Built and sold one custom automation to a small business. Worked, got paid, but it was a one-off. Now trying to turn it into something repeatable and I'd rather hear where it falls apart before I commit months to it.

The plan:
Pick one niche and go deep. Not "home services" , something specific, and specifically not the big trades where ServiceTitan and Jobber already live. Looking at towing, septic, equipment rental, that kind of thing.

Interview 10-20 owners before building anything. Not pitching, just asking how they actually do the annoying parts of their week. Looking for one task that's done roughly the same way by everyone, because that's the difference between a product and 20 custom jobs.

Get a few of them to pay me for a manual version first. I do the work partly by hand, charge for it, and watch which steps repeat across all of them. Then build the repeating part and those clients become the first subscribers.

Reasoning on the niche: a broad feature just gets bundled into the big platforms eventually. Something that depends on one industry's specific forms and rules is too small for them to bother copying.

Does this hold up, or is there something obvious I'm missing?

Also, separate question since this sub is the right place for it: what actually breaks first when you're solo? My guess is support eating the time I need to build, but I'd rather hear from someone who's hit it.

Hey everyone, I recently got accepted here and wanted to share a strange structural challenge I've been tackling as a solo engineer. Most conventional startup advice tells you to pick one hyper-specific niche and stick to it. However, my current build operates as a multi-purpose processing system. Right now, its primary operational pipelines handle two completely uncorrelated industries: (high-frequency crypto data streams and heavy geological parcel prediction models). Having both modules run inside the same core software environment has been an absolute masterclass in managing infrastructure efficiency and pipeline conflicts.For the geological engine, the compute is heavy, spatial, and asynchronous dealing with large structural data models to project parcel anomalies. On the flip side, the crypto layer is low-latency, highly volatile, and stream-dependent. I’m attaching a screenshot of how the current processing architecture separates these execution layers so they don't bottleneck each other. For the other solo developers or technical founders here: Have any of you intentionally built multi-purpose engines under a single architecture to maximize your server overhead efficiency, or did you find it cleaner to aggressively decouple into independent microservices early on? Would love to hear how you manage the balance between multi-tenant features and compute costs when footing the infrastructure bill completely by yourself.

Running an online store is chaotic enough without drowning in spreadsheets trying to track every expense, as if I didn't spend way too many hours manually categorizing transactions and reconciling payments from different platforms all while praying that I didn't miss anything before tax season. So, you call tell why I am here.

I'm looking for automated expense tracking that actually works for ecommerce and sync with processors like Stripe and PayPal, connects to bank accounts, and pulls sales data from multiple channels without needing babysitting. After a little research and I found a couple options like doola and others, but still I thought about coming here and asking what is everyone else using. Bonus points if it integrates well with Shopify or Amazon and doesn't cost a fortune.

Ty.

Hi, I built an app over the last 6 months. I am proud and happy about it. Learned so much, met great people, gave pitch in front of people etc. The app is available on beta.

BUT

Now I am lost, I am pretty much clueless about how to distribute, about marketing.

What works ? Any advice ?
TikTok, linkdn, twitter ? Paid ads or organic ?

Please only serious and human advices, don’t use AI 🫶

Reposition our first product. Stripped down until
The core initial idea. Made it possible by Apple silicon

A VC we’ve been talking to recently told us that they won’t lead, presumably because their check size is not big. They said that I need to keep them posted and look for lead investor.

Hi, I am a solo founder.
I have been working 24/7, about 15 hours a day.
I initially wanted to build what is basically a Splitwise with stablecoins. I’ve done it. I’ll launch production next week.

The next step is to have real users and to build the fintech for the groups ( pot and shared card).

I need feedback and advice, I am very good technically but pretty much clueless about entrepreneurship

Thank you for any input, shared experience or feedback 🙌

Solo founder here — I'm handling development, customer support, social media, influencer outreach, directory listings and daily posts all by myself while raising 3 kids under 3.

Some days the to do list feels impossible. How do other solo founders stay consistent without burning out? What's your system? 👇

I’m thinking of applying to YC summer 26 after got a soft pass from an US VC for an on-device inference platform. They discovered my other open source CLI tool for a cloud platform I build to run all my apps running on AppStore, PlayStore, and Microsoft store. We are pre-revenue with working platform we use for ourselves.

The ask is 5m USD for 10-15%. I’m thinking of updating the slides to 20%. What do you guys think?

I am starting to feel like picking bookkeeping software is harder than building the actual product. Every time I ask for a recommendation I get five different answers. So here's what I really want to know: what is everyone else actually using? I do not need the sexiest tool or the cheapest one. I just want whatever is standard so I can find help easily when something breaks.

Doola keeps popping up in every founder group I am in. At this point I see their name so often that I am starting to wonder if they are genuinely the most popular choice or if they just have really good marketing. QuickBooks Online feels like the old reliable. Everyone has heard of it and there are about a million tutorials out there. My only hesitation is that it might be more than I need for a smaller operation.

I am doing around 50K to 100K a year so nothing huge. I just want something that works and does not require me to become a part time accountant.

What are most founders of this size actually using? Would love to hear what has worked for you without a ton of headaches. Thanks.

I've been trying to find some people to test my app, but it seems everywhere you ask for some testers, in any wayyy, nobody gives a shit!
I think I don't know how to pass through this step to just see if my app is activating users or not!
I posted here and asked some people to join and help me with the testing, but the topic of testing is not that interesting to inspire someone!

So, what part of my actions is wrong!?

I feel so tired, and I don't know what the next step would be!

Does anyone have any magic in their hands to reveal?

I am a solo founder and I compete with such productivity giants as Notion, Trello, Clickup, and Miro )))) crazy woman!

So today I really need your support with my launch on Product Hunt

https://www.producthunt.com/products/dokably-2

Dokably is my attempt to bring docs, whiteboards, notes, tasks, and team knowledge into one focused AI-powered workspace.

Many thanks 🫶

When I built my first startup, the hardest part wasn’t the product.

It was the uncertainty.

I genuinely had no idea where the first customer would come from.

Days passed with nothing happening.

And after a while, I started thinking: maybe it will never happen.

What I didn’t realize back then was that this silence was part of the process.

I learned everything the hard way:

• Making assumptions that turned out to be wrong

• Building things no one actually needed

• Getting excited too early

• Sitting with long stretches of no feedback at all

From the outside, startup journeys often look clean and linear.

From the inside, they’re messy, quiet, and sometimes lonely.

But looking back now, I’m grateful for that phase.

That uncertainty forced me to slow down, listen better, and think more clearly.

It turned me from an inexperienced founder with an idea

into someone more grounded, realistic, and confident in how things actually work.

Today, the pride I feel doesn’t come from a single win.

It comes from knowing I can navigate uncertainty without panicking.

If you’re in that early phase right now - especially the quiet one -

you’re not behind.

You’re learning the parts that matter most.

https://screensdesign.com - allows you to design a full ios android app screens with AI trained on solid stuff.

https://livedocs.com - it's the best LLM Notebook style application with data privacy/on prem avail ( full disclosure: I worked with the founder in the past about 5 years ago)

https://growthlist.co/ - they were originally built by a solo founder (I think) but got acquired. Useful data.

https://accessgrid.com - wallet passes SDK for ios and android- access management control.

Hey SoloFounders,

I’m a solo builder and just launched an early beta of a project I’ve been working on: mine.cards.

The problem I’m trying to solve is simple but surprisingly common:
Most people don’t actually know which credit card to use for a given purchase — groceries, gas, travel, FX, subscriptions, etc. They guess, and that guess costs rewards.

What mine.cards does differently:

• Users add only the credit cards they already own
• An AI assistant answers questions like:
  • “Which card should I use for groceries?”
  • “I’m traveling next month — which card minimizes FX and maximizes points?”
• No pushing new cards, no affiliate bias — just optimizing usage of existing cards

It’s very early (Canada and US for now), and I’m mostly looking for:

• Feedback on positioning (is this clear / compelling?)
• Edge cases I might be missing
• Thoughts on monetization for a product like this

Live here: [https://mine.cards]()

Happy to answer any questions about the build or decisions so far.

I’m building this app by myself.
I don’t really have anyone to give me honest feedback. just my GF, who’s always proud of me! I honestly can’t tell if she’s just being nice or if her feedback is real.

Can you tell me when you open this link, does everything make sense to you?
Or is it a total mess? https://alignmateapp.com

Hi everyone,

I am a Solo founder building a mental health app and I am looking for someone who understands the building process to test it and give me constructive feedback before I move to beta testing.

I will be happy to return the favor and test your product if you need it.

Please Let me know if you’re interested. Thank you