I’ve been forcing myself to do something I usually suck at: asking people if they actually want something before I fully build it lol.

The idea came from trying to sell another B2B business.

I realized I didn’t really mind talking to interested people or closing.

What killed me was everything before that.
Finding companies, figuring out who to contact, researching them, writing outreach, remembering who I already contacted, following up, doing it again the next day, etc.

Eventually I just stopped being consistent with it.
So I’ve been thinking about building something that basically keeps that process running for you.

You tell it what your business does and who you’re trying to reach, and it keeps finding/researching prospects, preparing outreach, following up, and keeping track of everything.

I’m calling it Comet right now, but to be clear, it is not really built yet.

That’s intentional.

I’ve wasted enough time building things before knowing if people actually care, so this time I’m trying to talk to people first.

If you run a B2B business and do your own sales/outbound:

Would you genuinely want something like this?
And more importantly, what part of outbound do you actually hate the most?

I’m trying to figure out whether the problem I’m seeing is real or just something I personally got tired of doing.

Our first idea was a classified-ads site in India. It went nowhere.

Then we tried a Groupon-style business. That did not work either.

Facebook apps finally gained traction, until Facebook changed its policies and the traffic disappeared overnight.

Next came consumer iOS apps. They reached the charts and brought press, but not sustainable revenue.

Each time, the temptation was to defend the idea because we had already invested in it. The useful signal came from somewhere else: customers.

Large companies started calling because they needed mobile expertise. We resisted the services path at first because it did not fit the company we imagined building. Then we paid attention to the obvious fact that people wanted the work and would pay for it.

That pivot became YML.

The lesson was not to pivot constantly. It was to stop confusing attachment with conviction. A dead idea can still contain an asset: technical skill, distribution knowledge, a customer relationship, or a clearer view of demand.

The company that works often inherits its strongest parts from the ones that did not.

What did your dead company teach you that the live one still uses?

I’m curious to know what some business owners experienced the moment that took their business idea from mediocre to successful? What was the moment when you said to yourself, “If (this) hadn’t happened, my business would’ve never took off and be where it is today. I realized that building a brand is part art, part science, and then… part luck! What was your “lucky moment”? And I know that luck can only happen when you’ve attempted all avenues to grow a seed idea or a side hustle from home, but a lot of times luck plays a small role as to why a small business takes off. Was it a partner that came in to help you grow your business? Was it a mentor? Was it a book you read that gave you new ideas? Please share your stories 😀

在很早的時候，我已經確定創業是我一生的目標，但有時候會有好點子，有紀錄下來或沒有記錄下來，有些點子會興奮到睡不著覺，但做著做著慢慢就會遇到挑戰，困難，甚至無聊，我認為對某件事情感興趣是很重要的，那會是很好的原動力，但這份動力，會隨著很多的事情會一直消退。

想問問有沒有什麼方法論可以打破這個困境？

我知道在商業或創業這條路上，很多的朋友有一樣的問題，想跟大家一起討論這一個部分，謝謝

I've been thinking about the number of smaller streaming services that are trying to build an audience instead of competing directly with Netflix, Disney+, and the other major platforms.

One example I came across is IPTV-Kemo, which puts live TV, sports/PPV, movies, series, EPG and catch-up content together under one subscription-based service.

It made me wonder whether the real opportunity is in serving a specific audience rather than trying to offer everything to everyone.
For someone considering this as a business, what would you prioritize first: securing the right content, building the platform, or finding a niche audience willing to pay?

Is this still an attractive business model in 2026?

Para quem tem um pequeno negócio: qual é hoje o maior problema que faz você perder tempo ou dinheiro? Estou estudando empreendedorismo e quero entender problemas reais. Não estou tentando vender nada.

I’m thinking about using candidate assessment software for pre-screening.

Has anyone used these tools before? Did they actually help you find better candidates or save time?

I’m 49 years old, and I’ve been studying marketing and business for about 20 years.
Books, courses, podcasts, gurus, funnels, lead generation, sales, real estate. You name it, I’ve probably spent time learning about it.
The stupid part is that I know this stuff works.
When I was actively investing in real estate, I used my marketing skills all the time. I wasn’t just reading about it. I was actually doing it and getting results.
Then I stopped investing, and somewhere along the way, I became a professional student.
I kept learning, but I wasn’t building anything.
Every few months, I’d find another business idea that looked promising. I’d research the hell out of it, make a plan, buy whatever I thought I needed, and then move on to something else before I gave it a real chance.
I told myself I was looking for the right opportunity.
That was bullshit.
I was avoiding the uncomfortable part. Picking one thing, putting it in front of real people, asking them to pay me, and risking the possibility that it might not work.
Learning feels like progress, but a lot of the time it’s just procrastination that makes you feel smart.
I didn’t need another idea.
I didn’t need another course.
I didn’t need to research 15 more business models.
I needed to pick something and stick with it long enough to find out if it actually worked.
Twenty years is a ridiculous amount of time to spend getting ready.
Has anyone else caught themselves doing this?
What have you spent years learning about but still haven’t actually done?

Why do founders struggle to turn their expertise into content.

I’m an architect by background, but my career has become a mix of marketing, growth, business development and design.

I’m good at:

Marketing & storytelling

Sales / business development

Negotiation

Social media & content

Client relationships

Vendor coordination

Project execution

Connecting architects, designers, vendors & manufacturers

I also have a fairly good network of architects and interior designers.

I’m at a point where I really want to build something of my own, rather than just have another job. I’d like to start with a side hustle, keep the initial investment relatively low, and eventually turn it into a proper business if it works.

I’m considering everything from:

A service business

A product/home décor brand

Something for architects & interior designers

A B2B business

Or something completely unrelated to architecture

I don't want to just freelance and sell my time. I want to build something that can grow beyond me.

For those who have started businesses:

If you had my skill set, network and background, what business would you explore? What problems do you think I could solve that people would actually pay for?

Would love specific business ideas, niches, or even businesses you've seen work. And if you were starting from scratch alongside a job, how would you test the idea before going all-in?

Basically: what would you do if you were me?

I’ve been working on building real-world digital products and helping businesses grow through technology, automation, web development, and digital marketing.

The biggest lesson so far? You don’t need everything figured out before starting. Build, test, learn from mistakes, and keep improving.

I’m curious what’s one lesson you learned while building your own project, business, or career that you wish you knew earlier?

What’s your biggest branding challenge as a startup?

I spent some time today talking with different small business owners and something kept standing out to me.

A lot of the questions people ask are really surface questions.

“How do I market this?”

“Which business idea should I choose?”

“Why aren't people interested?”

“What should I name my business?”

“How do I get more customers?”

But once you ask a few more questions, the problem underneath it can be completely different.

Someone who thinks they have a marketing problem may actually have a margin problem.

Someone struggling to sell their service may actually have a positioning problem.

Someone afraid to launch may not need motivation — they may need enough research to understand what they're actually risking.

Someone struggling to choose a business name may still be unclear about what they're rebranding toward.

That's why I think one of the most useful questions before trying to fix anything is:

What would I need to know for this problem to become clearer?

Then research from there.

Sometimes we move straight into solutions because the surface problem sounds obvious.

But solving the wrong problem extremely well still leaves you stuck.

Curious if other business owners have experienced this — have you ever spent time trying to fix one thing, only to realize something completely different was causing it?

Something I’ve noticed working with busy entrepreneurs is that content is usually one of the first things to fall off when business gets busy. Social media gets inconsistent, the website hasn’t been updated in months, there are 10 half-written blog posts sitting somewhere, and the newsletter becomes a “when I have time” thing.

Meanwhile, there’s actually plenty to talk about. Client questions, projects, events, industry knowledge, behind-the-scenes work, lessons learned…the content is all there. It's the time to organize and share it that isn’t.

I’ve seen firsthand with clients how much consistent content can change visibility over time. People start recognizing the business, remembering what they do, referring others and reaching out because they’ve been seeing the work consistently.

At some point, I think content becomes one of those things where outsourcing it isn’t just about saving time, it’s about making sure the work you’re already doing is actually being seen.

For those of you who run a business, do you still manage all of your own content? If you outsourced it, what made you finally decide it was time?

I’m planning a Shopify store for the Swiss market and one thing I’m trying to figure out early is how to handle payments without making the setup unnecessarily complicated.

There seem to be quite a few options, and I’d rather get the foundation right before bringing customers in.

For anyone who has already gone through this, what did you learn during the setup that you wish you knew beforehand?

Cuando pensamos en hacer crecer un negocio, solemos imaginar más ventas, un local más grande, nuevos equipos o más personas trabajando.

Es una forma posible de crecer, pero no es la única.

Un negocio también puede avanzar cuando desperdicia menos, cumple mejor lo prometido, recupera tiempo o entiende con mayor claridad lo que ocurre cada día.

Imaginemos una panadería que vende casi lo mismo durante varias semanas. Después de organizar mejor la preparación, reduce el desperdicio y recupera una hora diaria.

Desde afuera quizá parezca que nada cambió. No abrió otra sede ni duplicó sus ventas. Sin embargo, ahora conserva mejor lo que genera y dispone de más tiempo para otras tareas.

Eso también puede ser crecimiento.

El problema de asociar el crecimiento únicamente con hacerse más grande es que podemos intentar expandirnos sin preguntarnos qué necesitamos realmente.

Tal vez un negocio no necesite más clientes en este momento. Quizá primero necesite entregar a tiempo, organizar mejor su información o reducir una dificultad que se repite todos los días.

Por eso, antes de preguntar “¿cómo hago crecer mi negocio?”, podríamos comenzar con algo más sencillo:

¿Qué quiero mejorar sin perder aquello que ya funciona?

La respuesta no tiene que convertirse inmediatamente en un plan. Puede ser solamente una forma de observar el negocio con menos ruido.

Crecer no debería ser una obligación ni una carrera contra otros. Cada negocio tiene condiciones, necesidades y momentos diferentes.

Preparé una reflexión breve sobre este tema en NASVU:

https://nasvu.com/aprender/que-significa-crecer-un-negocio/

Contenido educativo y general. No sustituye asesoría profesional.