r/zerotoviable

I spoke to someone last night, and he was doing 100% video content, not just through your usual suspects, but also through forums and other communities like Facebook. It was interesting because his product is 100% B2B. Like heavy, B2B, and he is roughly getting 1-2 leads per day with no budget.

Now I'm curious to know what you doing with your marketing? Not the polished stuff, or the Gary V BS playbook you'll use once you have budget and a team. Right now, today, with whatever scrappy setup you've got. How are you getting people to notice what you're building?

I ask because every early-stage founder I talk to is figuring this out differently. Some are going hard on Reddit and getting banned from subreddits. Some are doing cold DMs and cringing through every send. Some have found a weird channel that shouldn't work but does. And a lot are just winging it hoping something sticks.

What's been your move? What's actually working right now, and what did you try that was a total waste of time?

Minimum Viable Product vs Minimum Viable Experience. They sound close but they're completely different things and one of them has made people a lot more money than the other.

An MVP is about building something that technically works. An MVE is about creating an experience that proves someone will pay you.

I've seen founders get to a million dollars in revenue with nothing but a landing page, a Typeform, and manual fulfillment on the backend. No product. No automation. No scalable infrastructure. Just an experience that was valuable enough that people handed over money. The product came later, once they knew exactly what to build and who was buying.

Meanwhile I see founders burning months and months building an MVP nobody asked for. They launch to silence and wonder what went wrong. What went wrong is they built a product before they validated an experience. They skipped the part where you find out if the thing is even worth building.

I'm curious how people here are actually approaching validation. Are you building an MVP right now without traction? How much time and cash have you put in before testing whether anyone cares? What's stopping you from selling the experience before you build the product?

And for those who've already been through this, how did you validate? Did you build first or sell first? What did that look like?

Had a new founder tell me the other day they couldn't share what they were building. Someone might steal it. I told them nobody cares enough to steal it, and even if they did, execution is the whole game.

The real risk isn't someone running off with your idea. The risk is spending a year building in a cave and emerging with something nobody wants. But building in secret feels productive, so we do it anyway.

What's something you used to believe about startups that you now realize was just fear wearing a strategy hat? Grab a coffee and spill.

Trying to learn more about a few industries and figured this community is as good a place as any to find people actually in the trenches.

Specifically looking to connect with anyone building or working in datacenters, energy, or water management. These three are getting more connected than most people realize and I want to understand what's happening on the ground from people who live it, not just read about it.

Also medical. Anything around medicine development, orthopedics, or supporting tech. Not my background so I'm coming in curious and looking for people who know the space well.

If any of you are working in these areas or have real experience with them, drop what you're building or what you're seeing. Would be good to connect and learn!!!

I've been in and around the startup world for a while and I've always been curious how different angels think. Not the institutional VC playbook, more curious about the individual investor sitting across from a founder, deciding whether to back them or pass.

What makes you lean in during the first five minutes? What kills a pitch instantly? How much of your decision is the market, how much is the founder, how much is just gut feel?

Also genuinely curious how this has shifted for you in the current market. Are you writing fewer checks? Smaller checks? Looking for different things than you were two years ago?

If you're a founder raising or thinking about raising, this is a great thread to eavesdrop on. And feel free to jump in with your own questions. Ask what you actually want to know about how angels think, what you should be saying, what you should avoid. I'll weigh in where I can.

Let's hear it. Who's investing and what are you actually looking at when someone slides a deck across the table?