How I built a startup without money, code or connections

I sat at my kitchen table with my laptop balanced on a stack of books because I still couldn’t afford a proper desk. It was 2 a.m., and I was watching my tenth YouTube tutorial on Webflow. My eyes were tired and my coffee was cold. My heart was racing with that mix of fear and hope that only comes when you’re building something with nothing but belief.

No investors. No safety net.

Just me, my laptop and a mission that wouldn’t let me quit.

Because I knew what it felt like to fall through the cracks of an education system that wasn’t built for minds like mine. I was diagnosed with ADHD in my final year of university, years after I’d already internalized the message: You’re not trying hard enough.

But the truth was, I was trying too hard. I was burning out just to keep up.

And that’s when the idea hit me, what if I could build a platform that actually understood people like me?

Not just another app that digitized learning but one that personalized it. Something that didn’t add pressure, but offered real support. A place where neurodivergent students didn’t have to mask, adapt or apologize for how they learned.

That was the birth of Acadova, a learning platform for neurodivergent students, built by someone who truly gets it.

I didn’t have funding. Or a roadmap. Or even a working prototype. But I had a mission, and that was enough to get started.

A clear mission is your first major advantage

Without money, connections or technical skills, clarity became my sharpest weapon.

I was obsessed with three questions:

• What am I building?
• Who is it for?
• Why does it matter?

I was building Acadova, a learning platform that helps neurodivergent students, like those with ADHD or dyslexia, succeed in a world not designed for them. It was for students who felt lost, overwhelmed, and unseen in traditional education systems. It mattered because I knew, from lived experience, that clarity and support could be life changing, not just academically, but emotionally.

This wasn’t just for storytelling or branding. As I moved forward it impacted everything for my company:

• My emails got replies
• My applications got accepted
• And I had conversations with students who said, “Yes, this is exactly what I need.”

Every time I wanted to quit, I’d go back to one thought: “I’m helping neurodivergent students finally feel seen in education.”

Neurodivergent students, including those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia and other cognitive differences, are often forced into rigid, one-size-fits-all learning systems. They’re labeled as “distracted,” “slow,” or “unmotivated,” when in reality, they’re just learning differently.

Acadova’s mission? To build a platform that adapts to the learner not the other way around.

Using AI to personalize study strategies, break tasks into brain-friendly chunks, and offer emotional support rooted in lived experience.

The clarity didn’t just guide me, it gave me credibility.

I remember the first time I started reaching out to investors, I wasn’t very selective. I hoped everyone would understand what I was building and why it mattered. The outcome? Most of them didn’t see it as a real problem and had no intention of solving it.

After reflecting on those early mistakes, I changed my approach. I started reaching out to investors who either had ADHD, dyslexia or autism themselves or had children who struggled with learning differences. And suddenly, the conversation shifted. Many of them said, “I wish something like this existed when I was younger,” or “This is exactly what my child needs.” That shared experience created a connection. My clarity clicked with the right people and that’s when the doors started opening.

Build an MVP without writing a single line of code

I didn’t have developers. I didn’t know how to code. I barely had 20 bucks to my name.

But today, you don’t need a dev team to build something real.

I didn’t have a roadmap. I Googled obsessively, watched YouTube tutorials, and followed makers on Twitter who shared their tech stacks. It was mostly trial and error, I tested tools, broke things, and kept what worked.

But I didn’t stop there. I did an intensive search on LinkedIn, looking for solo founders who had successfully built teams and products from scratch. If they had a Calendly link on their profile, I booked a meeting instantly, I didn’t wait to send a cold message. I had questions, and I needed answers fast. Each conversation gave me something valuable: a shortcut, a mindset shift or a tool I hadn’t considered.

They showed me how to build tech without spending a fortune, how to benefit from prestigious programs, and the most important lesson: don’t spend money while you’re still testing and learning. Once you’ve tested it and proven it works, that’s when it makes sense to start investing in it.

Here are the tools I found most useful to develop my business:

• Webflow helped me build a professional-looking website without any coding. It’s incredibly user-friendly and already has built-in integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Shopify, and more. I remember building my first webpage in just two days. The second time we redesigned it, it only took me four hours, that’s how easy it is to use.
• I used Glide to turn a simple Google Sheet into a fully functional MVP: a 5-minute learning style quiz that gave users personalised study strategies. It took me just one day to set it up, again, with zero coding experience. You can use Glide to build apps, dashboards or quick validation tools without touching a line of code.
• For UX/UI, I used Uizard. It’s super intuitive, has AI built in, and offers tons of ready-made mockups. You can generate UI designs directly from prompts, and even export them to CSS or JavaScript for your frontend team later. But honestly, if you're just starting out, Uizard is one of the best tools for creating a prototype you can show to investors.
• I used Tally for collecting user feedback through surveys, and Notion to organise my entire workflow and team operations.
• To refine copy, build onboarding flows, and debug logic, I used ChatGPT and Claude. Just a heads-up: if you’re using ChatGPT for free, the response quality may drop after a few prompts. But there are great alternatives, Qwen, for example, is a free AI tool that gives results similar in quality to ChatGPT.
• For task management, I recommend ClickUp. It’s free to use if you’re working solo or with a small team.

My MVP wasn’t flashy, but it worked. It looked like magic to users, but behind the scenes? Just a clever stack of no-code tools and AI.

And within three weeks, I had over 200 signups, without ads or a budget. Just word-of-mouth from students saying, “This was made for me.”

To reach them, I first had to understand them. My audience was students, so I went to where they were already spending time online. Instead of wasting effort building visibility on social media, I focused on platforms they already trusted.

I joined large study-focused Discord servers (some with over 20,000 members) and shared what I was building, why it mattered, and how they could benefit from it. I also joined Facebook university groups and reached out to students directly to build relationships and invite feedback.

Once I had around 100 users, instead of rushing to monetise, I introduced a referral system. For every person they brought in, users would receive one month of premium access for free. Bring 12 people? Get 12 months. That turned my users into the marketing team. They personally reached out to friends and classmates, not because I asked, but because they got something valuable in return, saw real value in the product and wanted others to experience it too.

Secure funding without investors

I scoured Google, Reddit, Twitter, and founder forums. I built a spreadsheet of every accelerator, grant, and tool credit available, over 80 in total.

Then I started applying. Once again, there was a lot I didn’t have. No warm intros. No investor network.

It was just me, in my mom’s kitchen, typing applications at 2 a.m.

Slowly doors started to open.

I got into:

• Google for Startups
• Microsoft for Startups
• AWS for Startups
• NVIDIA Inception Program
• IBM for Startups

Each of these programs gave me something critical at a time I had nothing, no budget, no team and no product—just an idea and a lot of persistence. Instead of chasing investors, I chased tools. I applied to every program that could give me what I needed and that’s how we built the foundation of our product.

For example, I used Google for Startups to integrate Gemini, which let us power the platform with AI, completely free. They offer many more resources, but this one alone saved us months of time and thousands in costs.

Microsoft for Startups gave me free access to LinkedIn Premium for a year, which helped me reach people directly, and also offered credits for Azure OpenAI Service, so we could build, test, and scale AI features without spending a penny.

NVIDIA Inception gave us far more than infrastructure. Alongside access to hardware, software, and cloud credits, they offered venture capital and networking support through their Inception Capital Connect program, connecting us to VCs and global ecosystem partners. They even extended our runway by offering up to $29,000 in additional credits for Google Cloud and AWS, which we could redeem when the first round ran out.

IBM for Startups provided us with cloud credits.

AWS allowed us to deploy our platforms and register our domains completely for free using startup credits.

On top of that, we got startup credits from Synthesia to create AI avatars, and from Deepgram to build our voice assistant. We also applied to Qdrant for Startups, they support AI-first teams using Qdrant, an open-source vector database.

What I’ve learned: if you’re clear on what you need, you’ll find programs that offer exactly that often for free. These aren’t just credits. Many of them offer strategy, mentorship, and access. You don’t need warm intros or a polished pitch, just a real problem, a clear solution, and a solid reason why their support will help you grow.

Build in public

I shared everything—the wins, the breakdowns and the 3 a.m. panic attacks.

I didn’t have a huge following or a polished personal brand, I just started showing up where my audience already was. I shared updates on LinkedIn, posted raw thoughts in Discord, Facebook groups and even on my personal Instagram account. I replied to strangers who asked for help with building. Sometimes it was just a voice note or a screenshot of what I was working on that day. I didn’t overthink it. I treated it like a conversation, not a pitch.

If you're worried about being too vulnerable, remember, people don’t expect perfection. They connect with process. And when you share openly, you invite the right people to join the journey with you, not just users, but supporters, mentors and even investors.

People slowly started showing up:

• Early users who gave feedback.
• Fellow founders who offered support.
• Mentors who saw potential.
• Not to mention a few investors—not because I pitched, but because I was visible and crystal clear about what I’m building.

By sharing my messy journey, I wasn’t just marketing, I was building trust.

Trust with early users, who could see that I wasn’t doing this just to make money, but to genuinely help them. I was open about the fact that I was learning too, and that their feedback mattered, not just to improve the product, but to shape the mission.

Trust with fellow founders, who were also navigating the chaos. We’re often told everything needs to look perfect, but the truth is, when you're starting out, it rarely is. Sharing that truth helped others feel less alone and reminded all of us that it’s okay to talk about the mess.

Trust with potential investors, because most of them aren’t just investing in companies , they’re investing in people. They want to see how well you handle uncertainty, how you solve messy problems, and how you turn difficulties into momentum. That’s where confidence is built.

Develop smart partnerships

I couldn’t afford to hire. But I knew there were students hungry for real experience, especially in tech.

So I reached out to university career offices with a simple pitch: “I’m building a platform for students. I’d love to build it with students.”

I included a one-pager outlining the mission, the timeline, and the skills they’d gain.

The result? A team of passionate interns, many of whom were neurodivergent themselves.

They didn’t just complete tasks. They challenged assumptions, shaped the product, and made it better.

I treated them as co-creators, not just helpers.

One student with ADHD redesigned our onboarding flow based on her own learning experience and it became one of our most loved features.

Reflect on hard-earned lessons

Looking back, I used to think the hardest part was figuring out how to start. But the real challenge?

Continuing when nothing works.

There was a week where every system broke. My MVP stopped syncing. The waitlist froze. I got zero signups. My motivation vanished.

I sat on the floor of my room and thought, “Maybe I’m just pretending. Maybe I’m not a real founder.”

But I showed up anyway.

That week didn’t break me, it built me.

Because I learned something counterintuitive: startups aren’t about confidence, they’re about persistence through the mess.

Here are a few lessons I learned the hard way:

• There is never a perfect time to begin.
• Purpose is a better pitch than perfection.
• Free tools and tiny wins compound faster than you think.
• Being underestimated is a superpower in disguise.

But here’s one that surprised me:

Too much feedback too early can blur your vision.

I got flooded with feature requests before I had a stable product. I spent weeks trying to please everyone when what I really needed was to focus on the one thing I knew was missing from the world.

And another quiet truth: Sometimes, solitude is more valuable than support.

You don’t always need more opinions. Sometimes you need silence, so you can finally hear your own voice.

You’ll learn more by doing than by waiting.

Just get started.

Let’s get real: start before you feel ready

If you’re reading this and thinking,

• I’m not ready
• I’m not smart enough
• I don’t have the right background

I’m here to tell you that you’ll probably never feel “ready.”

No one does.

But that’s not the point.

Start with what you do have:

• A mission you care about
• Free or low-cost tools
• Your story and your voice
• The courage to be scrappy and build anyway

It won’t be perfect.

But it’ll be real.

And real is what gets people’s attention.

Real is what builds loyalty.

Real is what creates movements.

You don’t need permission.

You don’t need funding, a title or a dev team.

You just need to begin.

Got an idea that’s been sitting in your notes?

Share it. Sketch it. Tell one person.

Scrappy is enough.