29 Comments
User's avatar
Farida Khalaf's avatar

You turned failure to a valuable lesson and thats is growth

James Presbitero's avatar

It is! If only everyone can see it that way, we'll be a growth oriented world.

Joel Salinas's avatar

Orel, Terrific work! That's the thing about failing, it will happen, but they become wins when instead of being wasted, they are used as lessons for a better next try.

Orel's avatar

I am still trying to convince myself of that! haha

James Presbitero's avatar

Really inspiring frame of mind to be in, especially when building software using AI. I imagine there'll be lots of failing, so you're gonna have to reframe them often 😂

Joel Salinas's avatar

Hahah! Or we learn from other's mistakes, which can save you some headaches.

James Presbitero's avatar

That's like 80% of why I read … and write 😆😂

Sam Illingworth's avatar

What stood out most here was not the speed of building, but the honesty about mistakes and pivots. The reminder that “people first buy you” feels especially true; trust and care seem to matter more than polish. 🙏

Orel's avatar

:)

Your comment made me want to add an "About me" section in the landing page.

James Presbitero's avatar

He has a really inspiring story! Makes me want to accelerate my vibe coding journey.

Cris Cafiero's avatar

This got me ready to run through a brick wall

Orel's avatar

Let's go! I love to hear this :)

James Presbitero's avatar

Haha! Inspiring right? Making me contemplate quitting my work too ...

Finn Tropy's avatar

Great article, Orel!

We can learn so much by treating failures as data points along the journey. Talking to people to build insights on their pain points keeps us grounded.

James Presbitero's avatar

Having a growth oriented mindset like that is a superpower. Once you treat failures like how they should be, like data points, nothing can stop you.

Orel's avatar

Thanks Finn!

Yara Abboud's avatar

Inspiring as always.

James Presbitero's avatar

Thank you for reading, Yara!

Jens Stark's avatar

I admire what you’ve built Orel, and even more so how you’ve approached it (listen to customers and let insights & customer feedback guide your business choices).

James Presbitero's avatar

Listening to the people you're serving should be a core process of any product, but few do it right. Orel turned that into a strength!

Orel's avatar

Thanks Jens! :)

Chris Tottman's avatar

Love this story. I'd love to feature you when the time is right 👍

Orel's avatar

Sounds good, Chris! I’ll take you up on it

James Presbitero's avatar

Orel would love that!

Karo (Product with Attitude)'s avatar

I love Writestack and the story behind it 🤗What you learned from that process still shows Orel, you’re great at listening to users!

You might be surprised how rare that is. Around 70–90% of startups fail because they never validate whether the problem they’re solving is one people will actually pay to fix. Great read, both of you, thank you!

Orel's avatar

Thank you Karo :)

James Presbitero's avatar

Thanks for reading, Karo! Orel had such wonderful insights that's very useful for any builders out there.