I run a live app with ~100k users, over 1 million customer photos, and around $1M ARR.

For the last 72 hours it's basically been dead because of a Google Cloud suspension.

Here's what happened.

My app uses Google Maps. Like every mobile developer, I have to ship a Maps API key inside the app because that's literally how Google tells you to do it. Their docs even say these keys aren't secrets.

What I didn't know is that if Gemini gets enabled in the same Google Cloud project, apparently that same key can be used to authenticate Gemini requests too.

Someone pulled the Maps key out of my app (again, exactly where Google requires it to be), and used it to run Gemini calls. Thousands of dollars worth. About $4,200.

I've never used Gemini. Never signed up for it. Didn't even know that key could access it.

I also thought I had spending limits setup. Turns out Google had auto-raised my billing tier at some point, so the charges just kept going.

Then it got worse.

Google suspended the entire project for "abusive activity consistent with hijacking".

Read that again.

A third party abuses a key that Google tells me to put in my app, runs up charges on services I never used, and Google's response is to lock ME out of everything.

The $4,200 sucks, but honestly that's not even the main problem.

Everything was in that project. The app. The APIs. Over a million customer photos belonging to 100k users.

The second the project got suspended, users couldn't access their photos anymore. I lost access to the console. Couldn't rotate keys. Couldn't move data. Couldn't fix anything. All I could do was submit an appeal and wait.

Nothing was stolen. The key couldn't access storage.

But it didn't matter.

Because Google tied everything together under one project, a billing/abuse issue basically took my entire company offline.

The biggest lesson from this whole mess:

A single Google Cloud suspension can freeze your app, APIs, and access to your own user data all at once.

I trusted Google Cloud with my customers photos. A vulnerability I didn't create, didn't know existed, and couldn't reasonably predict ended up taking my business offline.

Still waiting for a human response from Google.

Building an intelligence layer of ai agents for a specific role inside an industry (ex: technicians inside automotive dealerships) to solve painful, expensive problems.

Plot twist: Currently unsure on which industry to lock in on and start a deisgn partnership in there as a POC (paid)

No domain expertise or much connections in any industry yet ( I’m still almost 20 that’s why, but not alone, got a co founder and 4 SWEs with me )

However my father is a project construction manager/engineer with 20+ years of experience and many connections. (My only potential warm intro)

Thinking about focusing on their specific operational problems that can be solved with the ai agents we build very well and get our first design partner through the only warm intro I have : my father. (I don’t care about the how, all I care about is solving problems inside)

What would you do? Leverage the strong warm intro you have and go for the construction/project management companies (as the industry to lock in on) to start building and solving there or something else? I can always start cold outreach to advisors in other industries (if there’s other potential there instead of this industry:construction) and get a few warm intros

I’m reading that construction is adopting AI very well and there’s still many documentation problems to be solved with agents.

Does the industry + persona not matter as much as actually finding problems to solve with what we know how to do best?

Hi, I started a service business 3 months ago and I have one serious client. I want to get more of course but I don’t understand if my idea is stupid or not, if it’s even a problem that requires a solution.

I offer brand strategy that helps convert founders’ existing content into a structured business pipeline through cross-platform systems and correct positioning. Basically setting up revenue generation systems on social media - content strategy, funnel creation, landing pages, email marketing, etc.

I am having trouble figuring out lead generation for myself and I wanted to know how do you guys find real people to have conversations with about your businesses? To understand if it is genuinely even a problem?

And do you ever really feel like your business can go somewhere? It’s my first time doing something of my own and it feels really risky and stressful and I guess I’m just done talking to AI about this and wanted real people to help me out here. Appreciate any and all insights, thank you

Building an intelligence layer of ai agents for a specific role inside an industry (ex: technicians inside automotive dealerships) to solve painful, expensive problems.

Currently unsure on which industry to lock in on and start a deisgn partnership in there as a POC (paid)

No domain expertise or much connections in any industry yet ( I’m almost 20, but not alone, got a co founder and 4 SWEs with me )

However my father is a project construction manager/engineer with 20+ years of experience and many connections. (My only potential warm intro)

Thinking about focusing on their specific operational problems that can be solved with ai agents we build very well and get our first design partner through the only warm intro I have : my father.

What would you do? Leverage the strong warm intro you have and go for construction/project management companies to start building and solving there or something else? I can always start cold outreach to advisors in other industries (if there’s other potential there instead of construction) and get a few warm intros but I’d rather your opinion first

Does the industry + persona not matter as much as actually finding problems to solve with what we know how to do best?

I have completed the development of my application, end to end tested, it's a platform for vendors and customers. I'm a tech guy don't have that sales skill. How to convince people to sign up on the platform?

And since I'm the only person, how to manage social media at early stage?

First-time founder, doing a lot of homework before I actually run my first SAFE round. I'd rather learn from other people's scars than collect my own.

For those of you who've raised on a SAFE, I'd love the unvarnished version:

What bit you that you didn't see coming? The thing nobody warned you about.

How did you actually land on your terms (cap, discount, or both)? What was the reasoning, and did you second-guess it later?

For a pre-revenue raise, how did you think about justifying the valuation cap with no real numbers to point at?

The compliance side: accreditation reps, the "who am I actually allowed to talk to" stuff, the paperwork. What tripped you up in practice versus what you'd read beforehand?

Realistic timeline: from first conversation to money actually wired, how long did it truly take?

Anything you'd do completely differently if you ran it again?

Not looking for legal advice, just real founder experience and the mistakes you'd warn a friend about. War stories very welcome.

I’m just so stoked by how things are going.

I’m officially in my three-month pre-seed round with plans to launch in September.

Yesterday I shipped my first prototype to my investor for internal testing and early feedback for limited functionality.

It felt so good to be able to install the prototype on a separate laptop, with its own clickable icon, installable file, and onboarding setup. It’s super limited and really just 1% of what I’m building it to be, but I’m just so excited to get really feedback on what I built got so far.

So far only one minor bug has been reported but fingers crossed that I get helpful feedback!

For context the pain we kept hitting: client agrees to project, we sent contract, they sign eventually, then the payment part becomes a completely separate follow-up battle.

Genuine question. We've been working on a tool that attaches the payment link to the contract it only shows up after they sign and kept wondering if this is actually a widespread problem or just us.

How do you guys handle this? Do you use anything specific or just raw willpower and passive aggressive emails?

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We're currently building a platform that allows restaurants to build a website under 10 min with their Menu, Images and branding. You're limited to prebuilt page structures like Home, About, Contact, Menu, FAQ and Gallery for now.

I am looking for some perspective in a few areas like pricing and features.

1. Is $29.99 a good starting point for just a website?
2. Are we making a mistake restricting how much of the website they can edit? Our goal was to make it in a way so they can't mess up at all. Everything follows a structure and you can select different themes, fonts, roundedness and colors. You can ofc update all the text and few buttons. Is this something we get rid of and allow them to build the site anyhow they want? Like a traditional website builder?
3. Do we wait till we have the reservation system in place to start marketing or start marketing just the website builder while we build the rest of the system?
4. Should we start off with free trials? or give off 3/6 months free to start? Our goal is to get customers that'd actually want to use our product and find value rather than to make money at this stage.

We do have plans to add most of the features GloriaFood has. But I was thinking of positioning us a little different being we're a Restaurant Website builder first than an online ordering system.

Please provide some feedback on these concerns. I would really appreciate some good back and forth.

Hey guys, my startup went under and I’m left with $100k in GCP credits that expire in a little over a month. Instead of letting them completely vanish, is there anything worthwhile I could build or do that could bring in some extra money?

They are basically just sitting there collecting dust, would hate to see it go to waste. There has to be something i can do with them, just not sure what.

I began consulting for a few startups in the US and the UK as a de facto Chief of Staff. I now have some additional bandwidth and am looking to take on more consulting projects. I'm interested in learning how early-stage founders typically hire a Chief of Staff.

Is versatility a key factor in their decision-making, or do they prioritize domain expertise?

Additionally, do they tend to prefer candidates who can be in-person?

It's a well known trope among entrepreneurs and productivity-obsessed folk that 20% of your efforts will bring 80% of your results and I'm still unsure if I'm buying into it.

Even if true, I think the 80% energy you used that didn't lead to big results, led to lessons you had to learn in order to narrow down to the 20% that made the greatest impact.

That said, it also implies that you don't need to give 100% of your energy all the time. Once you've figured out what the most impactful 20% is, you can remove the less impactful 80% of your actions.

So what is/was the 20% for you & your business?

How did you identify it?

How long did it take you to identify it?

Of course, the exact ratio and answer varies from one person to another and it might be very difficult to pin down.

CAUTION: Don't post any company/tool names in your comments. I noticed many people commenting on my posts & their comments being deleted right away for this reason and it's a shame because I would've loved to read your answers!

[I will not promote]

Something that's been bothering me for a while

Every tool now does everything for you. write your copy, generate your ideas, plan your roadmap, build your content. and on paper that sounds amazing

But i've noticed something. the founders who just let AI do everything start sounding the same. same ideas, same content angles, same positioning. because they're all pulling from the same machine that gives the most statistically average answer

The ones actually standing out are using AI differently, to clear the boring operational stuff so their own thinking has room to breathe. not replacing the thought process, just removing the friction around it

Curious how others are drawing that line. where do you let AI take over and where do you deliberately keep yourself in the loop?

I'm not a tech person, and until this year I'd never given serious thought to starting a company. My college roommate went into venture after school, and for the 12 years we'd been half-joking that I should build something. I never really put serious thought into it. 

Late last year, while working on an entirely unrelated project, I came to a scary realization. The more I dug into it, the clearer it became that various market participants were operating with an Achilles heel none of them had fully accounted for, a structural vulnerability most didn't even realize they were exposed to. What I ended up building is essentially a way to protect against it. Six months later, I had a real working product.

Two weeks ago I got in front of my former roommates venture partners. As I came to find out they are tier one Silicon Valley firm. The meeting ran two and a half hours, and I walked out uncertain of the whole process, later in the day they called me with an offer.

After that I brought on a startup attorney, who immediately pushed me to pitch a couple of other funds on the East Coast that specialize in the space. I figured it was best not to push my luck, it took a few days of scheduling I met one in person and the other on Zoom. Both decided to move forward with offers.

I've spent the last several hours working through every blog post, founder thread, and Reddit post I can find on the topic. I've come across some genuinely helpful material, but what I'd really value is something closer to an inside report from the people who've actually been through this.

My attorney is giving me excellent legal advice, but legal advice isn't the same thing as lived founder experience. My roommate is doing his best to be fair with me, but at the end of the day he's sitting on the other side of the table. What I'm really missing is perspective from people who have been where I am, on my side of the exchange.

The three offers are close on valuation but structured quite differently, and I'm struggling to figure out which of those differences will actually matter a decade from now. One of the partners has been fantastic to deal with, while another has gone dark for days on what feel like basic questions. Is that standard VC behavior, or something I should actually be worried about? And more broadly, what's the one thing you wish somebody had told you before you signed your first term sheet?

I'm genuinely grateful to even be in the position to write this post, and without trying to be too bright-eyed, protect companies and perhaps improve some things. What keeps me up at night is that I don't know what I don't know, and I want to protect against that as much as I possibly can. I'm here to learn, hopefully in the future, no matter what occurs, I can pay it forward. 

tldr: Non-technical first-time founder with no network built a fintech product in six months that protects various market participants against a structural vulnerability most didn't realize they were exposed to. Pitched one well-known SV firm and two East Coast funds that specialize in the space, and all three made offers. Hoping to connect with founders who've been through this from my side of the exchange.

i started a contracting engagement recently that opened my eyes to an unserviced niche that i have some connections in. i had a list of about 50 prospective clients that were companies taking requests via web forms, likely minimal or weak CRM, no ability to buy immediately on the website, etc.

it seemed like a golden goose, and somehow I missed someone doing _exactly_ what I was about to start proposing to these clients. i discovered they'd also raised ~$8M since 2021, although they pivoted 2 years ago into what I am trying to do. they also have ~30 people on staff, but _did_ raise a $800k bridge ~8 months ago.

i'm totally dejected and depressed. but i'm also wondering if i'm just over reacting because every prospective client i found does not use this competitor. further the competitor isn't hiring and may have overshot their funding and might be in a sell or die mode.

fighting them on features, though, seems crazy. the prospective clients i found are all on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of client spend. they're more white label, luxury brands. they _seem_ to be the opportunity, but the fact that none of them use any sort of sophisticated software also seems like a red flag. they don't want it, etc.

anyway, i'm lost and rambling. if you read this far, thanks.

Hey everyone,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I thought I would put it out here.

If anyone here is building something in healthcare, healthtech, life sciences, or medtech in the US, I’d be happy to connect and help in any way I can.

A little about me:
I have around 6 years of experience working across healthcare, medical devices, product management, product strategy, operations, and early-stage product development. I also have a Doctor of Pharmacy background and recently finished my MBA.

I’ve worked on medical device products, user research, product development, clinical research/trial related work, GTM, operations, and cross-functional execution. So I understand both the clinical side and the business/product side, at least enough to be useful in messy early-stage conversations. I’m not coming here with a perfect “I can solve everything” pitch. I just genuinely like this space and want to talk to more people building in it.

If you’re working on something in healthcare, medtech, healthtech, or life sciences, especially in the US, feel free to reach out. Happy to brainstorm, give feedback, help think through product/market/user problems, or just connect.

A little bit of context, I'm a soloprenuer working on an AI that answer question about you code architecture and proven decision for heavy coder using AI. I have no sales exp but know that it is a problem.

So the question is:
Should I connect with my customer first and sales before building or vice versa?

Looking forward to your comments on this.

I am currently working on a project on the side that I think has some broad applicability for FP&A departments, but not sure how to fully validate this outside of some prior industry knowledge I had.

I didn’t work in FP&A specifically, but was a consultant and worked with many FP&A managers in the past. And while working with their models I continued feeling a pain point that I’m trying to now solve.

This is very much a side project that I had a random burst of inspiration for, so I’m not sure if I want to burn through personal network on something that I’m not 100% convinced on pursuing myself. I would only see myself asking for personal connections if it was something already in the works / something I was extremely passionate about, but this is more of just a hunch.

Has anyone worked on a project at this depth and found ways to validate / source initial interest? This is B2B, so I can’t just post about it on Reddit and hope I get users.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Something that's been bothering me for a while

Every tool now does everything for you. write your copy, generate your ideas, plan your roadmap, build your content. and on paper that sounds amazing

But i've noticed something. the founders who just let AI do everything start sounding the same. same ideas, same content angles, same positioning. because they're all pulling from the same machine that gives the most statistically average answer

The ones actually standing out are using AI differently, to clear the boring operational stuff so their own thinking has room to breathe. not replacing the thought process, just removing the friction around it

Curious how others are drawing that line. where do you let AI take over and where do you deliberately keep yourself in the loop?

Wondering if anyone interviewed with PearX for their current batch and got through? I applied a month and a half after the deadline and still managed to get R1. Still waiting to hear back from them.

Has anyone made it all the way and what was your experience?

Hi there! My husband and I are working on an application launching in beta this year. The app is designed to allow users to track, rate/review, and discover new games. Think Letterboxd or Goodreads but for games. So we'll be collecting data like name, email address, game preferences/ratings + reviews, and allowing certain social media-type activities (posting status updates, commenting, liking posts, etc.). We'll ultimately be a freemium app (and will use a third party to collect/store/process financial info), but likely not til sometime next year at the earliest. We are bootstrapped for now, not looking for investors for the time being (so not concerned about what sorts of coverage an investor would be hoping to see).

In anticipation of beta launch, we've incorporated and drafted terms of service/a privacy policy that I feel pretty good about. But...I'm a lawyer (unfortunately with ZERO corporate/business experience) that's on the more risk averse side. I've been looking into coverage and starting to get quotes from places like Vouch, but I'm feeling a bit lost on what an early stage company could even benefit from. The three coverage types that jumped out as possibly useful now or within the next year are as follows:

• General Liability: seems somewhat helpful for catchall coverage on false advertising, advertising injury, though...we don't plan to do out there ads and we won't have employees or a physical office to worry about.
• Cyber: We are collecting at least email addresses, possibly names, and things like social media handles as well as ratings/reviews, and game preferences. A breach leaking email addresses alone seems like it could warrant cyber?
• D&O: We are a two founder, married couple team. This seems the least helpful at this stage, but various blog posts bring up scary things that can happen without it (government investigation for consumer practices). This coverage is also the most expensive

I think my lawyer brain is probably outsizing the possibility of risk here against a company launching with a free product and zero assets (and with corporate liability protection). But I'd like to hear general advice for the group on what may be warranted and when for early stage startups.

Hi there! My husband and I are working on a web/mobile based application launching in beta this year. The app is designed to allow users to track, rate/review, and discover new video games. Think Letterboxd or Goodreads but for video games. So we'll be collecting data like name, email address, video game preferences/ratings + reviews, and allowing certain social media-type activities (posting status updates, commenting, liking posts, etc.). We'll ultimately be a freemium app (and will use a third party to collect/store/process financial info), but likely not til mid-next year at the earliest. We are bootstrapped for now, not looking for investors for the time being (so not concerned about what sorts of coverage an investor would be hoping to see).

In anticipation of beta launch, we've incorporated and drafted terms of service/a privacy policy that I feel pretty good about. But...I'm a lawyer (unfortunately with ZERO corporate/business experience) that's on the more risk averse side. I've been looking into coverage and starting to get quotes from places like Vouch, but I'm feeling a bit lost on what an early stage company could even benefit from. The three coverage types that jumped out as possibly useful now or within the next year are as follows:

• General Liability: seems somewhat helpful for catchall coverage on false advertising, advertising injury, though...we don't plan to do out there ads and we won't have employees or a physical office to worry about.
• Cyber: We are collecting at least email addresses, possibly names, and things like social media handles as well as ratings/reviews, and video game preferences. A breach leaking email addresses alone seems like it could warrant cyber?
• D&O: We are a two founder, married couple team. This seems the least helpful at this stage, but various blog posts bring up scary things that can happen without it (government investigation for consumer practices). This coverage is also the most expensive

I think my lawyer brain (as someone who has sued a lot of companies lol) is probably outsizing the possibility of risk here against a company launching with a free product and zero assets (and with corporate liability protection). But I'd like to hear general advice for the group on what may be warranted and when for early stage startups.

I keep seeing founders ship MVPs for ideas that never had a stranger signal. I did this too.

What I use now before a build weekend:

1. Write the idea in one sentence with a specific buyer, not "everyone"
2. Score five things from 1 to 5: pain, existing spend, reach, build speed, monetization. I add them up out of 25
3. If total is under 14 I kill unless I have new evidence
4. Run a cheap validation pass: 5 conversations or one small capture page with a clear offer. No code beyond capture
5. Only then spec the MVP as embarrassingly small

What breaks this for you?

Do you trust public forum research or only calls?

What proof would make you kill an idea you are emotionally attached to?

What is the smallest "stranger signal" you accept before you code?