... everyone. Raffay here. Building Finly AI: voice/text expense entry, receipt & PDF import, and spending insights that are actually useful instead of another spreadsheet with extra steps. Background's more backend/infra than finance, so the funny part is the AI side was the easy build. The trust and security work that comes with touching people's money data has eaten way more of my time than expected. No big manifesto, just building and trying to get it right before ...

... instrument has to be built before you know what youre looking for. once you know, you scope it without noticing. Comment from Raffay Sajjad(@raffay_sajjad): The email signup one got me. Had a decent list built up before finly's first version even worked properly and read it as validation. Actual activation once people could get in was way lower than the signup number implied. Signups measure curiosity, not whether someone's willing to change what app they open ...

... more than any UI polish did. So yeah, I d say naming the problem is the actual unlock. The demo just has to not get in the way of it. Comment from Viraj Parab(@viraj_parab): StartupHQ to organize competitor research, validate ideas, and keep my roadmap focused. It removed a lot of the "what should I do next?" moments. Now the challenge is exactly what you mentioned: getting distribution right. Comment from Mincheol kim(@mincheol_kim): @anna_ludwinowski ... ... Kozlo(@wvitalik): I look for the problem/need first. However, note that some products are solving the problem of a bad existing UX and user interface (think about the goal "to manage virtual private servers" and solutions via the terminal VS

... VS Code for editing code and content. Canva for creating graphics and thumbnails. SnepStoryPeek I use it to test and learn about privacy-focused Snapchat tools and keep up with new features. These are the tools I end up using almost every day, whether I'm working on websites, creating content, or testing new ideas Comment from Raffay Sajjad(@raffay_sajjad): mine's pretty backend-heavy, not much flashy content-tool stuff. Claude Code, basically pair programs half of finly