Nick | AI and business

My journey as a non-technical builder and business owner
Current count: 8 apps, 4 live solving business problems

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

Tips on starting your first AI project:

1. Solve a real problem.
Pick something tiny that genuinely annoys you every day at work or home. If it saves you 15 minutes of manual headache, that is your app. (1/4)

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@launch_llama This is a very real problem. Too many people are hostage to one payment platform and many have lost thousands after the platform just decides, “you went against Rule 71937a/bcs subsection 3-1 subsection 9. No money for you. All decisions are final”

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

Spending 40 hours debating your database, UI libraries, and auth setup feels like building a moat.

Then someone clones your entire frontend in an afternoon, and you realize the code was zero defense.

Anyone can replicate software overnight. What they cannot copy is the 50 conversations you had with real users before touching a landing page.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

An AI agent e-mailed FBI agents?!

I've always thought the logic is if a tool makes a mistake, the human using it is still at fault.

But when your autonomous agent takes an action you would have rejected, who stands in court: you, or the API key?

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@Ionkosm Email then code sent to email. No guessing, no need to remember a password

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@Ionkosm Lemme tell you, I swapped out of a complete service because it had too many things going on. Just navigating it required a masters degree.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@patrick_kuhnke_ Ouch…..

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@Ionkosm Keeps asking for my opinion and then saying I’m wrong…..

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

Building features is usually just a comfortable way to hide from users.

Filling a calendar with networking calls is how talkers avoid shipping.

AI didn't change that bottleneck. It just made it ten times faster to produce the comfortable half. Builders can now spin up whole apps nobody asked for while dodging rejection.

The business only survives when you force yourself to do the work you hate.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@yevloop The real moat is always work. Getting distribution is work that isn’t as easy to outsource. With ai the building has become the easy part so people are still willing to do it

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@hi8esh_ First 100 users is 1000% more difficult though

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@HenriBranding Limiting words is a real skill. Each word has to earn its place

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@patrick_kuhnke_ I guess I’m sick all the time 😂

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@Ionkosm Interesting. Potentially limit it. Even if you’re using AI daily, I’d expect them to retain some sort of decision making or thought processes. Last thing I need is someone trusting ai so much they both hallucinate and end up attempting a coup.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

People glorify grinding and sticking it out.

They conveniently leave out runway.

No amount of work ethic matters if you run out of cash before the business can even breathe.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

I see "AI experts" selling complete agent orchestration with slop visuals.

Would you hire them?

I wouldn't.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@Ionkosm Pay for outcome not the process. But if they didn’t check and I see the baby has 6 fingers imma be mad

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

Founders say they didn't make money for 3 to 10 years.

How did they sustain their life then?

I understand a year, but anything over 5 years of zero income sounds like you need to be incredibly privileged to make it.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@patrick_kuhnke_ Sounds like a role call!

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

Hours spent trying a new model is hours spent not building.

Procrastination takes many forms.

[Nick | AI and business @nickflowing]

@sharran But there’s a handful of people claiming they’ve made full companies with just ai