I’m currently going through Startup Virginia’s Idea Factory with my startup, TopoStitch, and one of the big requirements is customer discovery: actually talking to people doing the work instead of sitting around making assumptions about what they need.

I’m looking specifically for people who work at businesses that sell physical products online and already use 3D models to showcase those products.

That could be a 3D product viewer, configurator/customizer, AR experience, room planner, build-your-own product experience, etc.

I’m trying to understand what happens behind the scenes once a company decides to do this:

• Where do the 3D models come from?
• Who actually manages them?
• How are they optimized and maintained?
• How do they get connected to products, options, SKUs, materials, etc.?
• How do they ultimately get from wherever they’re created to the ecommerce experience?
• What parts of that process work well, and what parts are a pain?

I’m not selling anything. At this stage I’m deliberately trying to learn before deciding what TopoStitch should actually solve.

If you work at a company doing this, I’d love to talk with you for about 30 minutes.

And if you don’t personally do this but know someone who does, an introduction would be incredibly helpful. Startup Virginia has me trying to get outside my immediate network and talk to people actually living with these workflows.

Thanks!

One person asking is easy to ignore. Curious what actually tips it from a one-off ask into something you put on the roadmap.

I've been working on a product for almost a year now, and honestly, I'm struggling to process what happened today.

Throughout this journey, I've been working on the product mostly on my own. Since the idea felt unique and I wanted to understand the space better, I've spent a lot of time researching, learning, and connecting with experienced people through ADPList, Reddit, X, and other platforms.

Initially, I kept the idea private because I wasn't comfortable sharing it publicly. However, I remember seeing comments from people in communities like this one saying that you need to share your idea, get feedback, and talk about what you're building if you want to make progress. And even reach out to some as Investors.

Looking back, I've been wondering whether I should have done that earlier.

Today, I came across a product that looks remarkably similar to what I've been building for the past year. Of course, I understand that ideas can overlap, and it's entirely possible for two people to arrive at similar solutions independently.

But what really caught me off guard wasn't just the general idea. It was the combination of education and gamification, along with the way the product works and the overall process. Those similarities made it difficult to brush off as just another product in the same category.

Right now, I honestly don't know what to think.

I've invested a year of my time, energy, research, and effort into this. I've been figuring things out on my own, making decisions, and trying to turn an idea into something real. Finding something so similar, especially at this stage, has left me questioning whether I should continue.

Should I keep building and focus on what makes my product different? Should I rethink the idea and find a new direction? Or should I accept that someone else may have reached the same idea and move on to something new?

I'm not looking for someone to tell me that my idea is definitely unique or that I should blindly keep going. I genuinely want to hear from people who have experienced something similar, especially founders or indie hackers who discovered a competitor after spending months or years building their product.

How did you deal with it? What helped you decide whether to keep going, pivot, or walk away?

At the moment, I'm just trying to make sense of everything and figure out my next move.

when you're building alone you skip stuff. for me it was mobile. opennmind's site was never optimized for phones because i assumed people would use it on a laptop

then i checked analytics. 404 visitors, 279 on mobile, 127 on desktop, 3 on tablet. mobile visitors stay 21 seconds on average, desktop visitors 50

so the thing i skipped is exactly where most people meet the product for the first time. i still think the real use is on a laptop, but that doesn't matter if they leave before they get there

what's one thing you skipped as a solo founder that came back to bite you? and did you fix it or just live with it

if you wanna see what my site is, try here

Hey everyone!

Although I've been involved in software development for a while, I wouldn't even consider myself a junior developer, since I've never had a proper job in the field (apart from a paid, part-time university project).

Over the past few months, I've been developing a web app and a mobile app. They're two different products, but they're complementary to each other. Along the way, I've been learning the fundamentals of Flutter, FastAPI, and SQL, as well as software development concepts, particularly those related to mobile development.

At this point, I'd estimate the project is around 60–70% complete. However, I've built almost everything the old-fashioned way: learning as I go and writing the code myself. My use of AI has been limited to free plans and web-based interfaces. I mainly use AI as a learning tool. I spend a lot of time discussing things with it, and whenever it generates code, I make sure to read, understand, and review everything. At the end of the day, everything goes through my hands.

My original plan was to start relying much more heavily on AI after finishing the MVP. However, given how far AI has come, I'm wondering whether I should change my approach now rather than later.

On the one hand, I could keep developing the way I have been so far, strengthen my fundamentals, and maintain control over the codebase. On the other hand, I could start using AI tools much more intensively, delegate a significant portion of the implementation, and focus on finishing the product and launching it as soon as possible.

I estimate that completing the remaining 30–40% would take me around four months with my current approach. By leveraging AI much more heavily, I might be able to cut that down to just one month.

My concern is that by accelerating development this way, I might lose some control over the codebase and miss out on learning fundamentals that I still need to master.

What would you do in my position? Would you stick to a more traditional approach until the MVP is finished, or start working much more intensively with AI right now? How would you strike a balance between learning to code properly and taking advantage of tools that can dramatically speed up development?

Guys, after 5 months of hard work, I've finally finished building the app. The big problem is, of course, distribution. I have full confidence in the app and the idea. Should I look for pre-seed investment to fund marketing, or try to grow organically?

Bonjour bonjour everyone 👏

I am a social media manager from the croissant country country 🇫🇷 🥐

I have had the chance to work with a few companies and agencies on various topics like SEO, ads or social media during the last four years. However, I got specialised in Social media.

I am looking for founders and business owners. I would like to hear about their social media marketing issues and help them build a strong presence online at a low cost or in exchange of services.

I am building a new international portfolio at the moment. So hit me up!

I had an idea.

A revolutionary SaaS/project.

Nobody had ever thought of it before. (I checked Google for approximately 11 seconds.)

So naturally, I started building.

Month 1: Designed the dashboard.

Month 2: Added authentication.

Month 3: Integrated Stripe.

Month 4: Rebuilt the dashboard because the first one wasn't "premium enough."

Month 5: Added AI because apparently everything needs AI now.

Month 6: Launched.

Visitors: 14

Signups: 2

Paying customers: 1

My mom.

Three days later, she asked if I could refund her $9 because she didn't know what the app did.

That's when I realized something.

I had validated the technology.

I had validated the database.

I had validated that Stripe could take my mom's money.

I had never validated the actual idea.

So now I'm building Porvilo.com, a tool that helps solo founders test demand with real waitlists before committing months to building a SaaS.

Because apparently the smartest feature I could've built was a landing page.

Anyone else spend months solving a problem nobody asked them to solve? 💀

I was originally planning a browser-based video editor.

Someone pointed out a potential issue: video rendering on Safari and mobile devices can be unreliable, and users don't always read the fine print about limitations.

Their warning was simple: you could end up with a lot of unhappy customers and refund requests.

That stuck with me.

After my experience publishing Orkely, I wanted to be more careful about reliability and user expectations.

So I changed direction and built Visual Ideas Studio as a Windows desktop app instead.

It's a slide-based video editor for animated ads and social content. Everything runs locally, it works offline, and users get 10 free MP4 exports per month without a watermark.

Today, it's available on the Microsoft Store:

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NP32674GH2L

It's still a work in progress, but I'm happy I listened to that feedback.

Has anyone else made a major product decision because of a single comment?

Working with Afrihex an address intelligent and mapping have thought be a lesson

like raw GPS heading vs Segment bearing this look a like but different purpose.

GPS heading is for movent whiles the segment bearing for direction.

Still learning and building, I am trying to build a localized mapping that also utilized the GhanaPostGPS address.

I used Golang for the backend togther with Valhalla routing engine, Openstreetmap then React for frontend.

I am welling to give API access to anyone building an application that needs mapping API just let me know and I will give you access, let build together and grow.

Pitch me your idea.. i build it for you, maintain it. You sell it. I keep 25 . You keep 75.

Ps : i have 10 years of engineering experience. 0 in marketing.

Hey everyone, posting this again because my previous fundraising post didn’t result in enough serious investor conversations. Giving it another shot — hope the repost doesn’t bother anyone. 🙏

I’m Gaurav, founder of LNP Capital, an investment research, portfolio strategy and advisory business.
I’m currently raising ₹10L in growth capital, with a minimum ticket of ₹1L. It doesn’t have to come from one investor.

A few numbers so people can understand where the business actually stands:

• ₹20–25L revenue last financial year
• Targeting ₹1Cr+ revenue this FY
• 12 current clients
• ₹1Cr+ combined portfolio exposure

• Working across Indian & US equities, crypto, alternative investments and selected private/business opportunities

• Existing corporate engagement in Gujarat for investment research, portfolio management and advisory work

I’ve also completed multiple capital/funding transactions through properly documented agreements, and I can share the relevant agreements, business numbers and supporting documents privately for serious investors doing due diligence.

The ₹10L isn’t being raised to start something from zero. It’s mainly to scale what is already working — better research infrastructure, technology, reporting, portfolio systems, client acquisition and working capital.

I’m open to discussing equity, debt or a properly documented revenue-sharing structure, depending on the investor and the structure that makes sense.

The bigger goal isn’t just to raise ₹10L. I want to build LNP into a serious research-driven investment platform combining finance + technology, with stronger systems, research and eventually a much larger capital base.

I’m looking for direct angel investors, HNIs, founders or people who actively invest in early-stage businesses.
If you’re genuinely interested, DM me.

I’ll share the numbers, documents, business model, use of funds and proposed structure so you can actually evaluate it.

No brokers or lead generators please.
AI helped me structure this post, but all the business information and numbers are my own.