Back

Building a startup frugally is very difficult. Here is how I built an AI app with Rs. 30 k budget. Building a product the lean way has been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. Usually when you work in an organization, you have colleagues who are expert in their fields and that makes the journey smooth. However, with limited resources, I had to tap into every corner of my network. I sent WhatsApp messages to 50 people and had 20 conversations before finally assembling a small but mighty team—a design expert, a front-end Flutter developer, and a back-end developer and architect. Overall, I spent INR 30 K to ship the app, which went live on April 8th, 2025. About my challenges... The journey wasn’t smooth. Tech issues kept popping up, and each roadblock felt like a test of our patience. There were moments when it felt like the hurdles outweighed the progress. Sometimes UI thought of quitting. But we kept moving forward. As a product founder, I had to jump into technical details, which I did to make sure that we are moving forward. Then came the unexpected delay—we wantd to go live but out production access to playstore was denied by Google (this access is needed for individual developer account). That setback hit hard, we were looking at a delay of at least 2 weeks. However, I looked around how to ensure that Google team decides favourably next time. We collected feedback, we made 2 releases before we applied to production. This time we passed :) Today, I’m incredibly proud to say the app is finally live. It’s been a rollercoaster, but seeing our vision come to life makes every challenge worth it. ✨ I’d love for you to try the app and share your feedback: Pinnzo - Bookmark and Learn better. Search for "Pinnzo" on Android plat store and install. To everyone who’s ever believed in a dream and kept going through the struggles—this is for you. Your perseverance can make the impossible happen. 💪