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Andrei Tudor

What’s the one piece of consulting-style advice you wish you had when building your first product?

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One of the reasons we built Escape Velocity AI is that so much of what consultants do is repeatable logic: business plans, market sizing, cost diagnostics. But when you’re early-stage, you don’t really have the budget to bring in a McKinsey team.

So I’m curious: if you could borrow just one piece of consulting-style thinking to make your life easier right now, what would it be?

  • Clearer positioning?

  • Structuring a business plan?

  • Benchmarking financials?

  • Or maybe just someone to challenge assumptions?

Would love to hear what resonates most with you, as it also helps us figure out which parts of Escape Velocity AI we should focus on more.

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Atique Bandukwala

For me it would’ve been sharper positioning. When you’re building, you get caught up perfecting features, but the real unlock is in telling the story of why it exists and who it’s for. I learned that the hard way with my first product. It wasn’t the tech holding us back, it was the clarity in narrative

Andrei Tudor

@atique_bandukwala1 That resonates a lot. It’s wild how often it’s not the product itself but the narrative around it that makes or breaks traction. Sharper positioning really is half the battle. How did you eventually crack the story for your first product (was it customer feedback, or more trial and error)?

Atique Bandukwala
@andreitudor14...For me, the big unlock came during a meeting with one of my ex-clients who had spent 18 years at Disney. While I was walking him through the product, he stopped me and said, ‘You’re all over the place — you need to sharpen your narrative.’ That conversation was an aha moment. He not only helped me realize what the narrative should be, but also how to take it to market. Eventually, I got him on board as an advisor, and that really shaped the way I approached positioning
Ruxandra Mazilu

For me, it would’ve been having someone challenge assumptions early on. When you’re close to the product, it’s so easy to convince yourself you’re solving the right problem. A “consultant-style” pushback on why this, why now, why you would have saved me from going down rabbit holes.

Andrei Tudor

@ruxandra_mazilu Totally hear you on that. When you’re close to the product, it’s so easy to treat every signal as validation. Having someone (or something) push back with “why this, why now” can save a ton of wasted cycles. Did you eventually find that kind of pushback, or was it more trial and error?