bibinmohan

Hey HN,

I'm Bibin Mohan, a 37-year-old founder from India. I started selling firecrackers at 15 and jumped into entrepreneurship full-time at 22. I’ve been at it ever since — 15 years, 9 different startup attempts, and still grinding.

I dropped out of college in 2009 to co-found a web and digital marketing agency with three friends. They left within a few years, but I kept it going and still run it today. It pays my family's expenses, but not much more.

In between, I got lucky — in 2014, I became the social media consultant to India’s former Central Minister of Shipping & IT through my agency. It was a proud moment, but also a reminder that consulting doesn’t scratch the startup itch for me.

Here’s my startup timeline:

1. Quadregal (2009–Present): Web & digital agency. 500+ projects completed. Bootstrapped and sustains my living.

2. Likebids (2010–2011): Social bidding platform using Facebook Likes to win products. It went viral, featured on Mashable. FB changed its ToS and killed the model right before a possible investment.

3. Facebook Apps (2011–2012): Built viral apps like “My Best Chat Friend” (used FB APIs to calculate your most chatted friend). One app hit 1M users in 6 months. All were shut down when FB banned auto-publishing.

4. Glist (2020–2021): A 10-min grocery delivery startup in India (like Zepto). Interviewed at YC, didn’t get in. Got an offer of $120K for 70% equity — we declined and shut it down due to lack of capital.

5. Ippow (2021): 20-minute medicine delivery. No cofounders, no capital, no traction.

6. Healthy (2022): EMI-based healthcare package booking. Stalled due to disinterest and funding issues.

7. 5mino (2023): Mental health + time-focused app. Built it, no downloads. Learned a lot though.

8. Flowstate (2024): Simple app that plays relaxing music. Got 2K+ downloads organically. Growth stalled.

9. Tillit (2024–Now): My current project with two cofounders. It's like Faire for India. We’re turning local homes into mini-warehouses, enabling faster wholesale delivery and giving shopkeepers credit-based inventory. Retailers save money, time, and space. The idea works — I’ve validated it in the field. But we’re constrained financially, funding everything from my agency income. And we need to offer credit, which is hard to scale without capital.

Now here’s my dilemma:

My wife asked me today if I’m crazy to keep chasing these ideas instead of just taking a job. I’m 37, married, with a child. I've built multiple products, none have "made it", and I'm still hustling every day, believing the next one will.

So — do I need more motivation, or should I finally quit?

Have you seen someone like me turn it around this late? Am I just being stubborn, or is there still hope if I keep going?

Would really appreciate some honest advice from this community.

Thank you, Bibin Mohan

I believe, something that involves physical product sales, that is a daily essential - like selling groceries- might not get affected by AI to a large extent. What do you think?

I'm just thinking, am I the only person who comes to read HN because I'm lonely. How often do you feel lonely in a day?

Just wondering, if HN community still have a Facebook account?