🧵 [Build Log] Week 1: ADVYSOR — An AI Co-founder for Founders

We're building ADVYSOR, a GPT-4–powered planning assistant for solo and early-stage founders. It helps generate structured startup plans from scratch: PRDs, GTMs, pitch decks, personas, and more.

We’re building in public and sharing weekly progress. Week 1 was about getting our story out, learning what resonated, and starting to test our messaging in the wild.

✅ What Happened

• 🎥 Shot, edited, and posted our first founder vlog
  → Realized I needed a cold open — reshot it to make the intro hook better
  → Trimmed the runtime from 10:40 → 8:40 to improve retention

• 📈 Fixed critical YouTube SEO issues
  → Original video was categorized as a “Blog” instead of “Education”
  → After changing that + improving keywords, impressions jumped 10× overnight

• 💬 Posted our story across multiple platforms
  → LinkedIn + Facebook (moderate traction via personal networks)
  → Substack + Medium + Twitter (no traction)
  → Reddit (some wins, some friction)

• 🛠️ Created ADVYSOR’s LinkedIn company page
  → Also updated personal profiles to reflect the project

📉 What Didn’t Work

• r/entrepreneurridealong banned our post 3 times
  → First for using a domain in the name (advysor.ai), then for linking to r/startups, then full ban for reposting without the links
  → Lesson: make sure there aren't unwritten rules before posting

• Hacker News post flopped
  → Posted too late in the morning; got buried before friends could upvote
  → Learned the HN timing + engagement game the hard way

• Spreading across 5+ platforms = burnout
  → Realized I need to prioritize platforms where I already have trust

🧠 What We Learned

• YouTube needs a cold open and SEO metadata in the description

• r/startups has real traction potential if used authentically

• ADVYSOR is strongest when shown helping others (e.g., using it to give forum feedback)

• I need to start scheduling content with something like Publer instead of trying to post everything live

📌 Free Resource

ADVYSOR helped generate a 13-step GTM planning guide (with prompts and templates). I’ll be sharing that in next week’s video. DM if you want an early peek.

👀 What’s Next

• Post to Feedback Friday on r/startups

• Launch Week 2 vlog (focused on our GTM strategy + execution)

• Start using ADVYSOR to give value-forward replies on Reddit, IH, etc.

• Begin content batching/scheduling for sanity + consistency

If you're building anything similar, I’d love to know:

Where did you get your first real traction?
Any early growth wins or faceplants you’d repeat or avoid?

📺 Week 1 Vlog: “AI Convinced Me to Start This Company”