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.
What is yours, and what inspired you to start a business?
As for me, it changes over time, but the very first one was that I didn't want to do a job I didn't enjoy, for minimum wage. I wanted to have freedom of choice, when and from where to work and how much to earn.
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Integrity
I don’t know if I could run a business just for the sake of doing business. What inspires me are ideas I want to bring to life and turn into new, sustainable products.
Mine is Integrity — a workspace where notes, canvases, and AI chats come together. It provides the space, depth, and speed essential for modern knowledge work and innovation. I started it because I was frustrated by how work was always split between scattered tools like Notion and Miro (and separate AI chats then). I wanted one place where structure, depth, and intelligence coexist.
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@alesia_cherniavskaia Hey Alesia, which product do you refer to? Can you share a link, please? + Do you use your own product too? :)
Integrity
@busmark_w_nika Hey Nika, I mean my product https://www.producthunt.com/products/integrity?launch=integrity
We're launching in a few days 🤞, and yes, I've already used it for my own knowledge management routine.
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@alesia_cherniavskaia When's the launch? 👀
Attrove AI
@busmark_w_nika Totally relate to that freedom piece - setting out on your own is liberating!
My spark came from a different place. I was over a decade deep in middle management at a big tech company in Silicon Valley, but felt like I was just another cog. The breaking point? Sitting in yet another soul-crushing meeting about nothing while navigating endless internal politics.
I remember thinking: There has to be more than this.
That's when it hit me - I didn't want to just build products, I wanted to actually have an impact. So I jumped ship to focus on changing how teams communicate and work together.
Two years in now... and honestly, the only thing I really miss is that steady paycheck 😅 But every time we help a team actually work better together, that spark reignites.
The hardest part isn't the long hours or uncertainty - it's staying connected to your why when everything feels like it's falling apart.
What keeps your spark alive during the tough moments?
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@monzures This is a great example when money (stable paycheck) is not enough anymore. We want to have purpose, impact and some sense of our work.
I realised that in very tough moments, positive people around you are the key! :)
Lancepilot
For me, It started with a frustration I faced personally, I couldn’t find a solution that worked, so I decided to build one myself.
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@priyankamandal Are you talking about Lancepilot now?
Triforce Todos
It takes time, a lot of it. And not everyone can stick with it that long. To keep going, you really need a strong reason. For some, it’s family tradition. For others, it’s money or independence.
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@abod_rehman That reason must be strong all the time. If it is not, probably your "dream" will not survive.
@busmark_w_nika hi, in my case, the mobile game I created during high school student became a huge hit, and the significant sales revenue led to the establishment of a company. I experienced significant difficulties, but I believe they helped me grow tremendously. I am currently starting a new venture to implement blockchain and gamification in society.
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@oeneril Wow, how old were you when you created the game? I am so happy to have so many active and ambitous people there :)
Fruitful
You've right, you've definitely got to lock in for the long game. I started my own business (Figs Community) because I wanted to break out my comfort zone and build new skills. I have now become a Founder's Associate at Fruitful basically for the same reason, because I want to challenge myself in a new space and learn more about AI from a talented technical team!
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@sienawigley I can imagine this like an app! :) https://figs.community/ how does it work and how does it go? It looks interesting to be honest :)
Fruitful
@busmark_w_nika Yes it's good thanks! There's 2000+ queer women, trans and non-binary people across London and Paris using Figs now to make new friends and build community. It works like airbnb but for dinner parties - a host uploads their event, it's posted to the platform, and we share with our members so they can sign up. We make sure to verify all our members to make sure we keep everyone safe :)
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@sienawigley Does it only include those 3 subgroups? What about asexual people?
Fruitful
@busmark_w_nika Great question, Nika! 💜 Asexual people are absolutely welcome in Figs. The way I usually describe it is that Figs is for queer women, trans and non-binary people - but that’s shorthand, not a limit. Our community is for anyone who feels at home in queer spaces and aligns with the values of respect, inclusivity, and connection.
I want to be as impactful as possible with my life, and I knew I couldn’t do that if I was just a cog in a machine, so it was clear to me for a long time that in order to feel like I was adding true value to the world, I needed to be at the helm steering the ship, and whatever business I built had to be something that could scale and be useful to a lot of people.
Once you get started with a new business, it is so addictive and fun, but also stressful and frightening. That is why it is important to do something that you believe in and that you know adds real value to the world and makes people’s lives better.
Personally, starting TalentAid was about addressing an issue that I had lived through myself in my earlier days, and one that I was seeing talked about more and more on the internet and from my friend groups. I see a broken job market and I’m doing my best to fix it for people.
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@philliphamnett When did you start your business? Sometimes I have a feeling that it takes a decade to whop into the business environment and mindset properly to learn something.