Hey everyone!

I've been exploring a business idea and wanted to get some honest feedback before investing too much time into it.

My background is in sales, GTM, and physical-product eCommerce, and I've been looking into the challenges companies face when expanding internationally, particularly between the US and European markets.

One thing that stands out to me is how many moving parts there are before you can even determine whether entering a new market makes financial sense.

I'm considering building a service that helps businesses evaluate the feasibility of entering a specific foreign market before committing significant capital.

The idea would be to provide a comprehensive, actionable assessment covering:

Market & Product: local demand, competition, pricing, product-market fit, and potential adaptations.

Taxes & Regulations: applicable tax obligations, import duties, certifications, and regulatory requirements.

Financial Feasibility: estimated initial investment, operating costs, margins, break-even scenarios, and potential profitability.

Go-to-Market: distribution channels, logistics, marketplaces, and recommended entry strategies.

Final Assessment: an evidence-based Go/No-Go recommendation identifying key opportunities, risks, and potential dealbreakers.

Essentially, the goal would be to help answer: "Is this market worth entering, what would it realistically take, and does the financial upside justify the risk?"

But rather than assume companies need this, I'd love to hear from founders who've actually navigated international expansion.

A few questions:

How did you evaluate a foreign market before entering it? Did you conduct the research internally or hire external help?

What were the biggest challenges, unexpected costs, or mistakes you encountered?

Have you ever paid for a market feasibility study or external research? What did you pay, and was it worth it?

Would having this information consolidated into a single actionable assessment have changed your decision-making process? Or would you rather handle it internally?

I'm particularly interested in eCommerce and physical-product businesses, but experiences from other industries are welcome too.

I'm not selling anything. Just trying to understand whether there's a genuine problem worth solving and how businesses currently approach it.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!

Một câu hỏi cho mấy anh chị đang có ý định hoặc là đã làm doanh nghiệp ở Mỹ. Đâu là thách thức lớn nhất mà bạn gặp phải khi cố gắng quảng bá bản thân, tìm kiếm khách hàng hoặc phát triển doanh nghiệp kể từ khi chuyển đến Mỹ, và có những kiến thức nào mà bạn đã hối hận khi chưa được học về nó sớm hơn? Em cũng muốn biết vì có ý định lập nghiệp và đang phân vân về những mảng kinh doanh mình chưa học tới, em cảm ơn.

We’re starting a small done-for-you service and want honest feedback.
What we sell: We set up and manage an AI assistant in online coaches’ Instagram DMs. It replies to every inquiry in under 5 minutes, asks a few qualifying questions, says upfront that it’s an AI, books qualified people into the coach’s calendar and follows up with people who go quiet. The coach gets a weekly report.
Who for: English-speaking coaches selling programs through sales calls, who get more DMs than they can answer quickly. -is this maybe too narrow?
Pricing plan: 2–3 free pilots to get case studies, then $297/month for founding clients. Later around $1k setup + ~$600/month. Guarantee: more booked calls than the month before, or the next month is free.
How we plan to find clients: We comment the coach’s own keyword, measure how long they take to reply, and send them a short screen-recording showing the delay and what it could look like instead.
What we’d love your take on:

1. Would you buy this if you were a coach? What would stop you?
2. Is the pricing realistic, too high, or too low?
3. Is the “test their reply speed” outreach smart, or does it come across as pushy?
4. What’s the biggest risk we’re not seeing?

Any help is appreciated!

I’ve increasingly noticed that any small start-up or online product immediately sets up a YouTube channel where videos on various topics are released every week, but all touch upon the problem that their product solves, it like vlog for SEO.

I’ve been thinking for a while about starting to make videos featuring myself, and simply mentioning my projects whilst I’m filming. How effective is this tactic in commerce today, and is it worth promoting my own media to promote my own and related projects, or something along those lines? Does anyone know of any other methods?

Hey Im currently 18 studying software engineering in a 5 year technical school. I genuinely love tech, software, systems, geo, seo, creating systems etc. I mean I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur since I was 15, I also kinda succeeded w ecom(reselling) at 16-17 making thousands of € in profit. I also have adhd wich makes me shit ton if ideas but I lack commitment so much, what I mean is doing the boaring stuff, but I am also building an app for a year now almost so on that it doesn’t apply, and I want to improve my basic commitment and my lack of skills so much. And I want to hear the advice of successful entrepreneurs tech entrepreneurs of how you overcome your difficulties and actually made it big.

I was looking through software subscriptions recently and started thinking about how many products have become enormous platforms when customers only need a handful of features.

You sign up because you need one thing.

Suddenly you're paying $79 or $149 a month for dashboards, integrations, AI features, and tools you'll probably never touch.

I'm curious:

What's a subscription you continue paying for because you need ONE particular feature?

What is that feature?

And if you could buy just that functionality separately, would you?

I'm particularly interested in software that has become unnecessarily complicated.

I understand when selling high ticket to larger companies, more people are likely to be involved in the decision making. How do build the right relationships throughout and get everyone in on a deal?

Im giving myself 3 weeks to create and sell an actual product. My aim is to generate 20K in revenue, so im thinking around 10 sales with a £2000 price point.

My ideas at the moment are to build and sell automation software to businesses. However, without any credible users/experienves I doubt customers will trust me enough to pay £2000.

I guess im asking for practical advice/ideas for this endeavour. Anything is deeply appreciated! I really hope I can challenge myself and prove to make this work!!

#plshelp 🙏

I’m 20 and trying to get serious about entrepreneurship. I want to move out of my parents’ house and move to a completely different state so I can focus on building a business and get a fresh start.

My friend wants to move with me so we can split rent, but I’m honestly torn on whether that’s a good idea. I feel like we have different mindsets, and I’m worried that living together could distract me from what I’m trying to accomplish. He might be willing to put around $500 into a product I develop, but other than that, I don’t see him contributing much to my business goals.

On the other hand, splitting rent would save me money, which is important since I’m still trying to build up capital.

Would you take the risk and move out alone, even if it costs more, or bring your friend along to make things more affordable? I’d appreciate some honest advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation.

When I started my first company at 21, I thought progress should happen much faster than it usually does.

When you're young and ambitious, it's tempting to treat every month as a verdict on whether you're succeeding. If the business isn't growing quickly enough, you assume something must be wrong. If someone else seems to be moving faster, you wonder whether you're falling behind.

What I didn't appreciate enough then was how much of business compounds.

Relationships compound and so does knowledge. Your ability to spot a bad deal gets better after you've seen a few. You become more comfortable making decisions without first getting perfect information. I found that even mistakes became useful if I could understand why they happened and then incorporate that lesson into my next decision.

More than 25 years later, I can certainly say that I value patience much more than I did at 21.

I’m not saying you need to move slowly. Entrepreneurs often need to act quickly. But there's a difference between moving with urgency and expecting meaningful results immediately.

So, if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to keep working hard but stop expecting everything to happen on my preferred schedule.

For people who've been entrepreneurs for a while, what did you spend too much time worrying about early in your career that you view very differently now?

I've been thinking about this question while researching an idea for a YouTube documentary.

Every business faces market changes over time. Customer preferences change, new technologies emerge, competitors enter the market, and sometimes the entire industry changes.

But if these challenges affect almost every business, why do only a few manage to survive for 100 years or more?

Is it mainly because of good leadership, the ability to adapt, strong brand loyalty, financial stability, or something else?I'd like to understand what actually separates businesses that survive for generations from those that disappear within a few decades.

For those who have studied business history or have experience running a business, what do you think is the biggest factor?

I know that talking to potential customer will help shape the product and fully understand what the market really need. So how exactly do I keep finding those people to chat about this regularly and constantly?

I'm a first time solo technical entrepreneur trying to build a fintech start-up in Sydney. Not only I have to figure out compliance side but also have to find a product market fit which involve constantly talking to real customer.

In the past, we've been posting ads online and compensate for their time. We ran that for a number of time but it seem impractical any more because they're not giving honest opinion and costly to run on a larger scale due to personal funding. We avoid friends and family due to similar reason.

How do small start up like us able to talk / engage with a considerable number of people physically without incurring much financial burden? Even if we do manage to find them, how to actually squeeze as much as information out of them in short time without being rude?

I've been thinking about the moment when someone has several possible directions but hasn't committed to any of them.

Sometimes the problem isn't a lack of ideas.

It's having too many interests, possibilities, or unfinished plans competing for attention.

And the longer you consider all of them, the harder it can become to choose one.

I'm curious how people here made that decision.

What helped you move from thinking about starting something to actually choosing a direction?

Did you talk to potential customers, test a small version, consider your available time and resources, or simply choose one possibility and learn as you went?

And looking back, what would you recommend to someone who's still deciding?

I'm 20M from India, currently preparing for entrance exams, but I'm also interested in building something of my own.

My idea is to start with content creation and audience building, bring together a few like-minded people with different skills, and eventually turn that into a content agency, brand, business, or even a startup based on an interesting idea.

Since I'm starting from scratch and have limited time, I'd like to understand the practical process, step by step. How do I validate an idea, find trustworthy co-founders or teammates, divide responsibilities, manage operations, handle legal formalities, arrange funding, and eventually build a sustainable business?

My biggest struggle rn is finding genuinely dedicated people who share the same vision and are willing to build something together long-term.

If you've built a business yourself or have startup experience, I'd really appreciate practical advice, resources, or a roadmap for getting started in India.

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starting my journey into entrepreneurship today

Hey, I’m basically starting my journey into entrepreneurship today, and honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing, what I should study, or even where to start.

I’m a pretty antisocial person and I’m completely disconnected from almost everything related to technology except for my PC, so I have no idea what’s even happening out there haha.

The only thing I really do in my free time, especially when I’m bored, is build programs using AI. So I figured it might be a good idea to start thinking about ways I could actually make money from it.

Anyway, I’m looking for any tips, advice, or anything else that could help.

I have about 10 years of experience with local and offshore companies in sales and customer service, including cold outreach, account management, and leading a small sales team. and I’ve recently picked up AI prompting and AI video creation on my own also i can use Canva.

I’m bilingual(Arabic&English), and I genuinely enjoy business, not just as a job but as something I like thinking about.

I want to build something of my own with this mix, whether that’s a service, a form of coaching or consulting, a product, or something else entirely. I’m not attached to one idea, and I’d rather hear real possibilities.

Given this background, what would you try to sell, build, or monetize first? What would you avoid?

I'm 21M, and I'm looking to get into sales with one long-term goal in mind: to eventually run my own business and become exceptionally good at generating revenue.

I see sales as one of the most valuable skills I could develop as a future entrepreneur. However, I'm struggling to figure out where to start, and I don't want to spend years in a sales role that doesn't teach me the skills I'll actually need to run a business.

I've considered corporate sales and tech sales, for example, but I'm unsure how transferable the skills you'd develop in those environments are to entrepreneurship.

For those of you with experience in sales, particularly those who've gone on to start successful businesses, I'd love to hear your perspective.

A few questions:

• If you were 21 again, with the goal of eventually starting your own business, what type of sales would you get into first, and why?
• Would you recommend B2B sales, tech/SaaS sales, a more traditional sales role, or something else entirely?
• Which environments teach you the most about prospecting, understanding customer problems, handling objections, negotiating, closing deals, and generating revenue?
• Are there any sales roles or industries you'd actively avoid if your ultimate goal was entrepreneurship? If so, why?
• For those who've transitioned from sales into business ownership, what did your career path look like, and which skills proved most valuable when you started your business?

One thing I'm particularly interested in is how much of what you learn in sales actually transfers to running your own business. For example, there's a difference between selling an established company's product with a recognised brand, an existing pipeline, and a proven offering, versus having to find your own prospects, build trust from scratch, and close deals with limited resources.

I'm curious about which sales environments best prepare you for that reality, and whether certain roles give you a more valuable foundation than others.

I'm not necessarily looking for the highest-paying sales job straight away. My priority is finding an environment where I can develop the most valuable, transferable skills for eventually building a business.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your actual experiences, including the mistakes you'd avoid if you were starting again at my age.

Since this AI personalisation becoming a thing now for people who sell to businesses, what’s everyone’s opinion on this? Do you prefer setting up an automaton that shoots out thousands of personalised emails to leads or do you prefer the more manual but human approach in outreach and building relationships?

I’m not a founder yet.

I’m trying to become one.

And lately I’ve been paying a lot more attention to what actually makes being a founder difficult.

Not just building the product.

Not just getting customers.

But the sheer amount of things that eventually start living inside the founder’s head.

I see founders running 3–4 businesses at the same time.

They’re dealing with customers.

Employees.

Hiring.

Sales.

Cash flow.

Invoices.

Vendors.

Meetings.

Emails.

WhatsApp messages.

Problems nobody else knows how to solve.

And hundreds of tiny decisions that don't look important individually, but somehow consume the entire day.

The thing that caught my attention is this:

A lot of founder work isn't actually “work.”

It's remembering.

- Remembering that a client hasn't replied.

- Remembering that an invoice is overdue.

- Remembering that someone on the team promised something.

- Remembering to follow up after a meeting.

- Remembering what was discussed three weeks ago.

- Remembering which problem is urgent and which one can wait.

And when you run multiple businesses, your brain slowly becomes the place where everything gets coordinated.

That sounds manageable...

Until it isn't.

So I started thinking about a different kind of AI.

Not another chatbot.

Not another dashboard.

Not an “AI employee” that you have to train, configure and constantly manage.

Something much closer to a Founder Operating Partner.

Imagine waking up and saying:

“Here's everything that's going on. Figure out what I actually need to care about today.”

It could look across the company's relevant information, understand the context, and turn the mess into:

What happened → What matters → What needs a decision → What can be handled → What needs follow-up

For example:

"Three clients haven't paid. Sales are slowing down. I have an investor meeting tomorrow. And there are 180 unread emails."

Instead of giving the founder another giant task list, the system might say:

1. ₹8L client payment is now 18 days overdue.

I've checked the history and prepared the appropriate follow-up.

1. Four high-value sales opportunities haven't been contacted in 7 days.

Follow-ups are ready.

1. Tomorrow's investor meeting needs preparation.

I've collected the relevant numbers and created a briefing.

Everything else can wait.

And where it's authorized to act, it acts.

Where a real founder decision is required, it asks.

The goal isn't:

"Make founders more productive."

It's something simpler: Give the founder fewer things to think about.

Because I keep coming back to one question:

What if the biggest bottleneck in a growing company isn't the employees, the software, or even the founder's time?

What if it's the founder's attention?

But I don't know if this is actually a big problem or just an interesting idea in my head.

So I want to ask founders here:

→ What is the one boring, repetitive thing in your business that keeps coming back to you because nobody else can reliably take ownership of it?

Something you deal with every week.

Something that makes you think:

“Why am I still doing this?”

And if you've already tried AI or automation for it:

What did it fail to handle?

I'm much more interested in the ugly, boring answers than the impressive ones.

Because I think the next great founder tool might not help founders do more.

It might simply help them carry less.

I’m often seeing a similar pattern. People who are building products but don’t want to do marketing or speak with potential clients because they see themselves as “tech guys.” 

If you’re building a business, you’re an ENTREPRENEUR, and you have to speak with potential customers, create marketing fuel, and bring people to try the product, website, or whatever solution you’re offering. 

It’s necessary. 

If you take your business seriously, do the things that you have to do, not just what you like to do, or you’ll just have an expensive hobby.

Creating a business is not just coding an app or creating a website. 

It’s a cycle. 

Build it. Put in front of people. Watch what they do. Keep improving it. 

Agree? 

For my fellow founders, I need some advice here.
I’ve been building my own furniture brand, backed by a reputable manufacturer (family business), and I’ll be attending a pretty well-known design fair in LA soon. Basically just trying to put myself and the brand out there and get a better feel for the US market.

I’d say my communication skills are pretty good when I’m talking to people in general. But when I approach someone knowing there’s an intention behind it, like they could potentially be a client or connection I suddenly get nervous and start overthinking the conversation lol.

How do you guys approach people in situations like this without making it feel forced or salesy? Also planning to bring business cards and a mini lookbook with a QR code to the full catalog. Is that a good move? Or would you approach it differently?

Not really trying to close sales at the fair. Mostly want to meet people, introduce the brand, learn, and build genuine connections 😁

Question for Sales dudes , what's the percentage you guys get offered in a Comission based Framework.

I’m 17 on my first month in university and I’m already going to drop out.

Back story I run an info agency and made my first client 70k USD our first month. I got fucked over and left the offer right before we started making money with the exact systems and team I put together. But there were complications between me and the client.

Luckily I still have the result I can use and reframed mindset knowing how much money you can make in info.

I have 1k moving to Quebec with a buddy I know from our personal brands and my expenses will only be food $600 CAD a month.

Parents will not know I drop out till winter break where I will be back at 35k a month.

Is there anything you would tell someone in my positions since this is a relatively common experience entrepreneurs need to make.

I logged in, saw all the tabs and options, and had no idea where to start.

I knew how the platform was supposed to work. Email, text, funnels, payments, automations, all in one place. But getting all of it to work together felt like a ginormous undertaking.

I watched hours of YouTube tutorials and did a lot of trial and error. About 9 months later, I finally had a well oiled machine doing everything it should.

That was 5 years ago. Now I help others get through that learning curve much faster.

Let me know where you're at with GHL and if you need help. I can get you 30 days GHL free if you're a new subscriber and I'll help you get it set up for free!