I've been building a natural hair styling powder called MONT for almost a year now.

It's been a pretty rough journey, formulation, packaging, manufacturing, trying to get salons to even give an unknown product a chance, and spending considerably more than I've made so far 😅.

Recently, though, things have started getting interesting. I've been sending samples to professional hairstylists for genuine feedback, and Bhavishya recently tested MONT on a client and sent me this video.

Around the same time, Tushar also tested all three MONT variants and shared positive feedback about the products.

Seeing someone completely outside my own circle actually use something I formulated and manufactured is a pretty surreal feeling.

I'm still very early and definitely haven't “made it.” Right now I'm trying to figure out whether positive professional feedback can actually turn into repeat customers and a sustainable business.

Thought I'd share one small milestone from the journey. Would also genuinely love to hear what you think of the result.

When I started my small apparel business, I thought growth was all about getting more traffic.

I spent months learning ads, improving my website, and trying to increase conversions. Every time sales slowed down, my first thought was, "I need better marketing."

Then I started talking to repeat customers.

What surprised me was that almost none of them mentioned my marketing. They talked about the product itself, how the garment felt, whether the quality matched their expectations, and the small details that made it feel like a brand worth buying from again.

That completely changed how I spend my time.

Instead of constantly chasing the next product launch, I've been investing more time into sampling, testing different garment options, improving branding details, and making sure every product feels consistent. It's slowed my launch schedule, but I think it's helping me build a business with a stronger foundation instead of just generating one-time sales.

One thing I've learned is that customer acquisition gets all the attention, but customer confidence is built after the package arrives.

I'm curious if other founders have experienced something similar.

Was there one lesson that completely changed how you ran your business after your first few customers? Mine wasn't about marketing at all, it was about improving the product.

We build technology products exclusively for the education sector.

If you're connected with a group of schools, colleges, or educational institutions, please DM me.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for advice from people who have built and scaled businesses, particularly from content creation into a real company.

My wife has had pretty rapid growth as an anonymous/faceless art content creator. In her first 11 months, she made just under $30,000. About $2,000 came from brand deals, with the rest coming primarily from TikTok ad revenue.

This year, she’s now monetized on YouTube Shorts and Facebook (still waiting on Instagram), and she’s on pace to surpass last year’s revenue despite barely posting for 2–3 months due to several major life events. She also has a small Etsy shop that’s made a few hundred dollars, but it hasn’t been a focus yet. She’s also started landing larger brand partnerships and is beginning to build a portfolio of recognizable national companies.

We’ve always wanted to own a business, but never knew what path we’d take. Now we’re starting to feel like we have a real opportunity. Rather than having her continue trying to do everything herself, we’ve decided to split responsibilities. She’ll focus on the creative side of content, product ideas, and the brand, while I’ll focus on operations, systems, finances, analytics, partnerships, and building the business.

We’re both in our late 20s and have never built a company before, so we’re learning as we go.

My biggest question right now is about building the operational side of the business.
What software and systems would you recommend for creating the foundation of a scalable company?
I’m less concerned about accounting software (we know we’ll need bookkeeping, spreadsheets, etc.) and more interested in things like:
SOPs and process documentation
KPI dashboards
Business operating systems
Project management
Product roadmaps
Company wiki/knowledge base
CRM
Task management

I’ve seen Notion recommended quite a bit, but I’m curious what people who have actually scaled businesses are using and what they wish they had set up earlier.

Our long-term vision is something like:
Content creation → Digital products & Etsy → Standalone website → Branded physical products → A larger consumer brand in our niche.
I understand that’s a long road, but I’d rather build the right foundation now than have to rebuild everything later.
Any advice, lessons learned, or resources you’d recommend would be greatly appreciated.

I've spent the last year building my own products. Solo, start to finish. A couple got traction, a couple didn't, but I learned the thing you only learn by actually shipping and then keeping the thing alive - everything from the first line of code to the 2am "why is production down" debugging.

What I can do for you:

• Build your product from scratch — MVP or full build, I take it from idea to deployed and working
• Add an AI layer that actually works — LLM features, RAG pipelines, semantic search that grounds its answers instead of hallucinating.
• Build the tools your business runs on — dashboards, internal tools, client/vendor portals
• Rescue a stalled project — inherit a half-finished or broken codebase and get it to done

Recently delivered : a full logistics dispatch platform for a US freight client — live GPS tracking, dispatcher dashboard, driver app with proof-of-delivery scanning, and a broker portal. End to end.

Stack:

• Frontend/backend: React, Next.js, JavaScript/TypeScript, PHP
• Mobile: Flutter
• AI: LLM integration, RAG pipelines, Qdrant (vector search / retrieval)

Availability: full-time, can start immediately.

Hi, I am genuinely curious what people who run businesses would do with this combination — I have just built a SAAS and that is my focus, but I'm curious what you'd do or suggest for someone with the below skills (its a random mix):

What I have:

- Currently studying a Degree in Project Management (finishing soon)

- Diplomas in Leadership & Management and Training & Assessment (specifically Training Adults not Kids)

- Years of experience managing teams and designing / delivering large-scale training programmes, including accredited courses, and managing the teams behind them

- Strong IT/automation skills: build websites, some SEO skills, automate workflows with n8n, comfortable with computer networking, and can code my own apps/software

- Advanced Excel, PowerPoint, and training/facilitation skills

I'm happy where I am career-wise, so this is purely about what I could do in future to build on the side — something scalable, not just trading time for money - something with a bit of leverage.

I think what I have is a fairly eclectic set of training/skills and experience which is why I'm curious:

If you had this toolkit, what would you do with it?

As title says, how did you guys find the business before leaving the 9-5 job.

I've been learning Business Analysis, and I think the best way to improve is by working on real business problems instead of only reading case studies.

If you're building a business, comment:

* What your business does
* Your biggest challenge right now

I'll pick a few, spend around 10 minutes thinking about each one, and reply with one practical idea or observation that might help.

No sales and no catch. I'm just trying to learn by solving real business problems, and hopefully you'll get a useful perspective too.

This is something I've noticed after working with many small businesses.

Many celebrate growing sales, but almost all of their customers come from marketplaces or social media.

The uncomfortable question is:

What happens if the algorithm changes, your account gets suspended, or advertising costs double?

You don't own your audience.

That's one of the reasons I built SitusBisnis.

It's not "just another website builder."

The goal is simple:

• Build a website without coding. • Create SEO-friendly product catalogs that can be found on Google. • Build landing pages for campaigns. • Accept online payments. • Turn your business into a digital asset instead of depending entirely on third-party platforms.

I'm not claiming a website magically increases revenue.

But I do believe every serious business should own at least one digital asset that nobody can take away.

I'm still developing the platform and would genuinely appreciate honest feedback from business owners.

If you were building the ideal website platform for SMEs, what feature would make you switch from WordPress, Shopify, or relying only on marketplaces?

I read every comment, whether it's positive or brutally critical.

Cosmetics packaging seems to demand a different level of precision than a lot of other categories.

Anyone worked recently with design studios to make dielines for cosmetics packaging?

AI can save a small business real time and money. It can handle reminders, organize leads, prepare first drafts, answer routine questions and take repetitive work off the owner’s desk.

The mistake is automating the parts customers actually value.

I already avoid companies that trap me inside telephone prompts and make it nearly impossible to reach a human being. Large corporations may absorb that frustration for a while. A small business cannot afford to make customers feel processed, ignored or blocked from help.

The smarter model is simple: use AI behind the scenes and remain unmistakably human in front of the customer.

A medical practice needs fewer missed appointments and better follow-up. A restaurant owner wants empty tables occupied. A skincare company can create an attractive advertisement with AI, while the product still has to earn the reorder.

Technology should remove wasted work. It should not remove judgment, accountability or access to someone capable of fixing a problem.

Small businesses have an opening here. Large companies are automating themselves into distance. A smaller operator can use the same efficiency while still answering the phone, remembering the customer and making a decision without six transfers.

That may become a far bigger competitive advantage than most owners realize.

With over 7 years of experience building applications for multiple clients, a year ago I got ghosted by a client and since then I stopped finding clients and started building products (micro SAAS) with no idea of distribution

Had over 6 months of runway, which I blew up in building multiple products which I thought were useful, but could not even have one paid user. I launched 6 products and not a single user who was ready to pay for it.

I know many of devs have a similar story, but finally after I seeing no way going forward I decided to scrap everything and learn storytelling, distribution.

Not sure if this is something you’d want to hear, but stop building and learn distribution. Many other indie dev will tell you to keep shipping because they make money out of you.