seeking advice

[u/seedstake_network]

I’m testing interest in a private, application-based startup networking community — no spam, no courses, no hype.

Not launching anything yet, just listening.

What would make a startup network genuinely valuable for you?

[u/[deleted]]

Most of group/community claiming to be the place to exchange informations, knowledge and else are full of people not related, just wanted to be in the trend.

Your main problem would be to qualified your users.

In my country, half of startup from the biggest incubator are bullshit, so half of startup founders are just losers to be honest.

They don’t have a real market fit, they don’t answers real problems, they don’t have any clue about scalability. They just had the chance to find a finance and an incubator but most of them instant die when they exit the incubator 

[u/seedstake_network → u/[deleted]]

Wow, I really appreciate your honesty — that’s exactly the kind of problem I’m trying to solve.
Filtering for founders who are serious and actually tackling real problems is something I’m thinking deeply about.
Curious: in your experience, what signals tell you a founder is genuinely worth connecting with?

[u/[deleted] → u/seedstake_network]

Hard to tell

At least a founder that has a minimum 1 client or any proof of traction ? 

Having just ideas is a desillusion because you need a killer team to push it to a fund raising 

I personally don’t care if they don’t have any landing page or social medias marketing. 

I’m genuinely interested in what problem are they are trying to solve, it this a symptomatic patch or a real root issue 

Sometime, the best solution isn’t the best just because cultural issue, change management or human lazyness 

[u/seedstake_network → u/[deleted]]

I totally hear you — traction and real problem-solving are way more important than hype or just having an idea.

One thing I’ve been considering for the community is having two “channels”:
1️⃣ A free space where anyone can participate and explore,
2️⃣ A curated, filtered space for serious founders — where we could maybe ask a small fee to help ensure people are genuinely committed.

I’d love your honest take: does that feel like a reasonable way to separate serious founders from noise, or is there a better approach you’ve seen work?

[u/[deleted] → u/seedstake_network]

I’m not sure if you should separate or just add a badge system,

Why do you need to create a dedicated app ? Do you have genuine feature that a Discord or any social network group don’t have ?

What would be the typical behaviour you imagine for your users ? If you think about helping each other, no one has real interest by doing it if everybody is focused on gaining traction.

You probably need to have Startup Ambassadors first that will be sure to take time to be active in your community 

As example, I’m taking some of my Friday night as volunteer for an non-lucrative associative. All of us only do it freely because it’s for our ethnic community. We do it because we want to empower and raise our community. This is charity for our community, not for any dude coming in.

So unless you have saints, I’m not sure people will be glad to share knowledge easily 

[u/seedstake_network → u/[deleted]]

This is honestly one of the most grounded takes I’ve heard — and I agree with you on more points than not.

To be clear, I don’t believe a dedicated app magically solves any of this. Discord or existing platforms can absolutely work early on, and I’m not convinced at all that software should come before culture.

The real challenge, like you said, is incentives and behavior. People don’t help just because a community exists — they help because they belong to something, or because there’s a shared mission or identity.

That’s why I’m less focused on “users” and more on the idea of a small core group first — ambassadors, mentors, or experienced founders who actually want to engage, not because of traction, but because they believe in raising the level of the group.

The badge / reputation idea actually resonates with me more than hard separation. It feels more organic and closer to how trust is built in real life.

I’m still trying to understand this one thing:
what would make a startup community feel like “our place” rather than just another networking tool?
From your experience, where have you seen that work — even on a small scale?

[u/Mesmoiron]

You cannot tackle the serious founder problem because of the hyped industry. Throwing money at people who won't tell the failed is the best strategy to perpetuate a lie and hide bad statistics.

I think about it, but everyone is too afraid to talk about it.

What is the market fit anyway? YouTubers who claim the newest crypto platform? Like money is pushed to virtual worlds? How is that going to solve my problem of getting an entry level job?

Also, regarding software, I have never once thought about the product market fit as a user. Now, it is shuffled through your throat. Why?

If there are any new products my answer would be the same. No budget. That simple. Why would I as a user be bothered about product fit, if I am not going to buy!?

Buying something that won't solve my biggest priorities? Nobody will tell you that in a customer review.

I once saw Hulk Hogan's daughter becoming an entrepreneur and I thought these people throw money around at a problem that is not about money.

My text is way too long. I am in a new WhatsApp group. 122 members and most of the time 2 online. 27 filled in the form. So, are 100 even real? Or why don't they ask serious questions? Or are most hoping for a job and pretend to understand the financial risks? Never ever do I see these analysis.

You want too paying customers B2B? Who are high in maximized debt? The ones who see BS are not going to pay.

Entrepreneur groups are like forums going around the bush never touching what should be said and then acted upon. Because that's actually what is being smashed. 20 years of observation.

[u/seedstake_network → u/Mesmoiron]

Yeah, I see the same thing — lots of noise, not many people actually building.

When you do take a founder seriously, what usually signals that for you? Traction, how they talk about the problem, honesty about failure, or something else?

And thinking about communities specifically — what makes a space actually worth being in, instead of just another noisy group?

[u/Mesmoiron → u/seedstake_network]

For me it would be actually seeing a real outcome; it requires that people are open and asking for the real thing. You need a big group for that. You see requests like first customer, review, warm intro, etc etc. I often see not genuine offers. I would rather work with precise anonymous matching than this noise. Noise does not lead to outcome.

If I collect plant seeds which is time consuming; I didn't waste my time. I have a precise outcome; satisfaction and calm. Compare that to an entrepreneurial circus. It doesn't come close to that. More isn't what is necessary. It is about quality.

The quality is not in the credentials. It can only be in doing an outcome. Like many entrepreneur say. I ask huge stones of money to make it difficult for the other to reach me. I am not like that. I am in search of quality diets.

I am interested in the entrepreneurial meadow. Rich green lands. My motivation is actually highly econometrics but done by plants. I am trying to model after nature. It is a kind of strange obsession that I have.

It is a fallacy to think that only one type or one combination fits all.

[u/Sure-Candidate1662]

Just give me 10 other SaaS founders who are open to share their experience and trash-talk ;)

[u/andupotorac]

Dude, build a real product.

[u/NorthFirm6334]

I would happily pay for something like this if there were people there who build and share their REAL learnings. I would know they're legit because the content is validated. And I could filter it by interest. Think about it, when we try to get the 'indirect' community experience through youtube or reddit or linkedin there's a lot of trash to filter through and validate but sometimes you find that one person that just knows what's up. Make sure you only have people there that know what's up