How to create a startup and raise $500k in less than 4 months!

Arslan Hajdarević

CEO at Tech387

In the past 9 months (Jan-Sep), I helped raise more than $5M for 7 partners, all of whom came from the FITPH(From Idea To Proven Hypothesis) program. Keep in mind that all of these companies were funded in 2024, and the fastest fundraising journey from idea to seed took only 4 months.

In this article, I’ll teach you everything I know about turning your ideas into startups, generating traction, and fundraising.

More importantly, I will teach you how to generate revenue with your startup and give you absolute control over how many clients you want to sign, how much money you want to make, and how much you want to grow your business.

Fundraising amounts typically range from $200k to $1M in seed capital, and the minimum MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) was $1k for 2 months (which is the bare minimum to demonstrate proof of revenue).

All the ventures in which I hold equity have generated more than $50M in revenue so far this year, and all of them follow the same structure for scaling the business and driving sales.

If you read this article, you will learn how to:

Determine what is a good idea to monetize
Create a business plan and validate the idea before building it
Create an MVP that does just enough
Generate traction in the form of revenue and monetization
Run ads and scale the business even further
Turn your business into a story and pitch it to raise capital

It doesn’t matter if you:

Don’t have prior business experience
Don’t have technical experience to create software products
Don’t have marketing experience
Are limited in time

The ONLY thing that matters is that your product is in the software space and that you can fit it into B2B, B2C, or B2B2C—essentially, you must be able to find a way to monetize it.

The model I’m going to show you, which I have named FITPH (From Idea to Proven Hypothesis), has been in use since 2017. I’ve applied this method to more than 100 startups, and the success rate has been 100%. Each startup was able to generate proof of revenue, and the only factors determining growth and successful fundraising were the commitment to invest enough time and persistence.

By reading this and implementing the strategy, you will be able to create results.

THE OVERVIEW

What I’m going to show you is a framework I developed years ago called FITPH (From Idea to Proven Hypothesis). It’s the result of an exit I had. I then used that money to replicate the success and perfect the process of starting a company, growing it, raising funds, and exiting.

This is highly effective and will save you tens of thousands of dollars and months of work. Instead of wandering around, here is a written step-by-step process.

And before we begin, for those who are only motivated to make quick money, you should SKIP this. This is for people who understand that it will take them at least 3 months to automate their idea and generate cash flow, enabling them to create financial independence.

And once again, before we begin, this is NOT FOR:

People looking to make quick money
People unable to invest at least 3 months of their life
People unwilling to learn and educate themselves
People not willing to take a little risk
People who don’t have experience in the field they are trying to monetize

THE FITPH
(From Idea To Proven Hypothesis)

We are going to build a product that SELLS and will automate the entire flow. It doesn’t matter if you have a SaaS idea, or if you have a health and fitness app selling subscriptions on how to lose weight—this fits into any model as long as the monetization is clear.

This system will take your idea, turn it into a product that sells, and position it as a lucrative business worth growing. It will attract investors who are interested in providing capital to grow the business even further.

Here are the 4 Primary Pillars of FITPH:

The Product Idea
The Business Plan
The MVP & Traction
The Marketing & Scale

These four pillars are interdependent, and I will show you how and why the information should flow in a certain way, from top to bottom, all the way to monetizing your clients and growing sales.

In essence, we will be covering everything from Idea ➝ Generating Traction ➝ Fundraising.

What happens between the Idea ➝ Generating Traction is extremely crucial. It will determine whether you will be able to scale your business or not. Here’s a horror story from a few years ago, it illustrates how you can end up in rabbit holes, spend more money than needed, and realize the idea is a complete failure. If you’re lucky, you might be able to pivot, but otherwise, you’ll burn your money—and others' money. Be careful!

the
Startup
Horror
Story

Let’s start with the first pillar… because WITHOUT a Product Idea, your entire plan will fail. NO amount of ads, connections, or funding will be able to help you, so focus!

1. The Product Idea

Most people don’t understand what a product idea really is. Most people I talk to think a product idea is just a feature they will monetize and make millions of dollars from.

Then some think the product idea is about copying a competitor, followed by the famous line: “Imagine having $1 from 1 million users, that’s it.” I get a headache when I hear this one, and trust me, it comes up often.

So, what is a product idea, then?

A product idea is a defined pain point for a specific use case, which:

Has a start and an end
Can be monetized

A product idea is a defined pain point for a specific use case, which:

Has a start and an end
Can be monetized

What does this mean?

Put yourself in your client’s shoes for a second and ask:

What do they expect from using your product, and why would they pay for it?
What value are you offering?
What is the experience of your client working with you, and how do they feel?
What are the steps for them to move forward and give you money?
Why would they choose you over someone else?
How certain are you that your client will achieve the expected results?
What micro pain points contribute to the main pain point?
Are you sure your business idea isn’t just a single feature?

To answer ALL of these questions, they need to be packed together and SOLD as an offer to the client. They must recognize the value in what you are offering. Only then will you be able to sell the product and create a real business out of it.

Remember, you can scale even a feature-based idea to a certain level, but a business idea that addresses pain points can scale much further.

You must offer your customers something unique. You have to sell them a story. You have to earn their trust!

But be reasonable — you won’t be able to create a clone of ChatGPT and say, “Here’s my new idea,” with only a slight iteration. Your business idea must fall within a range of sanity.

2. The Business Plan

Did you know that Netflix tested their idea by sending DVDs via post? They didn’t have all the fancy software they have now; they validated their idea using a simple method, which was later automated with software!

This is a great example to show that you don’t need complex software or fancy AI to validate your idea. All you need is a straightforward business concept that can be tested. Once validated, you can turn it into something bigger with software.

So, how do you know if your idea is validated?

Manually prove your idea. Don’t rely on custom software; instead, leverage existing technology. For example, use WhatsApp groups, Facebook Groups, Instagram, Email, or Excel.
Go as basic as possible. Create a small testing group with 5 of your closest people.
See how they react to your business idea.
Gauge if they are willing to pay, and run a few trial flows with them.

Once you reach this stage, you can confidently say your idea is validated, and you can proceed to create the product.

If you want more certainty that it will work:

You can further validate it by using Meta Ads and performing manual work.
Let’s say you have an idea to sell cars. You could create two WhatsApp groups—one for buyers and one for sellers.
Run ads on Meta targeting each group, then manually match them.
For example, someone posts a car in the “selling my car” group, and you copy and paste that post into the “buying car” group.

You can scale this process to a level where you feel comfortable. You can even monetize it by charging people to join the group.

3. The MVP & Traction

This is a challenging step, and you can end up in many rabbit holes, so you have to be very careful not to overbuild. The MVP, which stands for Minimum Viable Product, means that you should not overcomplicate things, but rather focus on validating what worked in the previous step and automate it to a certain degree.

The best approach is to create CJM (Customer Journey Maps), to see how your clients will flow through your product. Try to reduce the process to the fewest steps possible, and follow the three-click rule to make things more accessible.

You can visually express this via Figma, a free tool that you can use to map everything out, and there is plenty of material available to help. You could also hire someone to assist with this, but make sure to oversee the process. Often, designers tend to complicate things, as do developers. My suggestion is that you clearly define what you expect, then let them create it and make it visually appealing.

Once you have the product looking how you envision it to function, it’s time for development. Development can be challenging—the same product might cost $20k to build and work for 10k users, but if you want it to work for 20k users, you might need to invest $50k.

This illustrates the complexity of software development, cloud infrastructure, and scaling. There are a few ways to approach this: if you want to go the super cheap route, you can use no-code tools like Adalo or Bubble. If you want to build a proper MVP, you can use Firebase with Flutter.

I have my MVP working—now what?

Now you’re ready to rock it! Just kidding—this is where the real challenge begins! You now need to move people from your initial test to the app and use them as test subjects. Observe how they interact with or reject your product, document everything, and make product adjustments based on their feedback.

Once you get them to use your product, try to expand the user base through word of mouth. Pay attention to what they like about your product, and conduct user interviews to gather valuable opinions for the next step.

4. The Marketing & Scale

If you’ve made it this far, it probably means three months have passed, and you’re tired—but you’re not giving up! This step is easier compared to the previous ones. Here, you need to take the value you offer and break it down into micro-offers, highlighting each one, creating calls to action, and converting your leads into customers.

Easier said than done, but let me break it down so you don’t spend years figuring it out, like I did.

First of all, don’t run anything except Meta ads. The other platforms don’t work as well, and you’ll end up wasting your money (unless you have extra funds to experiment, then feel free to try).

Follow these steps, iterate, learn from each, and eventually, you’ll figure it out and be able to scale:

TOFU (Top of the funnel) | Cold Audience: Create a video that’s interesting enough to capture the attention of your potential clients. Remember, you’re not selling anything here—just capturing attention.
MOFU (Middle of the funnel) | Building Trust: Retarget your TOFU audience with a video directly related to how your product or service helps others.
BOFU (Bottom of the funnel) | Converting: Target your MOFU audience and present a call to action. This could be encouraging them to download your product, for example.

All the marketing gurus may tell you different stories, but it all boils down to the steps mentioned above. Once you figure this out, you’re ready to scale and grow your business.

I’m making monthly revenues—now what?

Now, my friend, you’re ready to raise some capital! Raising capital is hard—not because telling your story is difficult, but because VCs often don’t care about your product. You have to be persistent and determined to get a meeting with them.

If you’ve followed the steps above and have created a pitch deck (there are plenty of templates online), make sure your deck shows how VCs can get their money back and how they can make a profit. You’ll likely need about 10 pitches to secure capital, provided you have proof of revenue.

How do I get VCs or angels to talk to me?

Find startups similar to yours, and see who invested in them using platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook. Once you identify potential investors, do some research, then reach out to them directly via LinkedIn or email.

Out of 100 emails, you can expect about 20 responses. Depending on your email writing skills, you might secure up to 10 calls.

For the end

The core of our business is co-founding startups. It’s a long-term approach that requires a lot of time to build trust, create, and grow companies, but it’s something we do and truly enjoy. Every new business is a fresh challenge for us—a new chapter in our experience.

Our goal is to co-found 100 startups each year, starting from this year. The more companies we help build, the higher the chance that one of them will become a unicorn. We make our money by growing these companies, receiving dividend payouts, or selling our equity at a later stage when the company’s value increases.

But it’s not just about the money — it’s also about creating new opportunities and helping people.

Here’s how quickly one startup founder was able to go from Idea to Product with our help:

Here’s how our coaching helped one founder close more business on his own:

Here are a few testimonials from our recent partners:

We can help you with a hands-on approach, offering education and mentoring. In exchange, we will receive 10% equity in your company, and once you start generating revenue (at least $1k for two months), we will introduce you to investors.

We will also invest up to $50k in services to take you from idea to traction, but we expect you to commit 10% of the funds we invest. We've had previous experiences where founders lacked determination to push forward after early setbacks. Being financially committed ensures you have skin in the game, which builds mutual trust as we work together over the next few months to grow your business.

We require you to have $2k for marketing expenses to help grow the company, and you will need to commit 10% of what we invest (up to $50k) to turn the idea into a monetizable product. We will sign an equity agreement once the company begins generating revenue.

Expectations:

We invest up to $50K in services to build the company
We guide you and ensure your success
We help you generate traction
You invest 10% of what we invest (up to $5k; $1k deposited on signature)
You provide $2K in marketing funds for traction
You are willing to pitch your idea to investors
You can dedicate at least 2 hours per day to this project

If this works for you, and you want to increase your chances of success with your startup idea, while also achieving financial independence, fill out this form and schedule a call with me.

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