What's new

Search results

  1. Shougan

    Back after a pause. Sanity check on manual offer before building

    - AI - 
    Context It’s been a while since I last posted here. Earlier this year I shared weekly updates around an AI concept for manufacturing, but I went quiet for about 2–3 months. That pause wasn’t inactivity. I’ve been focused on execution and decided to postpone posting updates on the forum while...
  2. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Weekly Update I’ve kept up with my outreach this week. Nothing major to report, it’s going slow and I’m still finding it hard to build enough trust to get prospects comfortable with either a call or my offer. The best opportunity so far is still the maintenance manager, but he hasn’t responded...
  3. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Weekly Update This week has been better. No sales yet, but I’ve had two people ask to see a demo of the software. Unfortunately, both went silent after I showed them the example report I made. My guess is that they’re expecting software, not another PDF report. And if they already have visual...
  4. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Weekly Update This week has been rough. I’ve been sick most of the week, so I only managed the bare minimum: sending my daily outreach messages and doing follow-ups. On top of that, I got hit with the usual frustrations at my day job: A pay raise that still undervalues the work I do. More...
  5. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Good point, consultants could be a good entry point and I’ll eventually explore that. The challenge right now is that my setup still relies on companies sending me their own data, and consultants usually don’t own that data themselves. They could use my tool to speed up their analysis and...
  6. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Makes sense. You’re probably right. I need to stay consistent and not spread myself too thin before I’ve really proven value in one place. Most of the people engaging with my content right now aren’t really my ICP a lot are software folks, consultants, or people in manufacturing but not...
  7. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    That actually sounds like a really good approach. Are you mainly doing it through LinkedIn, or some other platform to capture their info? I could definitely see myself using a similar method. Since i'm posting 2 times a week on linkedin right now, doing one newsletter a month would probably not...
  8. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Yeah, I can see how if people don’t act on the recommended actions, it just becomes a loop of the same results. In my own experience, with manufacturing data things tend to shift over the months anyway, so there’s usually some natural variability. The biggest reason is that most teams are...
  9. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Weekly Update This week I kept up my pace of outreach with 10 DMs a day plus follow-ups. A few conversations are starting to take shape. Two people showed real interest but aren’t in the right situation right now, so I’ll circle back later this year. Key Conversation of the Week I spoke with...
  10. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Yeah I could try to ask those who went silent if there was something missing, or what I can do to improve. Feedback is mainly what I'm after in the first stages anyways Connecting in person is something I want to do, I'm keeping my eyes out for events nearby that I could attend to connect with...
  11. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Reuploading last weeks update. Weekly Update This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. At the end of last week, I had a few people ask to see my example report. I sent them over and kept up my daily outreach (10–15 per day). Midweek, doubts started to creep in. More and more “No...
  12. Shougan

    Struggling with LinkedIn Outreach for My AI Manufacturing Startup. Need Feedback

    MARKETING QUESTION 
    Hey, thanks a lot for the tips. Really appreciate it. I see what you mean about reframing it. My current challenge is that the “report” doesn’t actually say anything about their business unless they share their production data with me. Right now, it’s just a generic example of what it could...
  13. Shougan

    Struggling with LinkedIn Outreach for My AI Manufacturing Startup. Need Feedback

    MARKETING QUESTION 
    Hey everyone, I’ve been working on building traction for my AI-powered cost analysis tool for manufacturers. Right now, I’m validating the market through outreach rather than focusing on product development. For the last few weeks, I’ve been sending LinkedIn DMs daily to my ICP (operations...
  14. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Weekly Update This week I’ve been focused on outreach and building relationships. LinkedIn Outreach I’m currently at ~750 connections and sending 150–200 connection requests per week to my ICP to grow the network. This week, I sent 10 personalized messages per day. My first batch got no...
  15. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Excatly! I'm basically replacing myself as an engineer. I spend way to much time today analyzing data to drive actions. My solution will do that for them, deliver biggest cost drivers, their root causes and suggested actions to implement. Thanks for the recourses, much appreciated. I will...
  16. Shougan

    The Coming AI Job Apocalypse: Entrepreneurship is Your Answer.

    HOT! - AI - 
    I remember when i did my studies to become a manufacturing engineer, a part of the automation curriculum was the impact of industrial robots long term. No one really had a good answer what to do with all the people that would lose the job on factory floors to robots. I now see AI doing the...
  17. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Quick recap of the last month’s progress TL;DR Spent the last month deep in outreach, refining the pilot, and building the first working automation flow. Some good conversations but still struggling to turn interest into paying pilots. Big wins: a local/self-hosted option, clearer...
  18. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Quick recap of this week’s progress: Had two solid calls with people who work closely with manufacturing data systems and AI integration. Also exchanged messages with someone in a quality management role at a factory. All three gave me useful feedback and confirmed the core use case is relevant...
  19. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Thanks! The PDF report has the most impact. it's what I plan to offer in the pilot phase. I see it almost like a lean version of a consulting report. What might take a consultant 30–40 hours, I can deliver in 1–2 hours using my prototype. So the client gets similar insights, top cost drivers...
  20. Shougan

    [Progress Thread] Building an AI Startup for Manufacturing

    HOT! SAAS / APPS EXECUTION 
    Right now, I show prototypes in two ways: 1. PDF reports: I create sample reports using dummy production data to demonstrate the core output: Top cost drivers Root cause analysis Suggested improvement actions Estimated financial impact / ROI 2. Interactive demo: I’ve also built a simple...

Welcome to an Entrepreneurial Revolution

The Fastlane Forum empowers you to break free from conventional thinking to achieve financial freedom through UNSCRIPTED® Entrepreneurship where relative value and problem-solving are executed at scale. Living Unscripted® isn’t just a business strategy—it’s a way of life.

Follow MJ DeMarco

Fastlane Resources

Get The Books that Change Lives...

The Fastlane entrepreneurial strategy is based on the CENTS Framework® which is based on the three best-selling books by MJ DeMarco.

mj demarco books
Back
Top Bottom