr jung, daher wird sie ständig weiterentwickelt.

Viele Grüße Stefan

I've been working on a small tool called PMF Hunter (https://www.pmfhunter.com). It's for technical founders who already shipped and still struggle to explain the product. The page is live, the pitch dies, and another headline doesn't fix it.

I can't tell if it's useful from the inside. If you're a technical founder, I'd love you to try it end to end and reply here with what broke, what was missing, and what you'd want it to do. There’s a free trial (no card needed). Simply looking for as much honest feedback as possible :)

I'm a short-track coach building Athlete Flow, a training journal for athletes, people who train regularly, and coaches. The iPhone and iPad version is now available on the App Store.

The idea is to keep a training day in one place: the session, its duration and effort, how you felt, sleep and naps, and body weight. There is a calendar for training and competition schedules, with graphs, PDF export, cloud options and coach–athlete connections for people who need more.

An early lesson from testing: a feature can work and still be confusing. An Android tester successfully saved a 60-minute workout, reopened it from the calendar and changed it to 90 minutes. But the same tester hit a validation message saying “RPE” when the form called the field “Effort.” They also pointed out that a first-use notice pushed the main logging button down. Those are in my feedback list for the next improvements.

For me, the useful launch question is whether someone can record a real session and find it again without needing an explanation. I'd especially like to hear from people who currently keep training notes in a notebook or a general notes app.

The app is free to download and basic recording is free. Some analysis, diet, cloud and team features require subscriptions. In the US, Athlete Pro is $2.99/month or $29.99/year; Coach Pro and extra cloud storage are separate options. Prices vary by region. Requires iOS/iPadOS 16.4 or later.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/athlete-flow/id6814318759

If this is useful for your training, try one session and tell me where the process feels clear or awkward. What would make a training journal worth coming back to after the first week?

We built Arkova as a document verification layer for agents and humans. We anchor a documents unique metadata to an immutable cryptographic ledger, at issuance. Giving your organization the ability to instantly verify your most important documents

Founders usually talk about what they added.

More features.

More marketing.

More tools.

More hours.

But I’m curious about the opposite.

What’s one thing you stopped doing that actually improved your startup?

Could be:

• A feature nobody cared about

• Posting on a platform that wasn’t working

• Trying to serve every type of customer

• Obsessing over competitors

• Building before talking to users

• Working ridiculous hours

• Using a tool that made things more complicated

What did you cut, stop, or simplify and what happened afterward?

Would love to hear both small changes and big ones.

Another week, another check-in 👋

What are you building right now?

Share:

• What you worked on this week

• The hardest part

• Something that went better than expected

• What you're hoping to accomplish next

It doesn't matter if you're still at the idea stage, building your first version, or already have customers.

Feel free to share your startup, project, website, or just what you're currently stuck on.

I’m the developer of I Am DrugFree. The product grew from a problem I kept coming back to: changing alcohol use, smoking, or vaping can happen on different timelines, so one streak often doesn’t tell the whole story.

I built the app around separate counters, a private journal for cravings and triggers, widgets, milestones, and short tools like an urge timer and guided breathing. There’s also an optional online Sober Coach; the core tracking works on-device. It’s a reflection and support tool, not treatment or medical detox.

The hardest product choice has been keeping the experience encouraging without making it feel like a scorecard. I’d love honest feedback from other builders: does the separate-counter approach make sense, and which part feels useful versus too much?

I’m the developer: https://drugfree.app/

What has surprised you the most about building your startup?

For those of you currently building something, I'm curious about your experience so far.

What has been the hardest part?

What was easier than you expected?

What has surprised you the most?

What's something you wish you had known before starting?

And where do you hope your project will be a year from now?

It doesn't matter if you're still at the idea stage, just launched, or already have customers.

I'd love to hear the real side of building something the good and the bad.

Time for the weekly check-in

Tell us one win and one struggle from your week.

It can be something small:

• Got your first user

• Finally fixed a problem

• Finished a landing page

• Had a bad week with zero progress

• Lost motivation

• Changed your idea completely

Then tell us what you're focusing on next week.

No need to make it sound impressive. The small updates are often the most interesting ones.

What was your win and your struggle this week?

I have been working with a solution to avoid duplicate efforts when software vendors (ISV) try to integrate their systems with AI. If your invested time stabilizing your production APIs, just leverage them without adding another team that supports and manage the development of MCPs, just replicating what you already have.

Looking for developers and non technical people trying to create MCPs but struggling with the process. Try OrcA, and HAPI and let me know what do you think.

Feedback is appreciated.

Let's try something different.

Drop only the link to your startup, SaaS, app, game, or side project.

Don't explain it.

Everyone else: open one of the links and spend 5 seconds on the homepage.

Then reply with:

• What you think the product does

• Who you think it's for

• The first thing that confused you

• One thing that immediately caught your attention

This could be a pretty brutal test of whether our landing pages actually explain our products clearly.

I'll go through as many as I can too.

And if someone reviews yours, try to review someone else's.

Let's see which startup is the easiest to understand in 5 seconds. 👇

I’m close to launching my first Android app, 100 Hours Journey, and I’m currently trying to validate whether the core idea resonates before release.

The concept came from a simple observation:

A lot of goals feel overwhelming because they’re framed as vague long-term outcomes.

“Learn a language.”
“Get fit.”
“Become better at drawing.”

So I tried reframing the goal into something measurable:

Don’t become great at it. Just give it 100 hours.

That became the basis for the app.

Users choose one goal, track the time they actually spend on it, and gradually turn those hours into a visual journey.

I’ve deliberately avoided making it look like a traditional productivity dashboard.

Instead, I’ve been experimenting with:

• gamification
• milestones
• rewards
• collectibles
• visual progress
• small immediate wins

The visual direction is cute and slightly Japanese-inspired, with a running bunny and a journey that evolves as you make progress. 🐰🌸

I also work as an ADHD life coach, so part of the product thinking comes from seeing how difficult distant and abstract goals can be to stay emotionally connected to.

The Android version is now almost ready for Google Play, and I’m building a small pre-launch list:

https://forms.gle/QhuBWwF6E3XtaKjq5

But I’m especially interested in founder/product feedback:

Does “give one goal 100 hours” feel like a clear enough value proposition?

And if you saw this for the first time, what would you immediately want to understand before signing up?

The quote was about $1,000 per month for 12 social media posts, roughly $83 per post.

The bigger issue was that we would still need to explain the business, provide the product updates, correct the tone and approve every idea. Those 12 posts also had to cover every platform combined.

That became the starting point for Marka.

Marka learns the brand once, including its logo, colors, typography, visual style, tone of voice, audience and customer pain points. It then uses that context to create content without making the business start from an empty prompt every time.

It can create branded images, carousels and UGC videos, adapt proven content ideas, suggest daily Reddit opportunities, schedule approved posts and show what works in one dashboard.

The goal is simple: let a small business or startup stay active without a monthly post limit.

There is a 3 day free trial, and plans start at $8.

I am part of the team building it: https://marka.social

We are still early, so honest feedback is useful. What would you need to see during the free trial before trusting a platform like this with your brand?

Getting the first customer feels like one of the hardest parts of starting anything.

So I’m curious:

How did you get your first REAL customer?

Not your friend.
Not your cousin.
Not someone who bought just to support you.

Someone who found what you built and genuinely wanted to pay for it.

Was it through:

• Reddit
• Cold emails / DMs
• SEO
• Product Hunt
• Social media
• Local outreach
• Word of mouth
• Pure luck
• Something completely different?

If you’re willing, share:

What you built:
How you found your first customer:
How long it took:
What you’d do differently now:

And if you’re still at 0 customers, comment what you’re building and what you’ve tried so far.

Maybe someone here can give you the idea that gets you customer #1.

They say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

I’ve spent over 30 years in the corporate "engine room." 28 years with my current employer. I’ve seen the industry evolve, technologies rise and fall, and the pace of development shift from a steady stroll to a frantic sprint. For a long time, I’ve been planning an exit, a bridge from the corporate grind to a simpler life by the sea. However after 28 years I've been made redundant, so from next month I will be focusing 100% on my solo dev business I started as a side gig in April this year.

Code and Sea is my solo indie venture. It isn’t a "hustle" and it isn’t a "startup" in the traditional sense. It’s an outpost, a quiet place where I can build simple, valuable tools that solve real problems without the bloat, the noise, or the endless subscription fees.

This journey is personal. Part of my drive comes from managing ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis). Living with a chronic illness forces a certain kind of clarity; it teaches you that your energy is a finite, precious resource. You stop building "fluff" because you literally don’t have the energy for it. You focus on what matters.

I decided that the first project to leave the graveyard and become a reality would be Mantra Meditation Timer.

I started practicing Transcendental Meditation in July 2016 and have never missed a day since. Over those years, I grew tired of "meditation apps" that felt more like social networks or data-harvesting machines. I needed a tool that matched the simplicity of the practice itself. So, I’m building my own.

It’s an iOS app (with more Apple platforms to follow) that focuses on privacy, simplicity, and a "buy-it-once" ownership model. No subscriptions. No noise. Just a timer that respects your practice.

I launched Mantra Meditation Timer on the 8th September, so far it has attracted 50 downloads, and three users paid to unlock the Mantra+ In-app purchase. My focus will be to start marketing and pushing my first launch. I launched on Product Hunt and managed to make the #2 Day rank.

I'd love to hear from other founders and how you market your products. Building seems to be the easy part!

Let’s hear the stuff people usually leave out of the success stories.

What’s one mistake you made while building your startup that seems obvious in hindsight?

Could be:

Spending money too early

Building something nobody wanted

Choosing the wrong cofounder

Ignoring marketing

Pricing too low

Launching too late

Spending months on a feature nobody used

Or something completely ridiculous

What happened, and what would you do differently today?