Uladzimir Ausianikau's Linkedin Analytics

What if the SaaS product you’ve been looking for… is already inside your business? I was having a conversation with someone recently, and this one question led to an “Aha!” moment: “What if I told you - you could start a SaaS company from within your existing business?” The response was, “I have never thought about it that way.” If you’re already running a service company and using AI to improve your internal process… That might already be a product. - You’ve tested it. - You’ve seen it work. - You know the problem it solves. … you just haven’t wrapped it up yet. And I believe people who aren’t technical founders are often in a better position to do this. They’re closer to the actual workflow, the problems, the clients. So instead of chasing something new, maybe you just need to look at what’s already working inside your company. The product might already be there.

I've been thinking about this... Is it a good time to bring back ideas you gave up on - since AI has lowered the cost of building and testing? I say it depends. AI promises a lot and yes, it can help you test and build faster. But people are still making bad decisions. They still waste money. They still give up. A bad idea is still a bad idea - even with AI :) And to be fair, I don’t even like the word “idea.” Most people say they have a startup idea. But really what they have is a solution they’re excited about. There’s no connection to an actual problem, no real market, no proof that someone wants it. AI or no AI - the basics remain the same. Test, validate, and talk to real people.

Founders hear this a lot: “Act fast. But also… act slow.” No wonder it’s confusing. The truth is, you need both. But they serve different purposes. See, you have two monkeys in your startup: One is smart, but weak. She can think clearly, spot the problem, and map the path. The other is strong, but doesn’t think much - she just runs fast and gets stuff done. 1. You act slow when you’re figuring out where to go. That’s strategy. That’s where the “smart monkey” comes in. 2. You act fast when it’s time to move. That’s execution. That’s where the “strong monkey” takes over. If you send the strong monkey off in the wrong direction, she’ll get you nowhere - just faster. So let the smart one figure out where to go. Then pass it to the strong one to execute - fast, hard, and with momentum.

Founders gather all the information in the world yet still throw random prompts at LLMs with no structure. It's not a knowledge problem. You already have the knowledge but it's just scattered. And because it’s scattered, you don’t know how to apply it when you actually need it. That’s something I’ve been trying to fix for myself. Right now, I’m uploading everything - my PDFs, course notes, video content - into NotebookLM. I want to create one single chunk of context that I can actually work with. So instead of starting from scratch every time, I can say, “This is the phase I’m in, this is the problem I’m facing - what should I do based on the playbooks I’ve already collected?” And I want to share this with all founders out there. I just want to say, “This is how we do it inside our company. Here’s the link. Feel free to copy it.” That’s what I’d actually want someone to send me. Not a three-line PDF that asks for my email and gives me nothing useful. A real system. Built once, used every time.

This deserves a repost. Bravo Enzo Avigo

So true Yasser Elsaid

“When moving forward with a new idea, trust your gut.” Great advice - unless your gut has no clue what it’s doing. I came across a post the other day where someone said their gut is the best way to move forward with a new idea… but is it really? Maybe. But only if that gut is trained. If you’ve spent 15 years in an industry, spoken to hundreds of people, seen the patterns, watched things fail and succeed - then yes, your intuition probably carries real weight. It’s not just a feeling at that point, it’s pattern recognition. But when you’re just starting out - when you’ve never spoken to a customer or tested your assumptions - your gut isn’t giving you insight. It’s just emotion. And emotional decisions without feedback usually lead to wasted time. I see this happen a lot - founders make decisions based on what feels right… Not what’s actually been tested. Then they do it again. And again. And wonder why nothing works :) They think they’re trusting their instinct, but really, they’re avoiding the hard conversations and skipping the uncomfortable parts of validation. You can absolutely use your gut. Just make sure it’s one that’s been earned through experience.

Last week, something pretty crazy happened. We officially launched FOCUS - a new community for founders in Poland. Not just any community. A place for expats. A place for people who want to build something real here, but don’t always feel they belong. We announced it during an offline event at Google Campus Warsaw. Plenty of people. 5 minutes on stage. A lot of excitement... and a lot of chaos behind the scenes too 😅 This wasn’t planned to launch so soon… I was slowly planning it for the end of the year. But when the opportunity came, I decided to go all in. Now it’s real. And it’s just the beginning. If you’re building something in Poland - and you want to be part of a real founder community, not just another place to consume posts - get in touch. I’ll send you the invite (plus the launch discount we promised at the event). Let’s build it together. P.S. My inbox is flooded right now... I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Work has been interfering with my personal life recently so I’ve decided to do something about it - I have two phones now! One for work. One for personal life. I wanted to see if I could really separate the two because what I noticed was that work always wins. The events, notifications, messages… everything related to the business just takes over. And when it does, it pushes everything else out of the way. Plans, family, or hobbies, anything not related to work gets buried. So I decided to experiment :) This second phone has no Slack, no LinkedIn. It just has the basics like health tracking. I think it’s a great exercise. And hopefully this helps me remove everything that competes with my personal life. Has anyone else found that work-related stuff overtakes your personal life?

One of the biggest mistakes in early-stage validation is taking surface-level feedback too seriously. People will give you good vibes and say nice things. Sometimes they’ll even promise to try it out. And then… they disappear. I love to be on calls where I am trying to validate demand :) When someone starts breathing differently, looks away, or fidgets a little - that’s when I know they’re processing something real. That’s the kind of moment I look for. Not a compliment like, “this sounds cool.” But more like this: “I’ve been spending so much time on this… but now it looks like I can do it differently.” That’s the signal.

Pitching at the Female Founders Meetup Event yesterday was a great experience. Thank you to everyone who attended, asked questions, and stayed back for conversations afterward. It’s always good to see the energy founders bring when they’re serious about building :) After 15+ years in tech, one thing is clear to me: ideas are everywhere. But the real edge comes from how fast you can test, adapt, and build around them. Especially when you're building outside your home country and figuring things out as you go. That’s why I’m excited about what’s coming next. Helping founders validate faster, move with more clarity, and connect with others who are solving real problems, without wasting time on theory. It was an honour for me to talk about my founder community - FOCUS. I genuinely believe this will be a game-changer for founders who want to build alongside other driven founders. Grateful for the opportunity, and looking forward to building on the momentum. If we didn’t get a chance to connect yesterday, feel free to reach out here! Happy to talk about FOCUS or anything in general :) Shoutout to everyone who attended Tatsiana Kirimava Natalia Shahmetova, Lilija Spiglazovaite Aleksandra Klonowska-Szalek, Elizabeth Marchuk HANNA Samarskaya 👑 Anna Lazitskaya, Magdalena Adamczuk Anastasiia Shabliienko Milana Slobtcova Darya Ksianzova Kiryl Valoshyn Dr. Alexander Maslov Apologies if I missed anyone's name!

This Thursday, I’ll be at Google for Startups Campus in #Warsaw - at the Female Founders Meetup Event! There will be an offline pitching session where you can present your idea to investors from Flyer One Ventures, Vesna Capital, Zubr Capital Investment Company, AngelsBand, Mars, APPLEJACK LAB, Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder. There also will be some incredible speakers at the event: Tatsiana Kirimava, CEO & Co-Founder | Orangesoft Natalia Shahmetova, CEO | Woofz Lilija Spiglazovaite, Client Partner | Meta Aleksandra Klonowska-Szalek, Co-Founder | Slowhop(dot)com Elizabeth Marchuk, Co-founder | ReplyPilot HANNA Samarskaya 👑, Co-Founder | Women in tech Anna Lazitskaya, Co-founder & CEO | Embraceme Magdalena Adamczuk, EU Grant Expert for Innovation | GRANTS.CAPITAL If you're around, come say hi! BTW - I am proud to say that Fotando Global is partnering with Ū Hub | Startup Community in Poland in bringing this event to life!

Today is the day - I’m speaking at the Female Founders Meetup Event at Google for Startups Campus Warsaw! I’m officially launching something I’ve been thinking about for years... A community for international founders - FOCUS This is for people like us - those building outside their home countries, navigating local systems, and still aiming to launch, grow, and raise. Inside the community: - Systematic validation of assumptions and testing of hypothesis. - Founder-to-founder mentorship and support. - Access to proven playbooks and tools. - Traction Roadmap. - Workshops. If you’re building and this sounds like something you’ve been looking for - drop a comment. I’ll reach out with more details and invite you in 🙂 For now, drop by if you’re at the event. Looking forward to seeing some familiar (and new) faces :)