u/According_Coast1645

I finished CS at university this January and wanted to start a company. I had no idea what though, and I had read enough to know that just sitting at home would not work. Applied to a founder (hacker house) program in EU, got accepted, moved in.

I have been here 8 weeks now and the pace is something I cannot describe well. Everyone is actually building and shipping, not "planning to ship next week." Most people in the house are making $500-1000 in revenue every day, some more, some less. Walk into the kitchen at 1am and there are 4 people on their laptops vibe-coding or writing ad copy or talking to users. The aura, if that makes sense, is just different. Hard to be lazy when everyone around you is hustling.

The mentors are real operators. You tell them what you are stuck on, they give you actual advice, sometimes within minutes. The program also gives you a small operational budget for ads, so you can validate fast. If your product is not working in two or three weeks, you kill it and start the next one. No emotional attachment. No "let me give it more time." If something is working, if users are joining fast, they offer 20-40k for around 30% equity. That part is optional but the offer is real.

In 8 weeks I have already shipped two products and killed both. First one was TikTok for language learning. Second was Tinder for cars. I am building my third now and I genuinely believe in this one more than the first two combined. I have also learned more in these 8 weeks than in 4 years at the university, no exaggeration - you learn at the speed of light.

A few things I have learned from the mentors:

1. On finding the idea. If you have some good idea and the management likes it - build it. If you do not, do not sit and try to invent one. The mentors here told me about the MyIdeapolis website when I was stuck after my first product died. It is a tinder for startup ideas, that gives you personalised startup ideas based on your background, skills, weaknesses, and team after completing their quiz, and provides AI business mentor that answers your questions and tells what and how to do (have not used the AI mentor as I have access to real mentors). Never heard of this website before, found it useful, that is where my second and third ideas came from.
2. On the landing page. Your landing page must talk about the OUTCOME, not the features. Not "AI-powered scheduling tool." More like "stop missing client meetings." The user does not care about your tech. They care about what their life looks like after using it. One of the mentors here drilled this into me and it changed how I wrote everything.
3. On the ads. Look up "Cashvertising method". Old marketing book, but the principles still work. When I write ad copy with an LLM now I just tell it "use Cashvertising principles" and the output is 10x better. Pain first, then the promise.
4. On validation. Hard fake door beats soft fake door every time. Build a real landing page with a real pricing section, drive traffic, count how many people click the CTA, count how many go to checkout, count how many actually try to pay. Then refund them and send an email saying it was a validation test, offer them a discount or free month when you launch, and ask if they will fill out a short questionnaire or do a 15 minute call. I used to offer one week premium for an honest response and most people said yes. You learn more from 5 of those calls than from 100 generic surveys.

That is what I have learned so far. Still early, still might fail on product number 3. But for the first time I actually feel like I am building, not just thinking about building.

I am a designer from Milan, 28. For maybe a year I have wanted to start my own design related business but I am not a business person. I do good work for clients as a freelancer but when I sit down to think "what should I build for myself," my brain just stops. I am good at design, but not strategy.

Spent a lot of that time on Reddit business communities, on business websites, reading every "how to find the right business idea" post. Tried the "find a problem you have" approach. Tried throwing questions at chatGTP. Got a lot of ideas but none of them felt like a design business I actually wanted to do. Saw a comment on Reddit mentioning a website that matches you with the startup ideas based on the quiz you complete. I skipped it. But I opened it next day because of curiosity.

It's a Tinder-style website where you swipe through startup ideas. Almost closed the tab after the first few because nothing fit, but I kept going because the swiping is genuinely kind of fun, which is a weird thing to say about finding a business.

Then it asks you a quiz. Background, skills, budget, what you're trying to get out of starting a company. After the quiz, the ideas became much more accurate. Some I dismissed immediately, others I sat with for tens of minutes. Most of them I found interesting, which never happened before with any AI tool I tried. I kept swiping for a long time, I think I went through 100-150 cards. Some I saved, some I skipped, eventually I found one that I just felt was the right one. It is in a space I already understand from my client work but I never thought it could be a business.

The part I did not expect is the AI assistant inside. After I picked my idea I started asking it questions like a mentor. "How do I start this." "What do I need to do first." "What should I be careful about." It answered with real steps, not generic advice. For someone like me who does not know the business side, this was the biggest help.

I'm not going to pretend I've launched a company from this. I am only at the beginning. No customers yet, no product yet, just sketches and a plan. But for the first time in many months I am not stuck. I wake up and I know what to work on, which honestly is a huge feeling after so much time of not knowing.

Sharing in case someone else here is a designer who feels they are not "founder material." Maybe you are, you just need ideas presented to you in an engaging way instead of having to invent them yourself. That was my problem the whole time.

The website is called MyIdeapolis

P.S. English is my second language, sorry for any mistakes.

This is partly a recommendation and idk which subreddit this fits in better, mods feel free to move it.

I am a designer from Milan, 28. For maybe a year I have wanted to start my own design related business but I am not a business person. I do good work for clients as a freelancer but when I sit down to think "what should I build for myself," my brain just stops. I am good at design, but not strategy.

Spent a lot of that time on Reddit business communities, on business websites, reading every "how to find the right business idea" post. Tried the "find a problem you have" approach. Tried throwing questions at chatGTP. Got a lot of ideas but none of them felt like a design business I actually wanted to do. Saw a comment on Reddit mentioning a website that matches you with the startup ideas based on the quiz you complete. I skipped it. But I opened it next day because of curiosity.

It's a Tinder-style website where you swipe through startup ideas. Almost closed the tab after the first few because nothing fit, but I kept going because the swiping is genuinely kind of fun, which is a weird thing to say about finding a business.

Then it asks you a quiz. Background, skills, budget, what you're trying to get out of starting a company. After the quiz, the ideas became much more accurate. Some I dismissed immediately, others I sat with for tens of minutes. Most of them I found interesting, which never happened before with any AI tool I tried. I kept swiping for a long time, I think I went through 100-150 cards. Some I saved, some I skipped, eventually I found one that I just felt was the right one. It is in a space I already understand from my client work but I never thought it could be a business.

The part I did not expect is the AI assistant inside. After I picked my idea I started asking it questions like a mentor. "How do I start this." "What do I need to do first." "What should I be careful about." It answered with real steps, not generic advice. For someone like me who does not know the business side, this was the biggest help.

I'm not going to pretend I've launched a company from this. I am only at the beginning. No customers yet, no product yet, just sketches and a plan. But for the first time in many months I am not stuck. I wake up and I know what to work on, which honestly is a huge feeling after so much time of not knowing.

Sharing in case someone else here is a designer who feels they are not "founder material." Maybe you are, you just need ideas presented to you in an engaging way instead of having to invent them yourself. That was my problem the whole time.

The website is called MyIdeapolis

P.S. English is my second language, sorry for any mistakes.

Most successful founders find a painful problem first and works on a solution. Not the other way around.

A few places where real problems hide:

Negative reviews on G2, Trustpilot and other platforms. People complaining on Reddit, Quora. Job postings - if a company is hiring five people to do something manually, that is a product waiting to exist. Your own work - the thing you do every week that you cannot believe does not have a good tool yet.

If you want to skip straight to researched ideas and get step-by-step instructions on what and how you should do, websites like myideapolis, ideabrowser, and similar aggregate thousands of validated concepts with market data already attached. Not a replacement for original thinking but a useful starting point if you are stuck and helpful with brainstorming.

Once you have a direction, talk to at least a few strangers who have the problem before you start building. Not friends. Strangers. Friends always tell you what you want to hear.

The idea is not the hard part. Talking to real people before you fall in love with an answer is the hard part.

Pre-product fundraising is real but you are essentially selling a thesis. What replaces the product in that conversation:

• A landing page with real signups. Even a few hundred people on a waitlist who found it organically tells an investor the problem is real and you can market.
• Evidence the problem exists. Screenshots of complaints, forum threads, survey responses from strangers - anything that proves you did not invent this pain.
• Traction on the idea itself. A viral post, a newsletter, a community you built around the problem. Distribution before product is underrated.
• Your own background. If you spent ten years inside the exact industry you are solving for, that carries weight early.

The honest answer is that most pre-seed investors still want some version of a product, even if it is ugly. An MVP does not mean six months of engineering - a few core screens, one working flow, enough to show you understand the solution.

If you do not have an idea yet or are not sure yours is strong enough, that is the actual first step. You can spend time on Reddit, Quora, G2, Trustpilot reading complaint threads. People describe painful problems in public. Go to industry events, meetups, conferences. Most unique ideas come from hearing someone describe a problem they have accepted as unsolvable. Websites like MyIdeapolis, IndieHackers and similar have researched ideas with market data, useful for finding something with real demand before you try to pitch it. Then build a landing page, get signups, and walk into the room with evidence.

If people are finding your page organically and DMing you asking when it launches, that is fundable signal even without a product.

The honest answer is you cannot know for certain before building, but you can get close enough to stop guessing yourself.

First, make sure you are working on something worth building at all. A few ways people actually find real problems:

• Spend time on Reddit, Quora, G2, Trustpilot reading complaint threads. People describe painful problems in public.
• Go to industry events, meetups, conferences. Most unique ideas come from hearing someone describe a problem they have accepted as unsolvable.
• Use startup idea websites like MyIdeapolis, IndieHackers and similar. Useful for inspiration and calibrating what problems are actually worth solving.
• Travel somewhere different. Asia especially - unfamiliar environments put you in observation mode and you notice things locals stopped seeing years ago.

Once you have a direction, run it through three steps:

1. Can you find 20-30 strangers complaining about this problem in the last few months? Search for the pain, not the solution. If you cannot find people publicly describing the frustration, the market is probably too small or the problem is not painful enough to pay for.

2. Will someone give you their email before you build anything? A landing page takes two days - you can build it with Claude or different LLM very quickly. Describe the problem, describe your solution, add a waitlist button. Post it where your target user hangs out. Nobody clicking after a few hundred views means the messaging is wrong or the problem is not real - move on.

3. Is your excitement about the problem or the product? Founders obsessed with the problem keep going when things get hard. Founders in love with the idea quit when the idea stops feeling exciting.

MVP comes after all three. Most people skip the cheap tests and go straight to building, that is where the months get wasted.

Most successful founders find a painful problem first and works on a solution. Not the other way around.

A few places where real problems hide:

Negative reviews on G2, Trustpilot and other platforms. People complaining on Reddit, Quora. Job postings - if a company is hiring five people to do something manually, that is a product waiting to exist. Your own work - the thing you do every week that you cannot believe does not have a good tool yet.

If you want to skip straight to researched ideas, platforms like MyIdeapolis, IdeaBrowser, and similar aggregate thousands of validated concepts with market data already attached. Not a replacement for original thinking but a useful starting point if you are stuck and helpful with brainstorming.

Once you have a direction, talk to at least a few strangers who have the problem before you start building. Not friends. Strangers. Friends always tell you what you want to hear.

The idea is not the hard part. Talking to real people before you fall in love with an answer is the hard part.

These are my two recommendations right now (that actually worked for me):

A. Sell a service using AI tools. Offer freelance services (Fiverr, Upwork) like content writing, video editing, thumbnail design, or social media management. AI just makes you faster and cheaper to operate than agencies.

B. Build a startup. Find a small recurring problem people complain about on Reddit or Quora. Talk with people, ask about their problems, think of a solution. Use websites like MyIdeapolis, IndieHackers, ProductHunt and so on, that have thousands of startup ideas to get inspiration. Or think of an idea in any other way. Then use LLM like Claude to build a simple platform. You do not need to know how to code to build a simple platform for testing purposes. Describe what you want clearly and iterate. A boring $9/month utility solving one specific problem is enough to start. Once you have a direction, test with a landing page before building anything real. Post it where your target user lives. No signups means move on. Real interest means keep going.

The barrier to building and shipping something in 2026 is basically zero. The hard part is picking one thing and not quitting before you get any signal.

The best ones are usually hiding in plain sight. A few things that works for me:

Look at what is already working elsewhere. A business model that works in one country or industry often translates well to another. What is normal in the US startup scene might not exist yet in Europe or Southeast Asia.

Use ideas databases for inspiration. Sites like MyIdeapolis, IndieHackers and similar websites have collections of researched ideas with market context. Probably will not be a substitute for original thinking but useful for getting unstuck or validating a direction you are already considering.

Read complaints, not trends. Reddit threads, G2 and Trustpilot reviews. People describing what they hate about existing solutions are basically writing your product spec for you. If the same complaint shows up dozens of times, there is a gap.

Watch where money flows awkwardly. If a company is paying five people to do something manually in spreadsheets, that is a software product waiting to exist. If people are hacking together three different tools to solve one problem, that is a consolidation opportunity.

Frustration is the signal. When you catch yourself saying "I cannot believe there is no good tool for this" - that is worth writing down. Same when you hear someone else say it.

The pattern across all of them is the same - find a real problem that real people complain about publicly, and check whether anyone is already paying to solve it imperfectly.

The best ones are usually hiding in plain sight. A few things that works for me:

Look at what is already working elsewhere. A business model that works in one country or industry often translates well to another. What is normal in the US startup scene might not exist yet in Europe or Southeast Asia.

Use ideas databases for inspiration. Sites like (MyIdeapolis)com, (IndieHackers)com and similar websites have collections of researched ideas with market context. Probably will not be a substitute for original thinking but useful for getting unstuck or validating a direction you are already considering.

Read complaints, not trends. (Reddit)com threads, (G2)com and (Trustpilot)com reviews. People describing what they hate about existing solutions are basically writing your product spec for you. If the same complaint shows up dozens of times, there is a gap.

Watch where money flows awkwardly. If a company is paying five people to do something manually in spreadsheets, that is a software product waiting to exist. If people are hacking together three different tools to solve one problem, that is a consolidation opportunity.

Frustration is the signal. When you catch yourself saying "I cannot believe there is no good tool for this" - that is worth writing down. Same when you hear someone else say it.

The pattern across all of them is the same - find a real problem that real people complain about publicly, and check whether anyone is already paying to solve it imperfectly.

The biggest mistake you can make right now is spending months looking for the "perfect idea" before doing anything. The idea is not the hard part and it is not where you should spend most of your time early on.

Here is what I would actually do:

1. Start with problems, not ideas. Spend a week reading Reddit(com) threads, Quora(com) answers, and other reviews in any industry you find interesting or know something about. Write down every problem that shows up repeatedly. You are looking for pain, not inspiration, and do not start doing a startup if you do not like the idea yourself.
2. Use the college environment. You have free access to hundreds of potential customers - other students, professors, departments. Talk to them. Ask what they waste time on, what tools frustrate them, what they do manually that should be automated. Most people will tell you if you just ask directly.
3. If you want a shortcut on the idea side - websites like (MyIdeapolis)com, (ProductHunt)com and similar websites have thousands of startup ideas with market data. Not a replacement for original thinking but genuinely useful when you are stuck or want to pressure test a direction you are already considering.
4. Once you have a direction, do not build yet. Build a one page landing page first. Claude(ai) will build it in an hour from a plain description. Post it in relevant communities. If people sign up you have something. If nobody clicks after a few hundred views, the idea or the messaging is wrong - change or move on.
5. Use the AI tools available to you. You do not need to know how to code to ship and test something in 2026. Claude(com), ChatGPT(com) or other LLMs - describe what you want clearly and iterate. The barrier is lower than it has ever been.

The whole validation loop should take two to three weeks, not six months. Most college founders waste their best years over-planning. The ones who succeed just start, test something small, and adjust from there.

You have to test it before building. Most people do this backwards. I recommend following these steps:

1. Get an idea. Go to Reddit, Quora, G2 reviews. If you cannot find people complaining about this problem in the last few months, the pain is probably not strong enough to pay for. Go to events, socialise, ask your friends what problems they face and think a solution. You can use websites like MyIdeapolis(com), IdeaBrowser(com) and similar, that have startup ideas with data attached if you want to skip idea generation phase.
2. Check if anyone is already paying for something similar. Competing products are a good sign, not a bad one. No competition usually means no market. TrustMRR(com) shows verified revenues of real indie products, it is useful for checking if demand actually exists before you commit to anything.
3. Build a landing page before building the product. Describe the problem, describe your solution, add a price or a waitlist button. Claude(ai) or other LLM will create a product in a few hours. Post it where your target customer already spends time. Under 2% click rate means the messaging is off or nobody cares enough. Above 5% means keep going.

The whole process should take two weeks max. If you are still researching after that you are stalling, not validating.

The best ones are usually hiding in plain sight. A few things that works for me:

1. Look at what is already working elsewhere. A startup model that works in one country or industry often translates well to another. What is normal in the US startup scene might not exist yet in Europe or Southeast Asia.
2. Read complaints, not trends. Reddit threads, G2 and Trustpilot reviews. People describing what they hate about existing solutions are basically writing your product spec for you. If the same complaint shows up many times, there is a gap.
3. Use startup idea websites for inspiration. Sites like (MyIdeapolis)com, (IndieHackers)com and similar websites have collections of researched ideas with market context. Probably will not be a substitute for original thinking but useful for getting unstuck or validating a direction you are already considering.
4. Watch where money flows awkwardly. If a company is paying five people to do something manually in spreadsheets, that is a software product waiting to exist. If people are hacking together three different tools to solve one problem, that is a consolidation opportunity.
5. Frustration is the signal. When you catch yourself saying "I cannot believe there is no good tool for this" - that is worth writing down. Same when you hear someone else say it.

The pattern across all of them is the same - find a real problem that real people complain about, and check whether anyone is already paying to solve it.

Honestly in 2026 you do not need to know how to code to build a working app. Claude, Cursor, and similar AI tools will write the entire thing if you describe what you want clearly enough. Tell it what the app does, who it is for, and what each screen should look like. It will build it. You iterate from there.

But before touching any of that you have to find an idea worth building first. Most beginners skip this and waste months building something nobody wants.

How to find one:

Spend a few days reading complaint threads on Reddit, Quora, and App Store reviews in any industry you know. If you want to skip that entirely, websites like MyIdeapolis have thousands of researched startup ideas with market data - useful at minimum for inspiration and direction.

Once you have an idea, do not build the app yet. Build a one page landing page first. Describe the problem, describe your solution, add a button. Post it where your target user lives. If people click and sign up you have something worth building. If nobody clicks after a few hundred views the idea or the messaging is wrong - move on and try another one.

This whole process takes two to three weeks. If it works, then go build the real thing with AI tools.

The biggest mistake beginners make is spending three months building before finding out if anyone cares. Test first, build second.