ristekimov

Founder building AI for local businesses @ mindyOne.
Sharing the startup journey, wins & failures.

💻 CS background
📍 Skopje, 🇲🇰

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Day 6 building mindyOne.

• Onboarded another client.
• Shipped improvements to the product.

The highlight?

The conversations with my co-founders.

Every meeting pushes the product and the vision a little further.

https://t.co/KE1O4F3FaN
#buildinpublic

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

3 years ago, this photo was taken in San Francisco.

Back then, I was just a young dreamer on a work&travel program with a vision.

Today, I still have that same dream but now with a plan, a product, and the discipline to execute.

Building mindyOne in public, one step at a time.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

@AlexHormozi Unfortunately so many people think they should automate everything because AI is the trend nowadays.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

@heyyAzamat I agree, what distribution channels do you use?

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Day 4 of building mindyOne.

I thought building the product was the hard part.

It wasn't.
Getting people to care is.

More messages. More ignored replies. More lessons.

Startups aren't built by code alone.

They're built by talking to people until someone says:
"We need this."

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Day 5 of building in public.

First customer for mindyOne. On a Sunday.

Also lined up 10 potential leads.

Small wins compound. Back to building.

🚀 Build in public: https://t.co/KE1O4F3FaN

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Day 3 of building mindyOne.

One thing I've learned already:

Small business owners don't want AI.

They want:

Fewer no-shows.
Less time answering the same questions.
More time doing what they're actually good at.

AI is just the engine.

The outcome is what people buy.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Day 2 of building mindyOne.

50 cold DMs sent.

1 meeting booked.
Most left on seen.
A few rejections.

Not discouraged.

You only need a few people to believe before everyone else do.

Back to building.

https://t.co/KE1O4F3FaN
#buildinpublic

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Today we officially launched mindyOne.

No investors.
No big team.

Just months of late nights, bugs, and three founders with a dream.

We're starting in Macedonia, learning as we go, and building something people love to use.

Day 1.

https://t.co/KE1O4F3FaN
#buildinpublic

[Fortune MMXM @FortuneMMXM]

For over 4days now, I haven't sleep. I've been studying this video over and over again.
Bookmark and learn from it

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Tell me a better dopamine hit than Slack messages flying in while you and your friends are building something that actually ships.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

Tried to book a haircut in Bologna last night.

Instagram: 4,200 followers, nice photos.
Link in bio: dead.
WhatsApp: no reply at 9pm.

Booked their competitor in 2 minutes.

Curious, for anyone running a small service business:
is this a problem you've solved, or just accepted?

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

6) The biggest market in the world is still running on paper & missed phone calls. The tech world is sleeping on it because it's not 'sexy.'

What’s the biggest gap you’ve noticed between what tech founders build and what real-world SMB's actually need? Drop your thoughts below.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

I've been quietly talking to service business owners for 3 months.

Here's what nobody talks about:

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

5) The barrier to entry isn't tech literacy; it's trust. They’ve been burned by 'SEO gurus' and bloated SaaS trials that require 10 hours of onboarding they don’t have.

If your product requires a 4-part video tutorial series to understand, you've already lost them.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

4) They don’t want a complex CRM or a sleek dashboard. They want their phone to stop ringing while they’re busy, without losing the lead.

Software founders build features. Local business owners just want the peace of mind that a $500 job isn't slipping to the guy next door.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

3) Most tools are built for people who already think digitally.

The best opportunity is building for people who don't.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

2) They don't want to be digitized. They want to not miss revenue.

Big difference.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

1) The number one thing they all wish they had: someone to handle customer questions when they're busy.

Not a chatbot. Not a form.

Just... someone.

[ristekimov @rickykimov]

@nikolak47 Last month in a startup accelerator, I saw founders with a working digital marketing agency get criticized just because they didn’t have an AI process. It’s a shame.

Btw they already had customers in 15+ countries.