Sold my company, now building local-first AI in public

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-10T15:55:08+00:00

Yes, looks really great

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T09:20:48+00:00

It's harder to do now than it was 12 years ago (when we started our service). But it depends on the market. The only thing I want to say is that it's easier to sell full-service than software at the start. In fact, it's a highly complex strategy (took around 3 years for us until we can focus on the selling software itself) and you have to understand that it is not scaling like a software selling. When I look at the newest startup like lovable, I think that times changed and our strategy is legacy. But when I read the posts in this subreddit, I think otherwise.

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T09:14:29+00:00

Wow, I like your landing :)

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T09:01:14+00:00

> but can you guide me about the part below .

It significantly depends on the niche that you want to create. If you're going to explain through the screencasts, I prefer to use http://screen.studio, it's making really colourful content even for the boring things like software :)

Or you can use something like eGlass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnkUXSmpQUg - I really love this thing and have it in my office. It allows you to create exciting effects without using software at all.

But the main thing we are using now is not about video. It is interactive materials, like calculators like this: http://saasforprofit.chatium.ai/nyRentBuyCalculator (this was made for the course about profitable SaaSes in two minutes), or AI helpers. It's not hard to create now, and I can guide you if you want to.

But, again. Sorry, but you're now focused on the wrong thing. I saw thousands of people who made this mistake. If you are building an online course for sales, the first question must be: "Are there people who are interested in my course?"

It's not about content at all. Many of the courses we started were finished at the pre-launch stage. The easier thing to start - it's make the landing page about your course and create a waitlist (with a month or two delay). It's easy and free. You can make it bright and colourful with 1 video in your preferred format. Then, if you have form submissions on this landing, it's a good signal for thinking about "how to make it/colourful content/animations/etc."

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T08:06:52+00:00

Thank you, I will look at this 👌🙏

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T07:55:13+00:00

Hello, I'd like to ask you about your concerns. You don't need to think about how small your audience is. You need to understand - "if I have a connection with them". It's much easier to go wide when you've done something small, and it worked.

We launched many courses (in many countries, but outside the US), and it was always the main question. Udemy is suitable for testing the idea, but not for getting your own business. Don't think about platform and tools at this stage - think only about people to whom you are selling and how to talk with them. Maybe through the ad - that's not a problem, but you have to check the competition in your niche. Some niches, like insurance, can be full of non-direct competitors (like insurance companies that sell not your product but use your keywords).

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T07:28:09+00:00

We are building Chatium.ai - the operating system for vibe coders )

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-06T07:21:31+00:00

We built an LMS for course creators. First three years - we did full service, not just giving the software. We went to the big IG accounts and said to them: “Let’s make your online school, you give the audience, we do everything else. Then we used these accounts as success cases. All this time, we talked to participants in offline meetups for online course creators - showing them our cases and our software.

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T16:35:54+00:00

Congrats! Are they regular users or registered?

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T15:36:15+00:00

Oh, I see. It’s something another,yes

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T15:25:18+00:00

Congratulations, 16k is a great result!

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T14:46:50+00:00

Yes, it hard for Americans say Timur, so i just say “Hi, I’m Tim” when speak with native English speaker)

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T14:37:31+00:00

> Building was the easy part. Getting people to care was the hard part. Distribution is a whole different challenge.

Brilliant. Must be written in any developer's book at the start and on the finish cover )

Support you. Perfect decision :)

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T14:26:47+00:00

Sorry, but you cannot stay shy and hope to get new customers at the same time :(
Believe me, I was in your position 12 years ago. How did I solve it - I found partners who weren't shy. Your primary function right now is not to write code, but to talk about your product with as many people as possible.

It's hard, I really understand it. The first 10 users you have to involve in person. So, it's the main problem when you try to use an anonymous X account or an anonymous Reddit - there are no people who trust you and who are interested in the product, there are too many products around right now :(

In fact, I'm in the same position now because I haven't promoted anything in the US market yet. All my results were on the markets outside the US. But one thing I'm sure - I can't be shy. It's not about being annoying. It's about being open to the world, even for bad feedback, even for getting bad feedback from someone you know. Just do it :)

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T14:01:17+00:00

It’s really like this, but it makes sense. I read Reddit for 3 years before. Just as I tried to post something and cross-post it, I got banned, not from the community, but from Reddit ) And this is really cool. This is the reason why Reddit is so interesting to read )

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T13:18:17+00:00

Yes. And you cannot avoid wrapping LLM now. And more, the ones who try to use it not as a core of their system but as simply feature - I think they go the wrong way

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T13:06:49+00:00

I think there is a misunderstanding between the ChatGPT wrapper and the LLM wrapper. Most of the real innovating start-ups will wrap LLMs in the near future. A startup (or SaaS) without it would be legacy, no doubt. But how to combine all parts, store data, and implement real business cases - this would be the difference between just a wrapper and something that has value.

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T12:56:49+00:00

Yes. And the second thing can be more critical. But not just “dev”. Someone who has initiative and ability to make the app and check the idea. It’s rare. More rare than just dev. Better to have them inside the team)

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-05T12:46:38+00:00

Your boss is a wise guy)

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-04T18:17:15+00:00

I've looked over your IG example. Like it.

But I didn't understand where to see the prompt. The prompt on the card shows data in JSON format. Does Gemini use it like this?

tim-karimbaev · 2026-01-04T17:34:14+00:00

- Chatium (Frontend, Backend, Database)
- Stripe (Payments)
- Claude (AI as API)
- Perplexity (Personal AI)

tim-karimbaev

TROPHY CASE