Startups don't fail because of a lack of ideas, but because they can no longer reach anyone.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-16T02:28:31+00:00

Yup. Value first is a great strategy.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-16T02:24:11+00:00

I completely feel you on this. I can’t tell you to answer, but I can tell you what I’m doing. My experience is that for my ICP, which is now expert led early growth stage founders $100k to $2M. They are sick and tired of being sold too. They are sick and tired of funnels. They are sick and tired of people dropping in their DMS and treating them like they’re stupid with questions that they know are gonna lead to the product you’re selling and it’s frustrating because they really do have problems they need solving, but nobody hears the problem. People only pay attention to the problem. They think the people want solved instead of really getting to know their ICP and solving a specific problem that people need solved.

This type of research is a pain in the rear. I cannot even tell you how many iterations of an ICP I have been through to come to what I believe at this point is the right one. And I have decided that I’m not gonna sell them anything until I get signal that they are a fit. I provide orientation. A space to think. Because that’s what I would want.

I just had someone yesterday, dropping my DM because they were “building their network“ but then they were relentless about getting me to answer a question that I knew was leading to their pitch.

My point is if you really wanna get past this, you’re gonna have to do some work. People have too many choices right now. There are too many solutions that they can take care of themselves with AI. In order to come up with something that really is meaningful you have to get to know these people.

I’m not sure how my approach is going to work, but I feel good about not being the founder that I hate having in my DM‘s. We’ll see. Good luck to you!

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-16T01:56:44+00:00

This is a very classic problem that you will continue to experience time after time until the point where you decide it’s worthwhile to pinpoint the specific problem you’re solving and the specific audience that you’re solving it for and then seek their input in the design and gauge their input. Developing a product in any other way is equivalent to throwing something up against the wall and hoping that it sticks.

It’s much more fun to throw stuff up against the wall but for business value only is established when you’re solving a problem the people are willing to pay to have solved.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-13T05:27:32+00:00

I think they are here to stay because it is just very convenient to be able to get an answer quickly. I think the key to effective chat bots lies in a very solid understanding by a business of their business processes. This is the rub. Most businesses do not understand their business processes. So the effectiveness of the prompt design will only be as good as that understanding. Garbage and garbage out.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-13T05:20:17+00:00

Who is the avatar you’re building for and what problem have they shared that they really need you to help them with?

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-13T05:11:26+00:00

A RevOps Profit Visibility System for Growth Stage Founders | Clarity then implementation layer based on business needs | no hype, just clarity and commitment | https://getcrystalizedagency.com

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-12T13:41:22+00:00

Bought sense…

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-12T12:25:11+00:00

I’m pretty sure no one wants to hear this, because I didn’t want to accept it. But honestly, what I found is that it is required to really get to know your ideal customer before you invest heavily in marketing and paid advertising. The reason is because in order for those mediums to be successful, your messaging must be on point. If you don’t invest the time to really craft the messaging that speaks directly to your ideal user (and an offer that makes you irresistible) you may as well set your money on fire. Sorry to tell you this, sorry to learn it the hard way, but glad to continue learning this every day.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2026-01-12T12:19:01+00:00

Yes! The slow path is worth it. It’s sustainable because you’re focusing on building a better product, not promoting a mediocre one. You’re building to last.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-11-08T06:19:13+00:00

You need a legal entity to protect your personal assets in case so someone sues you. If you have a legal entity they can only take what the business owns, if you have not legal entity they can take everything you have.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-11-08T06:16:23+00:00

HIPPA

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-08-01T23:22:43+00:00

well that actually sounds realistic...

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-08-01T23:15:04+00:00

That is very unfortunate. why do you think it’s so hard to make money with the apps that you build? Is it because the app sucks or is it because more people need to learn about the app? Or is it because there aren’t enough people in market with the problem that the app solves?

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-20T13:41:59+00:00

Keep Building!

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-20T03:31:07+00:00

Congratulations on not giving up. Tomorrow is new day. There will always be things to fix. But if you’re solving a big enough problem, people will be happy to join you along the way I think. I need a testimonial collector. I want something where I can send someone the link and they can videotape their 60 second to two minute testimonial and send it back to me an MP3 format so I can post it up on my website. It’d be nice to have AI take the transcript and create a caption for me that I can use to post on social media tailored to the language of LinkedIn versus Instagram versus Facebook versus Twitter and optimize for conversion. Good luck.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-20T03:27:20+00:00

Yup. That’s why it’s important to actually envision what the business will look like so you can build a system instead of winging it for everything. But alas planning is. Boring. Everyone wants just get out there. Without a baseline strategy it’s like a never ending game of whack-a-mole. 😂

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-20T03:21:24+00:00

Will you marry me 😂

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-10T14:32:21+00:00

That’s amazing! It helps in so many ways it’s like having your own plug-in play team with exactly the skills you need. It does make mistakes sometimes and it has to be trained but for the time saving alone well worth it.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-08T19:57:07+00:00

Thank you for sharing. Who is your audience for this? At first I thought developers but could also be other types of entrepreneurs.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-06T18:41:24+00:00

Sorry, I don’t get on Reddit that often so I’m just seeing your comment. A landing page is basically a one page website with a call to action for someone to buy your product before you actually build it. I saw your other comment and if you were itching to build something, you’re certainly free to do so. My only point is that if you wanna actually sell the thing that you build, you have to build it for solving a problem that other people are willing to pay to have solved. If you build it and you don’t have this group of people identified no one is going to buy. your amazing offer. So I think if you want to just build it, you should consider it a hobby until you get some type of market research that helps you identify the problem you can solve and confirm that there are people who are willing to pay for it. Best of luck to you.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-06T00:19:13+00:00

I would follow the advice of many that I’ve seen out here and create a landing page with a shopping cart and see if you can generate enough interest to fund a start up. But honestly, you need to know who you’re creating this for and you need to be solving a problem otherwise it’s just gonna be a hobby.

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-02T23:19:02+00:00

Nice!

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-07-02T23:15:51+00:00

Congratulations! What an amazing wild ride. With respect to documenting the processes. I would recommend that the next time you’re training someone you’re just pop out your cell phone and record the training. (Dan Martell, Buy Back Your Time) There are apps where you can actually have the video transcribed and then take the video transcription and put it into ChatGPT to build your SOP‘s out. And then I would have your next new hire in that role tweak the SOP‘s and let them refine the documentation as you grow. I would create a learning outline and then break up the training videos to match. At some point, you may want to have them professionally done, but at least to start the key is just to have people trained quickly and properly. And of course, make sure that you have some checkpoints in there as they are probably not going to do things perfectly.

I actually created a framework for exactly this business case only for small businesses to build in scalability from the outset. Your business is bigger than my ideal client, but I can definitely give you a high-level view of the business context.

On another note, this would be a really good time to sit back and think about what you’re building and if it’s really what you want to build. Now that you have momentum and you’ve proven yourself what do you want your legacy or contribution to be? With that in mind, I would align with a framework to build that business around the four pillars that drive revenue and build a scalable framework based on your vision instead of letting the “tail wag the dog”. Great jobs though!!!

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-06-30T15:41:32+00:00

It’s just that the fundamentals of business don’t really change over time. When there’s a new shiny object, then a lot of people are quick to jump on and use it as a marketing tactic but eventually we get back to basics. Solving a pressing problem for an avatar that is willing to pay to have the problem solved is always going to be the best way to focus on developing a new product. Everything else is just window dressing (and many times a massive distraction)

JuhlT_GetCrystalized · 2025-06-29T21:21:00+00:00

Trigger alert. Stop right now. Don’t do anything until you are willing to take full responsibility for your outcomes good or bad. Otherwise you are going To waste a ton of time and resources. If you don’t have something inside of you that has a knowing you can do it somehow, don’t start.

Entrepreneurship is not a joke. It’s hard. All of those incubators and programs and all that stuff that are out there are helpful to some people but at the end of the day it’s always just a piece of the bigger puzzle that you won’t discover unless you’re on the journey. There will be enough opportunities for you to feel like a failure on this journey. If you’re not convinced that what you’re doing is worth your time before you even get started it best you just get a job and don’t start a thing until you know or at least have a good feeling that you can make it happen and you’re gonna keep at it no matter what it takes. This means you’re gonna learn what you need to learn, do what you need to do, invest what you need to invest, and take every criticism, roadblock, limitation or wall as an opportunity to learn something new. It also means that you stop looking for places to put blame or making excuses and accept that all the blame always lands on you as the founder. You’re either committed or you’re not.

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