In 2022 I made my first OpenAI API call. Not because I saw the future of AI in 2025. Not because I had a strategy. I was just amazed. So I started sharing knowledge on Stack Overflow.For the next 3 years I lived in the AI community. I answered questions 24/7/365. I remember one New Year's Eve hitting the Enter button to submit an answer on Stack Overflow before running out the door to a party.What happened next?• Became the #1 OpenAI API contributor on Stack Overflow.• Became the #1 CrewAI contributor on the official forum.• Reached 2.4 million developers just on Stack Overflow.• Opened a YouTube channel and put in 40+ hours for one coding tutorial.• Open-sourced 27 AI projects, gaining 300+ GitHub stars.• Got feedback my answers were better than official docs.Unfortunately, none of that landed me a DevRel job.In 2024 I was rejected 500x!DevRel? No.AI Engineer? No.Anything in between? No.Finally, I got a role at a startup. After 12 months of searching. Guess what? I was fired after 1.5 months!That CRUSHED me! No exaggeration, I was sitting on a bed and crying.Eventually, after months, I came to a realization.• "Startups are risky."• "The fact is that 99% of startups fail."But here’s the thing…• Can I fail more than being rejected 500x?• Can I risk more than job hunting for 12 months only to be fired in 1.5 months?So in 2025, I went all in:Solopreneur, building in public.For the first time in my life, I saw a Stripe graph that wasn’t flat.Before that? I never shipped ANYTHING in production! Not a single landing page was deployed. Nothing was ever good enough. The term "MVP" was not in my vocabulary.Today, I still consider myself a solopreneur rookie, but...I think the chances of succeeding as a solopreneur have NEVER been higher in the history of the world! Startups are probably still carrying the same amount of risk. But iteration cycles and costs are RIDICULOUSLY low.To put it simply:Your startups will still fail (until you find a gold mine).But today, you’ll know in 1 month for $100.Just 3 years ago, it would take 1 year and $10,000.THINK ABOUT THIS!Here's what I learned on my way to the first 10 paying customers:✅ Pick a real-world pain you can solve 10x faster and/or cheaper with AI.✅ Test your startup idea with an MVP that can be built in 1 week.✅ Maximize AI tools to cut time and cost while you work.✅ Validate your idea on the market, not among FFF (family, friends, fools).✅ Make decisions based on data, not your emotions.🔄 Repeat!Because you're not that 1% that will hit a gold mine with your first startup.

Stripe

OpenAI

From Being Rejected 500x to my First 10 Paying Customers

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