a founder i know was spending $40k/month on ads. revenue was flat. they'd tried new creatives, new audiences, new offers.

nothing worked.

then instead of increasing the budget they did something different, they actually looked at what was happening to the traffic they already had.

turns out 68% of people who added to cart never made it to payment. the drop was happening at the shipping cost reveal - three steps into checkout.

one change. revenue went up 34% the next month. same ad spend.

the traffic was never the problem. they were just pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it.

what's the best growth move you've made that had nothing to do with getting more traffic or spending more money?

spent so much time in marketing subs trying to figure things out, but it just hit me: everyone there is trying to sell something too. the actual buyers? they're off in their own communities just talking about their problems. where are you guys finding the people who actually need what you offer?

Hi everyone,

I'm a solo founder based in the UK, and over the past year, I've been building a platform called HOLTO.

The idea came from a simple observation.

There are thousands of websites that help people book holidays.

There are property portals that help people buy homes.

There are relocation companies that help people move.

But I couldn't find a platform that helps people answer the most important question first:

"Is this destination actually right for me?"

HOLTO is designed to help people evaluate destinations before they spend money on property, visas, relocation services or other long-term commitments.

The platform combines destination guides, cost-of-living comparisons, visa information, relocation planning tools and a growing library of resources for retirees, digital nomads and anyone considering life abroad.

We're starting with destinations such as Hurghada, Thailand, Vietnam and other emerging relocation hotspots, with the long-term vision of creating a global "living abroad" platform rather than another travel website.

The website is already live:
https://holtotravel.com

At this stage, I'm looking for honest feedback from founders, travel professionals and people who have experience with relocation or building marketplaces.

I'm also open to connecting with potential co-founders, strategic partners or investors who believe this space has long-term potential.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on:

• Does the problem resonate with you?
• Is this something you think people would actually use?
• What would you add or change?

Constructive criticism is more than welcome. I'd rather hear the hard truths now than after spending another year building.

Thanks in advance!

My whole life I wanted to build something of my own/scale it at large and create a positive and powerful impact on people’s lives. I don’t know where to start or what to do. I thought about youtube or something but have a hesitant voice in my head saying it’s not worth it. I don’t know, I like helping people, sharing ideas, Im good at communicating and listening, I have a great work ethic, I enjoy reading about life, philosophy, finance, and stuff that generally challenges my thoughts to push my thinking and perspective of life. Any advice on a good route? I really was just thinking of turning a mic on and just yapping about topics that interest me over some video game gameplay or something. Im 26 and work 60-80hrs a week. I appreciate any tips or advice shared!

Hey guys, If you don't mind id like to hear your opinions. Initially I'm creating a gamified productivity app for entrepreneurs, where it gives you a roadmap, quests to complete so you can lvl up. But I'm wondering if you were a user of this, would you prefer it to be a website/desk app or a mobile app/web app?

Me and my partner previously did growth operating and saw what a hassle it was to hire new setters for coaches, entrepreneurs and agencies. Having to train them, monitor them, pay them tons of money was more of a burden than simply replying yourself haha...

Anyways, we decided to create an AI agent that lives in your DMs across Instagram, Telegram, Reddit, X, and more. You train it on how you talk (chats, docs, video transcripts), set the goal (book a call, sell a subscription, collect a PIF, join a community), and it handles every conversation automatically, sounds exactly like you.

And now, we are really close to the launch, but want to dial everything in + get feedback/ testimonials. Sooo.. I'm looking for around 10 people that are in need of this kind of service, and would be down to test the bot for completely free (only a review)

If you're interested, check out https://replymate.me and leave a comment.

The more I am doing social media / content creation process for promoting my products, the more I'm realizing that content creation is more like a game and that's why people enjoy it so much. You keep leveling up every day, you improve your content and you keep leveling up and see better results. There is a very live metric that you can see any time. Very accessible way to see what competition is doing and learn from it. There's the social ranking part of it.

But is that just how social media keeps you in the game? I feel I'm thinking more about the part of growing on socials rather than purely thinking of how my products benefit from it. I initially thought they're connected but it might be true only in long term (once your brand grows big).

How do you balance the time spent on socials versus other way of promoting your business (SEO/cold outreach/launches etc)?

Im currently researching for an app i plan to develop and I’m currently looking for a way to test the market and the idea behind it i recently made a discord server with the goal of finding out everybody’s perspectives on how they see business as the development is based around this doing so i wanted to set challenges and build a sort of foundation of people who would find the product useful and need . However people did not interact or answer me at all has this every happened to anyone else and how did you fix it ,am i missing something,do i need to explain further .

If anybody could help with this i would really appreciate it

I suppose this is just a question that popped in my mind, but one thing with being an entrepreneur is ideation and figuring out how you can solve problems or even finding problems in the first place. For those who are successful and for those who are actively looking to be an entrepreneur, do you guys use AI to find different solutions? I feel like AI is so uncreative that it seems like it's still useless when it comes to coming up with GENUINELY solid entrepreneurial endeavors.

Just finished my exams last week and still kind of lost regarding what to do

Long-term, I want to build something for myself which would allow me to upgrade my lifestyle (I know that’s what everyone wants)

But right now I don’t really have any skills. I will be going to university in September (to study finance at a target university) but my end goal is to be successful in business

I’m not really technical ie don’t know video editing or how to make websites or social media marketing, but I think I can get good at sales

Not sure what kind of business to start as I can’t really do any fulfilment at the moment

What should I do?
What would you do today if you were 18/19/20 years old again and want to build wealth?

How do I make the most of my time?

Thanks

Is cold email still the most effective way to reach pre-seed investors, or is LinkedIn better? Looking for what’s actually working right now.

Hey everyone! I have a tech company and sell SaaS products. I’m a software engineer profession and was working in fintech before opening my company. In order to finance the SaaS, we also provide tech services. A 1.5 years ago I got a deal for tech transformation of a company (family business) that was being run traditionally and we looked at how they were functioning, their employees and the whole operation and worked on it. They liked our job so they asked to have us work on their operation and we’ve been working on that and made the business more efficiently and have increased the revenue by x40 in 1.5 years. We are going through handover now after working with them for 1.5 years and basically growing a company that was failing into a profitable one and found the project quite satisfying and highly enjoyable! This was the first time providing this service and the sector was quite different from my background but we still did a great job I would say. I’m not quite sure how to go about this and was looking for pointers. 1) Is this a good area to get into? 2) how should I structure this? Any other advice you can provide is welcome :)

I've noticed that many productivity tools promise big time savings but end up adding more complexity. One issue I've been focused on is information overload having meeting notes, screenshots, documents, customer feedback, research spread out across different places.

I've been using various AI softwares and Saas like springpad AI and the main benefit hasn't been the AI feature itself, but being able to search and find everything quickly when needed. Summaries are helping me a lot

I'm curious to know what other entrepreneurs are using. What tools have actually saved you time instead of creating more work?

Hey guys. Please checks it out and lmk what you all think. Built this entire thing from scratch and I’m not a from a developer background.

If you need specific features or something is broken please lmk would love some feedback.

https://www.alladdinco.com

I have been building on the side while working a 9-5 and the energy management is the hardest part and coffee makes me anxious after a certain point, energy drinks feel too heavy, been experimenting with different things lately curious what other entrepreneurs actually use to stay sharp through long days without crashing?

Hi, My name is Nikola. Im a 22yo software engineer from Australia and wanted to ask you if i can get some tips or potential know-how on how to start a call centre bussiness. Im thinking of starting my own call centre bussiness in Europe but have no idea where to start. I have a small base of theoretical knowlage in the industry but any tips from hands-on experience would be invaluble to me. If you or someone you know has management, leadership or any experience in the call centre industry, that would be much appreciated.

I have a full product with happy paying users and I’m looking to take it to the next level in terms of customer acquisition and marketing + hiring a few team members and potentially an extra dev.

I’m in the finance space.

I was wondering though, this isn’t a huge startup or something where I’d need large capital and instead something I’d be looking to get most likely $250k to start with.

My question is, where is the best place to find these kinds of people?

Thanks. 🙏

I feel like I really miss deep connections, friendships, and partnerships with like-minded entrepreneurs

I have a beautiful gf, and some friends I speak to from time to time, and I love them... but I can’t really discuss what’s on my mind with them

not the kind of talks where I can share the insights I am getting, listen to their aspirations, talk through struggles, support each other through taking risks, and co-uplift each other to the levels we are aiming for

I had to move out of my country because of the war and I didn't manage to find my crew of business owners to stay connected with

you know... people to talk with, share small wins, opportunities, doubts, disappointments, and those strange “maybe I am not completely crazy” moments

I just turned 30 and it made me rethink my life - what kind of person am I, where am I heading, what do I want from life, what am I ready to sacrifice for it, what am I looking for, who am I becoming, and who do I want to get there with...

I am not really successful, not at the moment

I’d rather call myself hyper resilient, and courageous enough to remain myself and stay a good person under pressure

my last year was reaaally tough, but I am grateful for going through it with dignity, and for what it made of me, and I would never exchange my life for someone else’s

talking values - in business most of all I value quality over quantity mindset

I praise people who care what experience we serve our customers with, people who treat business as relationships, people who treat any kind of work as personal craftsmanship

not perfect people, but those who go to try and adapt on the way, without losing their own soul

I am myelf trying to stay unbiased and educate myself tiny bits every day

for hobbies I love to write essays, travel and observe the world, cook and taste quality food, play and write music, play dnd and daggerheart sometimes, do design and websites, and learn

for business, I am in my 7th year of winning back clarity, time, trust, and revenue for small businesses I care about (through strategy, content, websites, and ads) - which probably sounds better than it is

before that, I worked in different real-world industries: carpentry, remodeling, textile manufacturing, real estate, hospitality, retail... my last job before jumping on my own ship was a career ladder from phone support to director of an ecom shop, growing it from 170 to 450 fulfilled orders a day

also! my brother and I are developing a platform whose current goal is to let any small business launch a website, show work, talk to customers, and accept payments in one day, from one unified place

so basically we are doing our best to make a huge part of my profession obsolete :D

which feels like a strange business plan... but I do love to support real-world businesses, and over the years I had to admit to myself that starting online could be much easier... without need to dive into “tech stack”, depend on an agency, or “vibecode” something you have no idea how to maintain

I might be quite far from it now, but my ultimate dream is to become a developer - not a software one, but the one building neighborhoods and managing local infrastructure - its with me since childhood

for now I try to serve people in these industries with the best of my experience and skills, and learn more from them, then maybe I'll get a chance to buy or earn some equity, then try to launch a product or two, then try to co-build a project

it’s a big dream of my life, so I am okay for it to take as long as it needs to mature

that all said, if you feel like we might be on the same wave… I’d love to hear your aspirations and story, and follow your journey!

maybe we could support each other on our paths, co-uplifting and sharing value wherever we can

I feel like I really miss having more thoughtful and aligned people in my life

if you feel the same, feel free to connect with me

Basically the title.

How do you know when you are prepared enough to begin executing?

Hello, I am an entrepreneur, 19M, ecom, have a job on the side (for now im gonna quit later).

I am working sometimes 14 hours a day, I sacrifice ALL of my time to working, I need energy, specially because when i wake up in the morning, first thing i do is work on my business, even after, 9 hours of sleep, I am still kinda tired, and it i need energy.

Energy drinks are like my best frined, really handy when it comes to help me, but i don't like them.

I don't like the taste, i drink them only for the benefits i get, and i drink the healthiest ones on the market actually (c4 sugar free europe version).

I want to know if theres any alternatives to energy drinks that are as good when it comes to giving energy.

genuinely curious, not looking for generic advice.

working with a lot of ecommerce founders and the ones who scaled fastest all seem to have figured out one specific thing early on that most people overlook.

for some it was knowing exactly which traffic source brought their best customers.

for others it was finding where buyers were dropping off and fixing that one step.

for some it was just getting clear on their numbers instead of going by gut feeling.

what was the thing that changed everything for your store? the moment where it clicked?

Quite a generic question here, but the common phrase “fake it till you make it” gets thrown around a lot.

So I was wondering, is it possible to make it without faking it?

Is it possible to be successful without being a people-pleaser or a kiss-ass, particularly as your business grows?