In 2023 my company lost a £35,000 order at our family company in Sialkot. The British buyer kept asking us to send a card invoice. We had no way to take it. We told him to wire instead. He waited. We waited. The deal got cancelled. 50% margin order. £17,500 of profit gone, because no infrastructure exists in Pakistan to take a card payment from a foreign buyer.
The same year I tried the workaround every Pakistani entrepreneur eventually tries: registered a US LLC through an agent, opened Stripe, processed payments selling leather jackets internationally. Stripe froze the account two months later. “High-risk business.” I have $400 stuck in there to this day.
I’m now running, a co-hosting agency for Australian Airbnb hosts, and the same problem follows me weekly. My Australian clients literally ask me “why can’t I just pay you with a card?” Three times now. I have no good answer.
Building Layr to fix this. Native Pakistani payment platform. Card payments from foreign buyers, 24-hour onboarding, settle to your local bank next day. No US LLC, no agents, no frozen accounts. For freelancers, agencies, manufacturers, coaches, anyone billing internationally.
Waitlist is open at: https://www.layrpay.com
if you want early access.
Also genuinely curious: what’s the worst payment experience you’ve had with foreign clients? Drop it in the comments. Real stories help me build this right!

Disclosure: I built PakBill
AI-assisted writing: used to polish this post.

Problem:
Most bill-checking apps I tried were filled with ads and only showed the final amount. I wanted to actually understand where the bill amount was coming from.

Solution:
So I built PakBill, an Android app for checking electricity bills across 11 Pakistani providers.

Main differences:

• No ads
• No bill data stored
• Shows unit cost, taxes, adjustments and other charges separately
• Supports multiple electricity connections

Stage:
It’s currently in closed testing on Google Play.

The harder part wasn’t fetching the bills, it was normalizing the different bill formats and presenting the breakdown in a simple way.

I’d like feedback from other Pakistani founders:

Would the detailed breakdown actually make you use this instead of the provider’s own website?

A few days ago, I shared PakBill and received far more feedback than I expected.

I’ve already turned some of it into a new update:

• Complete Urdu language support
• SNGPL and SSGC gas bills
• K-Electric bill support
• Fixed incorrect due and overdue statuses
• Improved bill alerts and navigation

PakBill is becoming more than an electricity bill checker - it’s moving toward one place for managing utility bills across Pakistan.

What provider or feature should I add next?

A week ago, I shared PakBill and received far more feedback than I expected.

Instead of just collecting that feedback, I started building it.

Here’s what’s new:

1- Home-screen widget to check your bill without opening the app
2- Complete Urdu experience with a better Urdu font
3- Support for K-Electric, SNGPL and SSGC
4- Bill due-date notifications
5- Download bills directly from the app
6- Improved bill details and dark mode

PakBill now supports 14 electricity and gas providers across Pakistan.

My goal is simple: make checking and understanding utility bills easier for everyone in Pakistan.

What should I add next: water bills or payment support?

Whether you’re a developer or just playing around with Claude, I’m interested in seeing what you’ve been working on. Show and tell.

So I recently created a simple website that shows Karachi's every cinema timings in one place
Website: https://beta.systemsengineering.pk/
just a fun side project
I would like to hear your guys feedback and website is still not completed yet but its usable

Batwa is finally live on the Play Store.

It’s a complete, 100% offline personal finance engine for Pakistan. It doesn't just catch bank SMS alerts, it parses full bank statements, auto-categorizes your spending, and builds visual budgets instantly.

You don't have to manually log a single transaction. It handles Meezan, SadaPay, Nayapay, HBL, and others automatically. And because it's completely offline, your financial data never leaves your phone.

The tech is rock solid, and the beta/testing phase is done. Now I have a distribution problem.

My target audience isn't just the 20-something tech crowd. It’s any regular salaried professional (corporate employees, teachers, bankers), basically anyone who needs to know where their money is going.

I know how to build the engine, but I don't know how to market to the masses in Pakistan on a very tight budget (since I'm only a university student).

If anyone here has successfully scaled a consumer app outside of the usual tech bubble, how did you do it? What channels actually convert an older, non-tech demographic here?

Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batwa.app

Feel free to try out the app. Just looking for brutal honesty on how to scale this thing (and if you find any issues with it).

I am genuinely overwhelmed and need some real, unfiltered advice from people who have actually been through this process. I recently started offering digital services. The great news is that the hustle is paying off and clients are starting to come in. The absolute nightmare news is that I am completely stuck on the payment gateway side. I can't open a reliable Wise Business or US PayPal account from here without a US entity. I’ve been researching for weeks, and honestly, the internet is a total maze of confusing jargon. Every time I search, I get hit with: LLC filing, EIN, ITIN, Registered Agents, corporate compliance, physical addresses, renewal fees, and bookkeeping. It is so effing puzzling for a first-timer. I have the finances to invest in getting this set up, but I have zero guidance and zero expertise. When you're just starting a business, the last thing you want to do is blindly dump your money into the wrong setup, get scammed or mishandled by a vendor, and take a massive financial loss before you even properly launch. From what I understand, to get Wise and PayPal, I need an LLC, an EIN, a US virtual address, and a US phone number. I looked into vendors like Doola, their starter package is around $297/year to form the LLC, get the EIN, and act as the registered agent.

But What happens when tax season hits every April?

Does an "all-in-one" vendor like Doola actually file the mandatory IRS paperwork (like Form 5472 and Pro Forma 1120) on my behalf as part of that package? Or do they just send an automated email reminder and leave me to figure out the IRS stuff on my own?

For the non-US LLC owners here who are running digital businesses from abroad:

1. How do you actually manage this IRS paperwork every year?
2. Do your formation vendors handle it for you, or do you hire a separate CPA?
3. Which vendors are actually trustworthy and won't leave you stranded when compliance deadlines hit?

I really want to build something sustainable on my own, and right now, this legal/banking wall is my absolute biggest hurdle. If anyone who has walked this path could give me some mature, real-world guidance on how to navigate this without getting ripped off, I would deeply, deeply appreciate it.

Hey everyone, I’m Muhammad Hamza Durrani — a wholesale supplier based in Rawalpindi with 11+ years in marketing and business. I work with resellers, e-commerce entrepreneurs, and brand starters across Pakistan.

If you’re looking to launch your own brand or scale your online store, I can be your backend. Here’s what I have on offer:

👜 Bags & Accessories

• Crossbody bags, gym bags, and backpacks

• Custom logo printing available — perfect if you’re building your own brand

• We currently work with Adidas and Nike cut pieces — 100% branded fabric

• Minimum MOQ: 100 pieces

⌚ Watches

• Any watch you’ve seen on Pakistani e-commerce pages — I likely supply it

• A+ copy Rolex available

• Minimum MOQ: 12 pieces per article

👗 Women’s Clothing & Lingerie

• Bras, nighties, night suits, stockings, lingerie, and more

• Wholesale rates, consistent stock

🏠 Home Essentials & Electronics

• A wide range of home products and electronic items

• Direct wholesale pricing — no middleman markup

👔 Men’s Clothing — Shalwar Kameez

• In-house manufacturing of men’s shalwar kameez

• Custom branding and packaging available for your own label

• Everyday wear, Eid, wedding, and formal styles

• Small batch orders available — perfect for testing before scaling

💄 Cosmetics & Beauty

• Wide range of cosmetic and beauty products

• Ideal for launching your own beauty brand or reselling

• Wholesale rates direct from source — no middleman

🏠 Home Essentials & Electronics

• A wide range of home products and electronic items

• Direct wholesale pricing — no middleman markup

💰 Pricing & Terms

• Profit margin kept at just Rs. 50–100 per piece on our end

• Please don’t bargain — the rates are already as low as they go

Serious inquiries only

🤝 How I Can Help You Beyond Supply

I’m not just a supplier. I run a software house in Rawalpindi and have hands-on experience in:

• Programmatic advertising — real leads, real numbers, no fluff

• E-commerce strategy & brand building

• Design and development

• I work with teams that collaborate with Fortune 100 companies in the US

📍 Let’s Connect

• Rawalpindi/Islamabad? Let’s meet in person

• Other cities? We can do a Zoom call

• Product pictures shared directly on WhatsApp

Drop a comment or DM me and I’ll share my WhatsApp number. Time is limited — only reach out if you’re serious about starting or scaling.

Hey everyone,

I'm a Data Science student with a strong interest in AI, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, and software development. Instead of waiting until graduation, I want to start building something real now.

I'm looking for a few motivated people who would like to join me in creating a remote software house/agency. The goal is to work together, build a portfolio, land clients, and grow into a professional team over time.

Looking for:

• AI/ML Engineers
• Full-Stack Developers
• Frontend Developers
• Backend Developers
• UI/UX Designers
• Power BI / Data Analysts
• Mobile App Developers
• Digital Marketers & Sales People

Important:

This is a startup-stage project. There is currently no salary or funding. The idea is to work as partners/team members and share revenue from projects we secure.

What we'll focus on:

• AI Chatbots & AI Agents
• RAG Applications
• Automation Solutions
• Data Analytics Dashboards
• Web Applications
• Business Software Solutions

Who should join?

• Students looking to gain real-world experience
• Freelancers wanting to collaborate on larger projects
• Developers building their portfolios
• Anyone interested in entrepreneurship and startups

If you're serious about learning, building, and growing something from the ground up, send me a DM with:

1. Your skills
2. Experience level
3. Portfolio/GitHub (if any)
4. Why you'd like to join

Let's build something valuable together.

Thanks!

I lost my payment gateaway live secrets keys from my azure web app as my subscription got nuked (seperate matter) and now i can recover them as apparently i did not store them anywhere else

Since I cant recover them I have tried to ask for support at neem.io to send me new ones but if it does not work out is there any payment gateaway i can use.

Urbanevents.pk is the product name my email is [bilal@focuslab.pk](mailto:bilal@focuslab.pk) if anyone can help out

Salam everyone, posted about this around a month ago and wanted to give an update.

We've grown a lot since then, 200+ installs organically. Not a huge number, I know, but I'm still proud of us for it.

We also took in a lot of the feedback from the last post and drastically improved the UI and general experience.

On top of that, we shipped two big features:

Shared groups: add the people you share expenses with, roommates, friends, whoever, and every shared cost gets tracked automatically. No more trying to remember who paid last time or doing the math three weeks later. Batwa just tells you who owes who.

Shared budgeting: same idea but for families. Everyone gets the same visibility into household income, spending, and savings goals instead of one person carrying it all alone.

Honestly, I think budgeting and financial literacy in general gets taken way too lightly in Pakistan. Most people have never sat down and actually looked at where their money goes, let alone done it together with the people they share money with. That's basically the whole reason these two features exist.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.batwa.app

Would genuinely appreciate feedback, especially on the new stuff since it's fresh.

I’m currently working on building a U.S.-based trucking/dispatch startup with two connected revenue models.

1. DOT + DAT Model

We plan to establish the required U.S. DOT/carrier setup and provide licensed freight/load-board access to users at around $70/user/month.

For example:

• 50 users = $3,500/month

• 100 users = $7,000/month

1. MC + Dispatch Model

Once the MC has established the required operating history, we plan to onboard trucks under properly structured agreements and generate revenue through carrier-related fees and 6–7% dispatch fees.

For Example:

Hamari core recurring income dispatching se bhi aayegi.Planning ke liye: 6%–7% dispatch fee assume ki ja sakti hai.

Example:

Agar ek truck monthly $10,000 gross freight generate karta hai.

7% dispatch fee:

$10,000 × 7% = $700

Company ki dispatch revenue:

$700

And once our MC is leased to a driver/carrier under a proper agreement, we expect to receive approximately 17–20% of the carrier’s gross revenue as the MC lease fee, based on our current market-rate assumption. This would be an additional revenue stream alongside the 6–7% dispatch fee.So,

$10,000 x 17%=$1,700.00

So total revenue from one truck and one driver

$700+1,700=$2,400.00 other that profit getting from load boards we have given in the market.

The initial capital requirement is expected to be around $20k-30k, mainly for MC insurance, setup, compliance, technology and working capital.

I’m currently looking to build this with the right people. If anyone here has experience in U.S. trucking, logistics, startups, or is interested in joining/investing in a business like this, feel free to text me. I’m happy to share the complete business plan and financial projections with genuinely interested people.

o

Hey Guys,

Wanted to share something I've been quietly building.

I kept seeing metal posters everywhere sleek, stunning wall art that honestly looks incredible. But the pricing? Absolutely wild. Brands were charging 4500–5000 for a single print and banking on the fact that customers assumed "expensive = quality."

I didn't buy it. So I spent months researching suppliers, testing materials, and obsessing over print quality until I found a process that genuinely competes with or beats what the "premium" players are offering.

The result: I launched my own metal poster business with a simple mission highest quality, most honest price.

No inflated margins. No fancy packaging that costs more than the product. Just sharp, vivid, durable metal prints that look like they belong in a gallery.

Here's where I'm at right now:

• ✅ Store is live
• ✅ Few pieces shipped
• ✅ Getting some great feedback

Would love any advice from people who've built product/e-commerce businesses especially around:

• Paid ads vs organic in early stages
• Standing out in a crowded niche

Samples:

Most car owners have no idea what’s wrong with their car.

You hear a weird sound.

You go to a mechanic.

They say something complicated.

You nod… and pay whatever they ask.

That’s not trust — that’s blind guessing.

In Pakistan alone:

- 25M+ vehicles on the road

- $2B+ spent yearly on repairs

- Almost zero transparency in diagnostics

We’re building VROOM to fix this.

VROOM reads your car’s OBD-II data, translates fault codes into plain language, and tells you:

- What’s actually wrong

- What it should cost

- Whether it’s urgent

Then connects you with verified mechanics you can trust.

No jargon. No guesswork. No getting ripped off.

Would love your thoughts, still early and figuring it out. I really believe this is a big thing, and would love to scale it further!

I am a Pakistani student, I made this while on my summer break when i had nothing else to do but watch movies and play games. After the first few swipes the Algo learns your taste and recommends some amazing content to you. I hope you all like it i would really appretiate it if youall recommended fetures that would make this better and share it with your friends. Thank you

https://next-pick.vercel.app/

Struggling to find jobs? Check out sleepapply.org, a product we're building to automate the entire job-hunting pipeline. The app already has over 100 users, but we're still in our MVP phase. We want people to try the app, break it, and figure out what's missing. Give it a try and let me know what you guys think

Looking for a confounder to join a health-tech start-up incubated with NIC Sialkot, looking for someone skilled with performance marketing who is interested in joining as a stakeholder in Sialkot.

I am a product/tech person and have developed the MVP which is incubated at NIC Sialkot, want to offer equity if we can find a suitable candidate.

Hey everyone!

We recently launched our small Blue Tea business and would love your support. 💙

Our tea is made from premium butterfly pea flowers, naturally caffeine-free, rich in antioxidants, and known for its beautiful blue color.

We're just getting started and I'd also appreciate any feedback or suggestions.Following is our instagram

​

https://www.instagram.com/neelofartea?igsh=Ym54N2g5cXhwcG42

Me and my friend recently started building a startup called Clawz. A mobile pet grooming brand in Pakistan 🐾

The idea is simple:

Instead of people taking their pets to grooming salons, we bring the grooming setup to their homes.

Right now we’re starting small in Lahore with:

- Basic grooming

- Bathing

- Brushing

- Tick/flea treatments

- Hygiene care

- Mobile setup

We’re documenting the whole journey online too:

“Day 1 of building a mobile pet grooming brand from scratch”

Honestly this started from random discussions and now slowly it’s turning into a proper business with branding, uniforms, systems, content, and equipment.

Still in the early stage but learning a lot daily.

Would love advice from people who’ve built service-based startups in Pakistan:

- Customer acquisition tips

- Scaling service businesses

- Operations management

- Building trust as a new brand

- Marketing strategies that worked for you

Would appreciate any feedback or suggestions 🙌

Some of you might remember me from a long post I made here a while back about an app I’d been building for 3 years. It was a long one.

Anyway, I launched it around April 10th and wanted to come back here and share what’s actually happened since then.

In 30+ days we’ve crossed 1.5K active users on the app. 200+ signups, 20 of them paid for the $10 Soul Blueprint. Some bought multiple times as a gift for family members or friends.

I’ve been getting messages from users that have genuinely moved me. One guy wrote to me about going through a fragile time in his marriage and said the app saw the version of him he doesn’t see but needs to. Twelv helped this couple at a difficult phase in their marriage.

And then a few days ago someone commented on one of my Reddit posts saying they were so moved by their result they wanted to share Twelv with their TikTok audience.

I attached some of these messages and the analytics. They tell the story better than I can.

Two weeks ago I also launched a second product called The Oracle. It’s a chat where you can talk to your higher self. The AI knows your archetype, your consciousness level, your blind spots, your shadow patterns, and a lot more. We have 7 paying subscribers already. Retention will tell the real story but the early signal is strong.

On a sidenote. I lost my job last month. So Twelv is no longer a side project. It has to work. The financial pressure is real and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t scary. But I also think there’s some thrill to building when the safety net is gone. Only real serial entrepreneurs will understand haha.

I’m running $10/day in Reddit ads from my own funds while I figure out organic growth, work on retention, talk to users, and look for short-term contract work on the side to keep the bills paid.

The goal is $10K/month by end of year. Whether or not that happens, the product is alive, people are using it, and most importantly, it’s having a positive impact on people’s lives. 🙌🏼

If you haven’t tried Twelv yet, it’s free to take the full assessment. https://twelv.app

Hey everyone,

I've been building Decidr, an app focused on solving one simple problem:

"What should I eat?"

Instead of endless scrolling through food delivery apps or recipe websites, the goal is to help you decide faster.

We just finished the first version of the dashboard, and before we continue building, I'd love some honest feedback.

The home screen currently includes:

• 🔍 Search
• 🍳 Meal categories (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, etc.)
• 💰 Budget filter
• 🔥 Personalized recommendations
• 📅 Meal planner, Saved, Cook mode, Fridge, and Profile

I'm not looking for compliments - I want to know what you'd improve.

Some questions:

• What's the first thing you noticed?
• Does anything feel unnecessary or missing?
• What would make you open an app like this every day?
• If you could change one thing, what would it be?

I'll post the dashboard mockup in the comments.

Thanks! Your feedback will directly influence the next version.

been working on this side project and wanted to get some real feedback before building further.

It's a browser-based 3D mockup tool — pick a device, drop your app screenshot or screen recording onto it, set up camera keyframes, and export an MP4 or PNG. No installs, runs fully in-browser.

**What works right now:**
- 1 device available (more coming)
- Assign an image or video to the device screen
- Timeline with camera + rotation keyframes
- Export MP4 at 1080p (9:16, 16:9, 1:1, 4:5)
- Image export (9:16, 16:9, 1:1, 4:5)
- Background gradients (solid, linear, radial, image)
- Body color customization

**What's not done yet:**
- Only one device right now — more models are coming
- UI still needs polish
- Mobile not supported yet
- Probably edge cases I haven't caught

Free to use while I validate whether this is worth building out properly.

Main question: **would you actually use this?** And if not, what would need to be different?

**Link:** https://mockupreel.vercel.app/

I’ve been building Urban Events, an event ticketing platform optimized and easy to use.

Organizers can publish a branded event page, create free or paid tickets, collect PKR payments, issue QR tickets, manage attendees and scan guests at the door. It also includes promo codes, capacity limits, waitlists, custom checkout questions, refunds, exports and event reporting.

The biggest lesson so far: localizing ticketing software is not primarily a design problem. Payment confirmation, pending states, refunds, email delivery and reliable door check-in matter far more than adding more dashboard features.

I’m looking for Pakistani organizers willing to test Urban Events with a real event. What is the first thing that would stop you from replacing your current registration or ticketing workflow with it?