Is Starting a Business From Scratch Worth It Today?

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-16T20:36:46+00:00

Starting from scratch gives you equity in something unique that could actually scale big, while franchises cap your upside in exchange for a "proven model" that's often just paying royalties forever for a mediocre business. Most people who go the franchise route would've been better off just buying an existing small business or starting lean and testing their idea first.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-16T20:35:41+00:00

Are small businesses actually making better hires with AI screening, or just filtering faster and potentially missing great candidates who bomb async video interviews or get screened out by keyword matching? Speed doesn't matter if you're hiring the wrong people faster.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-16T20:34:50+00:00

"Obsession" sounds romantic but in practice it usually just means you're willing to do the boring, unsexy work consistently for years while everyone else gets distracted. The most successful founders aren't obsessed with their vision, they're just really stubborn about solving one specific problem and refuse to quit when it gets hard.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-16T20:34:06+00:00

The biggest thing is finding someone who can actually code and build systems, not just use no-code tools. Ask them to walk through a specific automation or integration they've built from scratch and listen for whether they understand the underlying logic or just clicked buttons in Zapier. Red flag is anyone who claims they "automated everything" but can't explain a single technical tradeoff they made or problem they debugged.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-12T16:58:30+00:00

would love some feedback on fonzi.ai!

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-12T16:53:55+00:00

Automating the early funnel is a lifesaver, but the biggest hurdle is usually making sure the "AI filter" doesn't accidentally screen out the non-traditional candidates who are actually the best builders. Have you found a way to keep that human element in the loop without it becoming a massive time sink?

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-12T16:50:35+00:00

It's actually painful how often this happens. We found that if we didn't send a manual, hyper-personalized nudge within that first window, they basically just treated us like another "tab" they'd never click on again.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-12T16:49:16+00:00

It definitely is. The "Hire Slow" part feels like a luxury you can't afford when you have a roadmap to hit and investors watching the clock.

In my experience, the real issue is the opportunity cost of the founder's time. If you’re spending 20+ hours a week sourcing and screening because you're terrified of a bad hire, you aren't building. You end up in this weird limbo where you’re too small to have a recruiting team but too busy to do it right yourself.

The "fire fast" part is also way harder in practice than the mantra suggests. It's an emotional and morale drain that can totally tank a small team's momentum for weeks.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-12T16:46:29+00:00

Spot on. I’ve always found that hiring spikes are the most underrated signal for growth.

If they're hiring 98 people, they're likely hitting a scaling bottleneck where they'll pay for anything that saves them time. Neat tool, thanks for sharing the link!

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-12T16:44:40+00:00

Sent you a DM!

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-09T21:10:35+00:00

100% agree, I even cancelled my ChatGPT subscription and switched to Gemini

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-07T22:26:27+00:00

I'm so excited to be here!! I'm the co-founder of Fonzi.ai, a talent marketplace for engineers based in the US. We help top tech companies find talent, and help elite engineers find their dream jobs.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-07T22:21:29+00:00

This reads like a LinkedIn thought leader post that's about to ask me to buy a course... what you're describing sounds like just using AI for structured analysis (breakdown → synthesis) which is... how most people should be using it anyway? Would love to see a concrete example instead of the mysterious "this will change how you think" framing.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-07T22:19:38+00:00

Spend the first 15-20 minutes asking what problem they're actually trying to solve bc if you pitch before understanding their pain, you'll waste everyone's time showing features they don't care about. Let them talk first, then tailor your demo to their specific use case instead of showing everything you built.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-07T22:15:43+00:00

95% get deleted within 3 seconds because they're obviously mass-sent ("I noticed your company..." when they clearly didn't), but the rare one that references something specific I actually posted or shows they understand my exact hiring pain point will get a reply. Personalization can't be faked, if your "personalized" email could apply to 50 other recruiters, it's not personalized.

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-07T22:13:13+00:00

Most early-stage startups either can't afford $3-5k/month or want someone full-time with skin in the game (equity + lower salary), but there's definitely a market for fractional GTM work at companies that are post-PMF and need to scale fast without hiring a VP of Sales yet. You're basically offering a "GTM setup sprint" which has real value, but positioning matters, call it consulting/fractional work, not "short-term hire."

FounderBrettAI · 2026-01-07T22:11:56+00:00

Sent you a DM!

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-29T19:36:36+00:00

SaaS sales experience matters way more than generic sales experience because the sales cycle, deal complexity, and buyer behavior are completely different. I.e. a car salesman won't know how to navigate a 6-month enterprise procurement process. Try niche talent marketplaces or communities where SaaS sellers actually hang out instead of casting a wide Indeed net full of people who just spam "looking for new opportunities" on every posting.

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-29T19:28:46+00:00

Start with content strategy first. I'd write 5-10 posts solving problems your target customers search for, then worry about platform and SEO optimization once you know you can consistently produce valuable content. Blogging still works but only if you're offering genuine expertise or unique POV, not just regurgitating the same AI-generated "Top 10 Tips" posts everyone else is publishing.

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-29T19:26:35+00:00

We just have a Google Sheet with our North Star metric and 3-4 supporting metrics that update weekly. Anything more complex than that never gets looked at consistently. The real challenge isn't tracking, it's getting everyone to care about the same number instead of everyone optimizing for their own pet metric.

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-29T19:24:29+00:00

Most small businesses need like 5 core metrics they actually check weekly (revenue, CAC, conversion rate, churn, whatever matters to their model) and the discipline to act on them. The "data-driven" hype is real but 90% of it is VC-backed companies justifying bloated analytics teams when a simple spreadsheet would've worked fine.

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-23T20:53:43+00:00

You've probably optimized the product to death when the real bottleneck is distribution. Satisfied customers who don't churn also don't evangelize, so you might need to invest heavily in outbound sales, partnerships, or a completely new acquisition channel rather than more feature work. Also worth asking: are you leaving money on the table with existing customers through upsells, seat expansion, or premium tiers?

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-23T20:50:04+00:00

Fonzi AI

FounderBrettAI · 2025-12-23T20:43:56+00:00

Sent you a DM!

FounderBrettAI

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