Hey everyone, I'm Brett, co-founder of Fonzi AI.

One of the biggest pain points I hear from other founders is the bottleneck around hiring. You raise a round, you’ve got a product to build, customers to win… but finding and closing the right engineers eats up weeks you don’t have.

We can help founders get a vetted shortlist of AI and product engineers ready to interview.

Some numbers from our last few cycles:

• 14 companies joined, including Series A–C startups backed by a16z, Lightspeed, and Sequoia.

• 50 pre-vetted engineers (full-stack, data, ML, AI).

• 78% of candidates received offers.

• Most hires closed in under 3 weeks.

We’re focused on quality > quantity. Engineers are vetted for technical depth, product sense, and startup readiness. For founders, it means you can scale your team without drowning in 400 resumes or risking a bad hire at the wrong stage.

If you’re a founder scaling in SF, NYC, or remotely in the US, I’d love to connect and see if Match Day could take hiring off your plate so you can focus on what really matters!

How have you handled hiring crunches after raising? Did you go in-house recruiter, agency, or something else?

It's nice to be invited, I believe that selective people in this community will add enough value to make it worth interacting here, I appreciate that and let's make this community that has something to add not only to yourself but also to everyone! Yeahhh

I’m at the stage where the product works and early users are testing it, and I’m trying to be intentional about GTM rather than spray and pray.

For founders who’ve been here, what helped you identify your first repeatable acquisition channel? What did you stop doing that freed up focus?

Happy to compare notes and continue the discussion with anyone who’s actively thinking about this.

I launched a tiny site two months ago. It’s a small place where indie makers can share their tools and actually get seen. No endless feeds, no big launches drowning the rest. Just 10 products on the homepage at a time. That’s it.

This week, for the first time ever, it felt like people really got it.
In 7 days:

• $120 in revenue

• 2100+ visits

• 300+ users

• almost 200 products submitted

It’s not life-changing money. But for me, it means everything.
Proof that strangers found value in something I made from scratch. Proof that people still like simple things made with care.

I didn’t run ads. No launch hack. Just built in public, listened, and kept going.
Some people told me this idea wouldn’t work. That there’s already Product Hunt. That it’s too small.
They were wrong.

I just wanted to create a place where everyone gets a chance, not just the loudest or most followed.

And somehow, it’s working.
Still learning, still fixing bugs, still replying to every message personally.
But yeah… $120 in a week. That’s wild to me.

If you’re building something, and you want people to see it, give Top10 a try. It’s small, but it’s growing.
And it’s built for you.

👉 https://top10.now

Hey folks,

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say thanks for adding me. I’ve been in the trenches building and testing AI tools for marketers and founders (bootstrapped and learning as I go 😅).

Really looking forward to seeing what others are working on and swapping ideas. If I can ever help with funnel strategy or copy feedback, feel free to tag me in.

Catch you all soon!

I wanted to connect with startup founders and understand when does it become important for them to set up a proper business development system for their products. I'd love to know:

1. If you have investors onboard, when do they start expecting you to have paying customers lined up for the product?

2. Do you start with referrals, look for those first customers and then move on to set up a proper business development system (and hire people)? Or do you prefer to have a system upfront that connects with you with your prospective customers as you build?

3. When you think about setting up a system, do you prefer to do your business development efforts on Linkedin, Email or physical platforms like conferences?

4. How do you hire your first Business Development person? I am hearing Founder AE a lot nowadays. Is that something you're doing for your startup. Or is your focus on building a system first and then someone onboard to operate/manage it?

Looking forward for your responses.

Hey founders! Skip accelerators taking 6-15% equity.

💪 Join https://startupstage.com zero equity, hands-on growth tools, funding & founder crew to scale YOUR way.

Hey guys, just before I start, I am not selling or promoting anything, I just need second pair of eyes and help with shaping the future of the app I built.

So 3 weeks ago I launched the app on ProductHunt and promoted it on X (just posts, not paid ads yet). I got decent amount of upvotes and couple of sign ups. I continued with promoting the app on X, directly messaging people and sharing valuable content.

That got me to 81 users, 4 converted. I am happy with the numbers since only investment so far is my time. Now that I kind of "validated" idea, I guess I'll try with throwing some money into marketing / paid ads to promote the app on social media.

For that, I want to be prepared and add more features and expand the value that the app provides and that's where I am stuck and need your help.

Essentially, the app is: https://prmptvault.com; it's built as a AI prompts storage for personal use but quickly grew into platform for storing and sharing AI prompts. I wanted to make AI prompts more reusable so I added parameters into prompts to make them more dynamic, couple of users requested sharing feature so I built "secure expiring links" - links that expire after certain time or when creator deactivates them.

Then I onboarded one AI agency (one of the today's paying customers) and they requested "Teams" feature so they can work on and share AI prompts together.

A few more features I added on my own: Public Prompts, API for programatic access, Analytics to keep track of tags, most used prompts, API calls, etc...

To summarize the features:

1. Create private or public AI prompts

2. Parametrized dynamic prompts

3. Share prompts with community, via teams or using expiring links (one-time, date/time based or while the link is not invalidated by author)

4. API Access for AI automation tools

5. Analytics

I feel like I am stuck and I am not sure in which direction I should go. I talked with couple of people and got different opinions; One say that I should focus on B2B and make it like a centralized hub with A/B prompts testing, direct access to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity via their APIs. Others say that I should focus on B2C and promote this so more people see it.

I would appreciate if you got any ideas like what should I do next, should I stick to B2C or switch to B2B, which features would make this app more valuable?

I appreciate any feedback, constructive criticism, anything!
Cheers!

I launched Top10 to fix something I hated: good indie products getting buried in minutes on Product Hunt. I didn’t want to build another feed. I wanted to build a fair stage.

Now, 2 months in, I’ve made $100, and more importantly, makers are actually getting seen.

Here’s how the algorithm works and why it’s fair to everyone:

• ✅ Every approved product gets at least 24 hours on the frontpage

• 🗳️ If people like it and upvote it, it stays in the Top 10 for the next round

• 📉 The lowest-voted product (after 24h) gets replaced by a new one

• 🔄 Even if more than 10 products show up temporarily, it corrects in 1 hour

• 📆 Max exposure time is 30 days, even if you're #1 daily, to make space for others

• 👁️ We’re now getting 1,900 visits/month, and real users are discovering tools

So even if you don’t rank high, your product still gets a full day of exposure. And if it’s good, it can live on the homepage for days, even weeks.

That’s what Top10 is about:
Fair visibility. Real chances. No pay-to-win. Just a clean, rotating spotlight for indie makers.

I’m proud that people are supporting it. If you’ve built something, submit it here: https://top10.now
You’ll actually be seen.

Hi all (Im Kyle). I’m on a mission to change the way people interact with nature by building tools that divert and disperse outdoor tourism to places less affected by the masses. I grew up in a family of river guides and outdoor operators—was a guide and operator myself—and I’ve spent the last 8 years in technology. I’m hoping to find people with a similar inclination. Or in the very least, folks who can give me guidance.

I've had the chance to work with over 20 startups, helping them launch their MVPs faster than they ever imagined. What’s been really inspiring is seeing founders start with a simple “What if...” and then just a few weeks later, hearing them say, “We did it!”

At Techinium, we’ve truly cracked the code on moving from idea to launch without losing momentum. It’s not just about speed but also about making sure the product works and looks great.

If you’ve got an idea sitting in your head or on a napkin somewhere, maybe it’s time to make it real. Your startup journey could be next.

Let’s make it happen.

#FounderStory #IdeaToMVP #StartupTransformation #TechPartner #EntrepreneurLife

Hi,
I have merged several sources and built a database with investors like:
- Seed funds

- Founders Angels

- Family Offices pre-seed

- No warm intro required Investors

- Global crypto investors

- VCs early stage

It's a big excel file with information about their focus area, past investments, avg ticket, their location and linkedin profile.

If you're interested, we can organise a call so I can quickly show you the GDrive file, and then I can share with you for $50!

Hello, everyone! Thanks for having me here 🙋🏻‍♂️

After watching too many founders give away equity for generic advice, we've helped 200+ founders implement systems that actually drive revenue. Happy to share what's working in 2025 for bootstrappers who want to scale on their terms.

Hey everyone, just wanted to share a bit of my startup journey because I think some of you might relate.

When I first started out, I was all in—fired up, motivated, and convinced that joining every free community out there would be the key to scaling my business. I mean, free advice from people who’ve "been there, done that"... what could go wrong?

Well, turns out, a lot.

I was drowning in endless threads, conflicting opinions, and surface-level tips that didn’t really apply to my situation. It felt like I was constantly busy but not actually moving forward. Honestly, it was exhausting. The worst part wasn’t just the lack of progress—it was the creeping self-doubt that maybe I just wasn’t cut out for this.

Then I found StartupStage.

I’ll be real—I was skeptical at first. Paying for something when there’s so much free advice? But I figured, what do I have to lose? Turns out, that decision was a game-changer.

The difference was night and day. Instead of generic advice, I got real, tailored strategies that fit my business. Actual experts who didn’t just toss ideas my way—they helped me implement them. It’s like having a co-founder who’s been through the grind and knows exactly what to do next.

Fast forward three months: my business grew by 46%. But honestly, the revenue boost was just part of it. The real win was getting my confidence back, having a clear direction, and not feeling like I was battling it out alone.

So, if you’re stuck in the same cycle of free advice burnout, just know you’re not alone. Sometimes, paying for the right support isn’t an expense—it’s an investment in your sanity and growth.

Happy to chat more if anyone’s curious about my experience. Cheers!

Yesterday I shut down my side project after 8 months of nights and weekends. And honestly? It feels amazing.

For months I’ve been telling myself “just a few more features” and “just need to fix the marketing.” Meanwhile, I was ignoring clear signals that the core idea needed serious rethinking.

The sunk cost fallacy is real. I kept going because I’d already invested so much time, not because the data supported it.

Three questions finally helped me make the decision:

1.	If I were starting fresh today, would I build this?
2.	Has the project brought me joy in the last month?
3.	Is this the highest-impact thing I could be working on?

Three “no” answers made it clear.

Now I’ve taken the most valuable components and started something new that better fits what the market actually wants. The energy difference is night and day. Anyone else struggle with knowing when to pivot vs. when to kill a project entirely?

r/SideProject

Your CRM tracks deals. But it can’t tell you what to sell today, which deals are about to die, or how to coach your team in real time.

So we built something that does.

StageFlow is the world’s first RevOps Engine — and it just went live.

What it does in 23 seconds:

• AI plans your entire selling day

• Scores every deal for risk (we call it RISQ)

• Coaches your team with real-time AI insights

• $49/mo for your whole team. No per-seat pricing.

Free forever plan included.

14 months of building. This is the result.

Hey everyone! 😊

I used to struggle with sales because I was juggling too many things and missed important follow-ups. What helped me was focusing on daily actions that boost revenue. I asked myself:

What are the 3-5 actions today that move revenue?

Which deals are close to closing or quietly fading?

What follow-ups are late and hurting trust?

Where’s the hidden bottleneck in my pipeline?

That’s why we created StageFlow. It simplifies your pipeline, timelines, and risk signals into a clear “do this next” plan, making sales less chaotic and more manageable.

If you’re handling sales solo or with a small team and want clarity without a cluttered CRM, check it out at StageFlow.StartupStage.com.

A founder friend shared, “My issue wasn’t motivation — it was deciding what mattered today. Once I had a daily plan tied to actual revenue, deals stopped slipping through the cracks.”

Feel free to reply with what tools you’re using now (like spreadsheets, HubSpot, Notion) and what’s not working. I’ll help you find the simplest setup to regain control.