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What inspires you to launch a startup?
Share why you decided to start your startup, what inspired you, and what motivates you daily!
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Jessica Bank
Frustration with the limitations of current software
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I've always dreamed to quit 9-5 job and start doing something myself. Recent events in my life gave me motivation to start now and never look back. Obviously there are many challenges (including financial aspects), but I keep telling myself that if not now then never.
Right partner, right product, right time!
(and I was luck to be in a position where I could afford to and have the right support)
@daniel_hunt4 I love this answer. It reminded me that it's not just about the inspiration and about the passion for an idea. It's also the random luck of events.
It made me take some time to be thankful for being able to build something with a great partner and for being lucky enough that everything in my life aligned to make it possible.
I had a previous startup and absolutely loved it. It is the most rewarding work i have ever done.
I started toddle because I think it is an important tool that needs to exits :)
@nermin_zejnilovic My previous startup ran out of money.
My current startup is called toddle and is going strong šŖ
As Rick Rubin said: "Don't do work, make offerings to God instead." It will dramatically change POV on what you do (no religious context just a level of attitude).
So I have started my company with a mission to help others be fairly paid digital nomads and get freelancers out of a hamster wheel of working 24/7 with a lower rate than office employees have. This idea still drives me more than anything.
What inspired me to launch?
I had already been building in the space for a couple of years & when my grandfather passed away, he left his investments to money managers, who pushed a couple of very bad investments on his previous, then my grandmother's current, accounts. After seeing the quarterly update they send you, I was furious & knew I could help her, then realized that a lot of other people were likely dealing with similar issues.
What inspires me to continue building every day?
It's a ton of fun, I love my team, we're building something that people are actually finding value from, and there's nothing I could imagine doing right now & enjoying more
@nermin_zejnilovic Awesome question. If we execute properly, I genuinely believe we can:
- Help college students interested in building a career in finance break into the industry by building genuine track records without needing a series 7/57/65 license(s).
- Help the average investor more affordably improve their portfolio returns & largely reduce volatility without needing to hire a money manager or invest through a black box
- Help institutions scout for talent while potentially generating alpha
Everything is simple for me. š I was looking for a solution that could help maintain health, first of all, looking at my parents. š„ For a long time! I found a lot of doctors, platforms with recommendations, strategies, screening guidelines, and realized that you can drown in this diversity, and all the information needs to be double-checked for accuracy. š” This is how the first prototype appeared, which was used only for ourselves. Then friends asked to rummage around, and we shared, then the prototype began to spread among friends of friends.
@nermin_zejnilovic Navigating the complex landscape of health information and services has been eye-opening both in terms of understanding medical intricacies and gaining perspective on how users perceive health and wellness, as well as how to tailor our product accordingly. Over time, we've observed a shift in comprehension, particularly among medical professionals who now grasp the core issue we're addressing and how we're approaching it.
On the user end, I often hear feedback about how some perceive our application primarily as a weight loss tool, which, while true to an extent, only scratches the surface. The real complexity arises when discussing concepts like risk assessment, allostatic load, and screenings. There's a wealth of insights to unpack. For instance, we discovered that including a "Biometrics" section in our app, after engaging with users, was better suited as a tertiary tab rather than a prominent one. It turns out, individuals who are aware of their weight or waist circumference being outside the norm tend to hesitate in recording this data, often waiting until they've made progress. The fear of confronting their issue and seeing it persistently documented can deter them from inputting the information promptly. It's a fascinating aspect to consider.
This journey has illuminated the critical role of community and word-of-mouth in the adoption and expansion of health-related innovations. Witnessing our solution gain traction within our network and beyond reinforced the significance of building a supportive community around health initiatives. It's through these shared experiences and recommendations that the true impact of our prototype has become apparent.
@nermin_zejnilovic I received several responses to the question about weight loss. In general, people saw that their acquaintances had lost weight and asked how they had achieved it. In response, they've heard sbout Healsens. By the way, this was a big revelation for our entire team. People go through screenings, see deviations, and decide to make lifestyle changes, as a result of which some lose excess weight.
Before Skinive AI , I was involved in the development of telemedicine and noted that about 20% of all patient questions related to skin conditions. Patients had to wait a long time for an answer from the dermatologist. Market research points to a great shortage of specialists: on average there are only 35 dermatologists per 1 million inhabitants in the European Union, which is clearly insufficient.
The rise of AI gave the solution, particularly highly accurate artificial intelligence solutions for the processing of medical imaging. Unlike complicated X-rays, MRIs and CT scans of internal organs, taking photos of the skin is much easier. Through these developments, Skinive has automated the assessments of skin conditions using artificial intelligence and a smartphone.
After working in finance for some time, I noticed in the first wave of fintech, the industry experienced a lot of bifurcation around 2 different kinds of platforms. One was speculative trading platforms and the other was fully automated investing apps that are superior to the former, but are still lacking in 3 key areasā¦customization, education, and maybe most importantly, personal finance.
On the first 2, customization and education, having an investment approach thatās tailored for a changing 21st Century Global World Order is essential.Itās not essential that everyone agree on what that approach is nor do they need a CFA to understand capital markets. Itās our belief that qualitative factors such as market psychology and geopolitics are 2 crucial variables that move markets. Allio was built with a global macro investment approach in mindāa key differentiating factor in portfolio construction.
At Allio, our clients can build custom portfolios by sector and industry (or individual companies if they insist). This helps clients learn and grow from a novice investor to an experienced investor over time and develop an investment thesis for themselves. Whether you want a growth portfolio or a risk parity portfolio focused on reducing downside risk, the client has control. Also, if they say āI just want Allio to do it for me,ā we have an experienced team of hedge fund veterans to accommodate their request.
Third, investing and personal finance should be inextricably linked. Currently some apps allow for external integrations, but then they control the integrations so you have to use their services. Weāre releasing a personal net worth tracker thatās focused on open architecture so if you want to do banking at Chase, invest with Allio but get a personal loan from another vendor, all while tracking your personal balance sheet, we have you covered. Once again, itās about empowering the individual liberty of investors to take control of their financial futures.
Lastly, weāre committed to revolutionizing finance by increasing financial literacy rates and helping young professionals navigate a more challenging global landscape with higher costs of living. We donāt just throw out slogans in front of company where all of the ownership is at the top. Allio is a company thatās owned by the employees who help empower our clients to take control of their freedom and future.
Long answer but itās the honest one
I was in the field for over a decade, and I saw a lot of frustration in clients and agencies alike. I wanted to build something from scratch, so I made it. I don't know how I did that, but it was kind of there,
It is the beginning of the journey, and clients seem happy, which motivates me to know that.
@nermin_zejnilovic I come from design motion graphics world and I had a an experience with a client that left me wondering how to solve that i actually just now wrote a post about it on indie hackers https://www.indiehackers.com/pos...
Wanted to face new and difficult problems that require me to think creatively and critically, to adapt and innovate, and to overcome obstacles and failures.
I want to test my skills and abilities, and push myself beyond my comfort zone and in the process learn from my mistakes and improve myself constantly.
It constitutes one way of sharing your vision about specific problem solving with the world, without adhering to whims of others.
You can decide when and how to launch your product and to which market to address it.
Freedom is the key aspect from me. No bosses, no unjustified overtimes, no unnecessary crunching or development/work without knowing the stake behind it.
My current journey is less about building a massive startup with dozens of employees and more about the solopreneur path.
Having experienced the intricacies of the food startup industry in the past, I've opted for a different route as I grow older.
Yet, when entrepreneurship is woven into your very DNA, encountering a problem sparks an irresistible drive to find solutions.
This relentless pursuit keeps me in the creative zone. Witnessing an idea evolve into a tangible product with real customers is an unparalleled journey. There's truly nothing quite like it!
@nickanisimov Thanks, Nick! Best wishes for your upcoming launch. If you have any questions I can help with, feel free to reach out.
Everyday anxiety keeps more than 300 million people from living their life like they want to. I used to be one of them, and it pains me to think of all the pain and wasted possibilities that anxiety causes. That is my inspiration ā I want to help others feel the freedom of an anxiety-free mind by making the mental health tools that helped me available to others.
@nermin_zejnilovic Thank you!
Great question. One of the biggest challenges is to find a balance of using my own experience without ending up designing only for myself. So, I ensure I prioritize learning more about how others experience anxiety, so I have a broader perspective. Being active in mental health forums and on Reddit has been a great help to increase my knowledge about our users.
Hi Nick,
The inspiration for my startup came from a deep passion for helping businesses communicate their unique value. Every day, the drive to make their stories shine keeps me motivated and excited. šš
How about you? How do you got idea of FirstHR ?
The biggest driver of what inspires me to launch a new venture is realizing that existing solutions to a problem I have either don't exist or are not that good. Whenever a product disappoints me ā in terms of user experience, customer service, pricing, features, or any other aspect, I feel the urge to build something better. If only there were more hours in a day to bring all these visions to life! š¤£
Just the thought of building something from scratch gives me motivation. At the same time love creating something that can change some industries as a whole.
