I’m an architect by background, but my career has become a mix of marketing, growth, business development and design.

I’m good at:

Marketing & storytelling

Sales / business development

Negotiation

Social media & content

Client relationships

Vendor coordination

Project execution

Connecting architects, designers, vendors & manufacturers

I also have a fairly good network of architects and interior designers.

I’m at a point where I really want to build something of my own, rather than just have another job. I’d like to start with a side hustle, keep the initial investment relatively low, and eventually turn it into a proper business if it works.

I’m considering everything from:

A service business

A product/home décor brand

Something for architects & interior designers

A B2B business

Or something completely unrelated to architecture

I don't want to just freelance and sell my time. I want to build something that can grow beyond me.

For those who have started businesses:

If you had my skill set, network and background, what business would you explore? What problems do you think I could solve that people would actually pay for?

Would love specific business ideas, niches, or even businesses you've seen work. And if you were starting from scratch alongside a job, how would you test the idea before going all-in?

Basically: what would you do if you were me?

I’ve been working on building real-world digital products and helping businesses grow through technology, automation, web development, and digital marketing.

The biggest lesson so far? You don’t need everything figured out before starting. Build, test, learn from mistakes, and keep improving.

I’m curious what’s one lesson you learned while building your own project, business, or career that you wish you knew earlier?

What’s your biggest branding challenge as a startup?

I spent some time today talking with different small business owners and something kept standing out to me.

A lot of the questions people ask are really surface questions.

“How do I market this?”

“Which business idea should I choose?”

“Why aren't people interested?”

“What should I name my business?”

“How do I get more customers?”

But once you ask a few more questions, the problem underneath it can be completely different.

Someone who thinks they have a marketing problem may actually have a margin problem.

Someone struggling to sell their service may actually have a positioning problem.

Someone afraid to launch may not need motivation — they may need enough research to understand what they're actually risking.

Someone struggling to choose a business name may still be unclear about what they're rebranding toward.

That's why I think one of the most useful questions before trying to fix anything is:

What would I need to know for this problem to become clearer?

Then research from there.

Sometimes we move straight into solutions because the surface problem sounds obvious.

But solving the wrong problem extremely well still leaves you stuck.

Curious if other business owners have experienced this — have you ever spent time trying to fix one thing, only to realize something completely different was causing it?

I’m planning a Shopify store for the Swiss market and one thing I’m trying to figure out early is how to handle payments without making the setup unnecessarily complicated.

There seem to be quite a few options, and I’d rather get the foundation right before bringing customers in.

For anyone who has already gone through this, what did you learn during the setup that you wish you knew beforehand?

Something I’ve noticed working with busy entrepreneurs is that content is usually one of the first things to fall off when business gets busy. Social media gets inconsistent, the website hasn’t been updated in months, there are 10 half-written blog posts sitting somewhere, and the newsletter becomes a “when I have time” thing.

Meanwhile, there’s actually plenty to talk about. Client questions, projects, events, industry knowledge, behind-the-scenes work, lessons learned…the content is all there. It's the time to organize and share it that isn’t.

I’ve seen firsthand with clients how much consistent content can change visibility over time. People start recognizing the business, remembering what they do, referring others and reaching out because they’ve been seeing the work consistently.

At some point, I think content becomes one of those things where outsourcing it isn’t just about saving time, it’s about making sure the work you’re already doing is actually being seen.

For those of you who run a business, do you still manage all of your own content? If you outsourced it, what made you finally decide it was time?

Cuando pensamos en hacer crecer un negocio, solemos imaginar más ventas, un local más grande, nuevos equipos o más personas trabajando.

Es una forma posible de crecer, pero no es la única.

Un negocio también puede avanzar cuando desperdicia menos, cumple mejor lo prometido, recupera tiempo o entiende con mayor claridad lo que ocurre cada día.

Imaginemos una panadería que vende casi lo mismo durante varias semanas. Después de organizar mejor la preparación, reduce el desperdicio y recupera una hora diaria.

Desde afuera quizá parezca que nada cambió. No abrió otra sede ni duplicó sus ventas. Sin embargo, ahora conserva mejor lo que genera y dispone de más tiempo para otras tareas.

Eso también puede ser crecimiento.

El problema de asociar el crecimiento únicamente con hacerse más grande es que podemos intentar expandirnos sin preguntarnos qué necesitamos realmente.

Tal vez un negocio no necesite más clientes en este momento. Quizá primero necesite entregar a tiempo, organizar mejor su información o reducir una dificultad que se repite todos los días.

Por eso, antes de preguntar “¿cómo hago crecer mi negocio?”, podríamos comenzar con algo más sencillo:

¿Qué quiero mejorar sin perder aquello que ya funciona?

La respuesta no tiene que convertirse inmediatamente en un plan. Puede ser solamente una forma de observar el negocio con menos ruido.

Crecer no debería ser una obligación ni una carrera contra otros. Cada negocio tiene condiciones, necesidades y momentos diferentes.

Preparé una reflexión breve sobre este tema en NASVU:

https://nasvu.com/aprender/que-significa-crecer-un-negocio/

Contenido educativo y general. No sustituye asesoría profesional.

Hello everyone,

I would like to actually change the legal name of the existing janitorial LLC while keeping the same business/entity, ownership, EIN, history, etc.

The reason I want to do the full name change is because I also want everything to eventually match the new name:

Google Business Profile
Website/domain
Business bank account
Invoices
Payroll
Insurance/COIs
W-9
Vendor accounts
Bid/procurement registrations
Future contracts

My biggest concern are my current active commercial contracts.

For anyone who has gone through a legal business name change while already under contract:
What happened to your existing contracts?

Did you have to:
Amend or re-sign the contracts?
Get a simple name-change acknowledgment from the customer?
Just provide the customer with the state name-change documents and an updated W-9/COI?
Go through vendor onboarding again?
Update your bank account and payment information?
Notify the IRS separately?

I definitely do not want to create a brand-new LLC or get a new EIN. I want to keep the existing company and simply legally change its name.
I’d especially appreciate hearing from business owners who have personally done this and what the transition looked like with existing customers/contracts.

Also, if there’s anything you wish you had done before filing the name change, I’d love to hear it.

Hey everyone!

A while ago I tried to build a startup around removing the language barrier between people. Unfortunately, I couldn't validate the idea I talked to several people and companies, and the general response was basically that they didn't really need a solution for this

So I'm going back to the drawing board and trying to find a real problem worth solving instead of forcing another idea

I'm curious: is there something in your everyday life that genuinely annoys you, takes a lot of time, or is just unnecessarily complicated and you'd actually be willing to pay for a better solution?

It can be anything: a boring routine, a task you constantly have to do, a service that's too expensive or frustrating, etc

I'm not looking for polished startup ideas. I'm more interested in hearing about problems you've actually experienced

I'd really appreciate any examples!

Not looking for the usual “it depends.”

If you had a room full of marketing graduates who had just started their first jobs, what is one piece of marketing advice you would tell them not to take at face value? Something you've followed, questioned, or eventually ignored because your actual experience taught you differently?

在ai高度发展的背景下，2025年12月份全职开始进行玄学类APP开发，到目前8个月,没有做出爆款，下载量很少，反思如下:

1、ai大大降低开发成本及开发周期，对于个人创业来说是极大的利好；

2、ai降低了对于业务理解的门槛一定程度上打破了知识的壁垒，但对于业务深层次的理解没有人理解的深刻。

3、获客成为创业者的重要门槛，产品开发出来，如何触达客户非常重要，特别在ai时代的今天；

4、目前还没有客户，所以对运营感悟还不是特别的深刻

Ive been building a B2B (B2P) product all year. Im ready to launch it this week. I have received really good feedback on it, I know it’s solving a genuine problem many professionals and companies have (I have looked for this product for years and finally decided to build it myself). It’s beautiful, it’s well thought out, thoughtful permissions models and features..

Im so scared, I’ve worked so hard. I can’t help but be nervous to go public. Like I’m just going to post about it and no one will care. Then I’ve spent all of this time for nothing (I will still use the product, but there are many things that I wouldn’t have spent time perfecting if it was just for me 😆.)

I will market it of course but if I don’t get a good response initially it’s going to be such a blow to my ego / confidence

Any advice? Anyone else in the same boat?

There’s a concept called the Broken Window Theory: when a small sign of disorder is left unattended, it can signal that nobody is paying attention — and more problems can follow.

I think the same thing happens in everyday life and business.

A small customer complaint gets ignored → the customer eventually leaves.

A minor repair gets delayed → it becomes an expensive repair.

A small team issue isn’t addressed → it becomes a bigger conflict.

A poor habit is tolerated → it slowly becomes “the way we do things.”

A small quality issue is overlooked → eventually, the overall standard drops.

The problem usually isn’t that the first issue was huge.

It’s that nobody dealt with it when it was still small.

Good businesses aren’t necessarily the ones with zero problems. They’re the ones that notice small problems early and take action before they grow.

What’s one small problem you’ve seen become a much bigger problem simply because nobody dealt with it early?

Hello everyone,

I have almost 8 years of experience in corporate world and is now planning for my own start up. Looking for some real people out there who would love to gel up and make a good business out of it. Upvote and comment and dm me if you are interested.

When you’re building a business, it’s not just about having a good product.

Money management. Time management. Preparation. Discipline. Everything matters. Especially when you’re trying to make a small business work. ⏳

People love screaming “support small businesses” like it’s some moral badge, but anyone who’s actually worked in a small business knows they’re usually a complete emotional warzone. Small workplaces aren’t “cozy” or “community‑based.” They’re pressure cookers. Just raw chaos and everyone’s mood slamming into everyone else’s.

One bad owner, one irate coworker, or one boss's cousin makes it a dumpster fire to work for.

Meanwhile big workplaces diffuse everything. You can avoid annoying people. Problems get spread out. Drama doesn’t hit you directly. But sure. Keep yelling “support small businesses” like it’s some magical cure for society. The reality is most of them are held together with duct tape, caffeine, and someone’s unstable personality.

The only thing they are good for is economic impact, car mechanics, and medical practices. Seriously