Val

Val

Passionate about tech and travel

About

I am currently building Travi, an AI-powered travel companion that helps travelers effortlessly discover the best attractions to check out based on their interests, and experience them through rich, immersive audio narratives.

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Tastemaker
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Forums

ProblemHuntp/problemhuntBoris Gostroverhov•

2mo ago

How I spent ten years on 18 projects to understand the fundamental rule of startups

My journey in startups began 10 years ago, and I've launched 18 startups, most of which failed. Briefly on why they failed:
1. Contract Online my first startup in 2015, which was supposed to be an online service for remote signing of contracts for any transactions between individuals. A kind of analogue of a secure transaction. For this startup, I even managed to attract a business angel who invested $16,500.

Reason for failure: I had two lawyers on my team who discovered in the process that the legal framework at the time could not provide reliable grounds for protecting our users in remote transactions. The contracts would not have been considered legally signed.
2. Natural Products In 2015-2018, I became very passionate about healthy eating, but in the process, I discovered that products in all chain stores are full of chemicals, and stores with truly natural products are inaccessible to the majority. Hence, the idea emerged to create my own online platform where you could order natural products directly from farmers at affordable prices.

Reason for failure: For several years, I tried to launch this project, even trained as a baker of natural bread and tried to create my own farm, but in the process, I found that few people are willing to pay for truly natural products, even if these products were only 20-30% more expensive than market prices, and not 2-3 times more, as in premium stores. Hence, the market was so small that all my attempts were doomed.

Nika•

4mo ago

Which companies would you invest in if they were freely tradable?

Some companies are love brands for me, and I d like to support them. Others I see growing, and I d love to ride the wave. :D

Do you have any companies you d like to invest in, but that don t have a public offering yet? Which ones?

Nika•

4mo ago

What inspired you to start a business?

I'll say it bluntly that running a business is not as easy as it is presented on the Internet. You have to come up with a good and useful idea, and even then, you don't win.

You can only see the results after a long time. Not everyone can do it for a long time. To do it, you need to have a strong motive. For some people, it may be a family tradition, for some, money.

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