Stop. Don’t Write a Single Line of Code.
(A Gut-Check for First-Time Indian Founders)
I see it every single day. On LinkedIn, in startup forums, in DMs from college
students.
That spark. That wide-eyed excitement about a “billion-dollar idea.”
And I love that energy. Genuinely. India is bursting with it. But that excitement is also
a trap. It’s the reason over a third of our startups go to the grave.
It’s a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and completely avoidable mistake.
We’re so obsessed with “building” that we forget to ask the most important question:
Does anyone actually give a damn?
I’m writing this because I’ve seen too many founders waste a year of their life, their
parents’ money, and all their mental health building a beautiful, complex, perfectly engineered ghost ship. A product nobody wants.
So, please. Stop. Read this first.
Step 1: Your “Brilliant Idea” Is a Biased Mess. (Sorry.)
This is the part that stings.
That idea you’re guarding? The one you think is pure genius? It’s not.
Not yet.
Right now, it’s just a guess. A guess based on your tiny, biased view of the world.
You are not your user.
We fall in love with our solution. We dream of the app, the features, the cool tech
stack.
This is a fatal error.
You need to fall in love with the problem. Get obsessed with it. Let it keep you up at
night.
How? Get out of your room.
Find 20 people who you think have this problem.
Get them on a call. Buy them a chai.
And then… shut up.
Don’t you dare pitch your idea. The second you say “I’m building an app
that…,” you’ve lost. They’ll just be polite. You’ll learn nothing.
Ask them about their life:
“Walk me through the last time you tried to…”
“What’s the most annoying part of that?”
“Seriously? That sounds awful. What do you do to fix it right now?”
“If you had a magic wand, what would you change?”
Real-Life Check: Meesho
Before they were a giant, Meesho was “Fashnear,” a local fashion app. It tanked.
Dead on arrival. Why? Because they assumed the problem.
Only after failing did they go out and actually talk to small shop owners. They
found the real problem wasn’t “discovery.” It was “inventory and distribution.” They
fell in love with that problem, and Meesho was born.
Your idea is a guess. Go prove it wrong.
Step 2: The “Will They Click?” Test
Okay, so you’ve talked to people. You’ve confirmed the problem is real. You can feel
the frustration.
Amazing. You’re already ahead of 80% of founders.
…Now you still don’t write code.
Your next job is to test one thing: Is this problem painful enough that someone will
pause their scrolling and act?
This is the cheapest, fastest, most terrifying test in the world.
Go to Carrd or Notion. Spend two hours, not two weeks, building a one-page
“coming soon” website. Write one sentence that nails the problem and your solution.
“Stop wasting 10 hours a week on X. Get Y instead.” Add ONE button. “Join the
Waitlist.”
Now, the scary part. Share it. Drop it in the 10 WhatsApp groups you’re in. Post it on
LinkedIn. If you’re really brave, spend ₹1000 on a Meta ad targeting your exact
audience.
Now you wait. And you watch.
This is the moment of truth. Are you getting crickets? Or are you getting sign-ups?
Even 20 genuine sign-ups is a signal. It’s a tiny green shoot.
Real-Life Check: Zomato
When Zomato’s founders were at Bain, they didn’t build a platform. They saw a
problem: everyone struggled with paper menus. Their “MVP”? They scanned the
menus and put the PDFs on an internal website. That’s it. The site immediately got
massive traffic from their colleagues. They had a hit. They proved interest before a
single line of real code was written.
Step 3: Be the “Wizard of Oz”
You have sign-ups! People want this! The adrenaline is pumping!
…YOU STILL DON’T WRITE CODE.
I’m serious. This is my favorite part. It’s the “Wizard of Oz” trick.
Your users see a magical service. But behind the curtain? It’s just you, a Google
Sheet, and your WhatsApp.
You are the app. You are the backend.
– Want to build a “plant subscription box”? Your MVP is a Carrd site, a Google
Form to take orders, and a Razorpay link to take money. You are manually
buying the plants and shipping them.
– Want to build a “career coaching AI”? Your MVP is an Instagram DM where
people ask questions, and you manually type back the answers.
– Want to build a “logistics empire”? Your MVP is a WhatsApp group where
people post requests, and you manually book the deliveries.
Real-Life Check: Dunzo
This is exactly how Dunzo started. It wasn’t an app. It was Kabeer Biswas, on his
bike, with a single WhatsApp group. People messaged their to-do lists. He would
personally receive the message, run the errand, and deliver it.
He was the app. He proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that people would pay for
this. He felt their problems, their feedback, their delight, firsthand.
Your first product doesn’t have to scale. It just has to work… for one person. Then
ten.
Step 4: The Loop (and the Inevitable Pain)
Now you’re running. Manually. It’s messy. It’s chaotic.
It’s beautiful.
Because now you’re not guessing. You’re learning. You’re in a constant, high-speed
loop.
A user sends a weird request. (Learn)
You try to fulfill it and fail. (Learn)
A user pays you. (HUGE LEARN!)
A user ghosts you. (Painful Learn)
This is where you find out what really matters. You thought your “cool feature X” was
the key? Turns out, no one cares. They just want the one simple thing, done fast.
Your job isn’t to be right. Your job is to be less wrong every single day.
Step 5: Remember, We’re in India. This Isn’t Silicon Valley.
A quick, vital reality check.
Most of the startup advice you read online is from the US. It doesn’t always apply
here.
Language: Don’t just validate in English. Your first test in Hindi or Tamil might
get 2x the response.
Payments: Stop obsessing over Stripe. Your “Manual MVP” better have a
UPI QR code or a simple Razorpay link. We are a UPI-first nation. Make it
easy for people to give you money.
Diversity: Your “user” in Mumbai is not your user in Jaipur. Their problems,
their willingness to pay, and their trust are all different. Validate accordingly.
Hustle (“Jugaad”): We are the kings of this. Use it. Google Forms,
WhatsApp, Telegram, IndiaMART… these are your validation tools.
Step 6: Now You Can Build.
See what you’ve done?
You’ve talked to real humans.
You’ve found a real problem.
You’ve proven people will sign up.
You’ve proven people will pay.
You have 10, maybe 50, real users who love your manual, broken, messy “service.”
NOW. Now you can open your code editor.
Because now, you’re not building a “cool idea.” You’re building a machine to do the
work you’re already doing manually. You’re not guessing at features; you’re building
what your users are already asking you for.
And when you walk into an incubator or an angel investor’s office, you’re not coming
in with a PowerPoint deck and a dream.
You’re walking in with data.
“I have a problem. I have 50 users. 10 of them are paying me. My manual service is
breaking because I have too much demand. I need to build the tech to handle it.”
That is a conversation that gets you a cheque.
It’s Not Sexy, But It’s the Only Thing That Works
This isn’t the “sexy” part of startups. It’s not the funding party. It’s not the
TechCrunch headline.
It’s the doubt. It’s the grind. It’s the terrifying, humbling, thrilling work of finding out if
you’re on to something… or if you’re just fooling yourself.
So this week, I beg you.
Skip the code. Kill your ego.
Go run one, tiny, fast experiment.
You might just find your first 10 customers. Or you might save yourself a year of
pain.
Either way, you win.
And if you ever do get stuck, you can always network with founders in similar phases of their own journeys
Proxima is where founders and builders come together every week to co-work, share real challenges, and push each other forward. No posturing, just ambitious builders on similar journeys, solving hard problems together.
If you’re looking for community, accountability, and momentum.. join us.
Apply at: https://www.proximamumbai.com