Hamz Tech Journey

"Fall in love with the problem — not your solution. Your first solution is almost always wrong in at least three important ways. The faster you find out which three, the faster you build something that works." — Ash Maurya, Running Lean

💡 business lesson 9 — problem-solution fit most people who want to start a business make the same mistake they find a problem they think of a solution they build for 6 months they launch nobody buys not because the problem was fake but because their solution was wrong finding a real problem is only half the work the second half is testing whether your specific solution actually solves it in the way people want at the price they will pay with the features that matter to them this is called problem-solution fit and the most important thing about it you can test it before building anything dropbox is worth over 8 billion dollars today but before writing the backend code drew houston made a 3-minute screen recording showing how it would work overnight the waitlist went from 5,000 to 75,000 people he tested the solution with a video not a product here is the framework step 1 — write your solution hypothesis in one sentence "i believe [customer] will use [solution] to solve [problem] and pay [price]" step 2 — draw it on paper — every screen rough but clear step 3 — show it to 5 potential customers and watch their reaction step 4 — build a simple landing page and measure who clicks step 5 — ask someone to pay before you finish building if someone pays before the product is complete that is your answer build it if nobody pays — find out what would need to change before they would that answer is your product specification building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built and problem-solution fit is how you make sure you are building the right thing before it is too late to change share this with someone working on a business idea 🙏 tomorrow morning — variables, data types and logic — the building blocks of every python program ever written #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

🐍 lesson 9 — what is python and why every builder needs it we are back and starting from today i am going deeper today we start coding and the first language every serious builder should learn is python here is why python and not something else python reads almost like english which means you spend less time figuring out the language and more time actually solving problems look at this price = 85 quantity = 10 total = price * quantity print(f"Total: {total} birr") that is real code and you probably understood it before i explained it that is the power of python now here is the bigger picture python is not a beginner toy instagram runs on it spotify runs on it every major ai system in the world — chatgpt included — is built with python what python can do build the backend of any web or mobile app automate repetitive tasks — files, data, reports connect to APIs and databases build and train AI models analyze data and generate insights one language endless possibilities today i built a simple sales calculator for a shop owner in addis it asks for the item, the price, the quantity calculates the total, adds tax, and prints a clean receipt 10 lines of code a real working tool something a shop owner could use today and here is the money side of this businesses pay real money for simple python scripts if you can automate something that takes a person 3 hours every week they will pay you 2000 to 5000 birr for that script and it takes you one afternoon to write that is the game learn the skill spot the problem build the solution charge for it this is day 9 and we are just getting started share this with someone who wants to learn to code but does not know where to start 🙏 tomorrow — variables, data types, and logic — the building blocks of every program ever written evening lesson: problem solution fit — testing your idea before you build the full thing #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

i am back 🙂 exams are done and honestly — thank you for waiting i did not expect this kind of patience from you and it means a lot here is the plan i am starting lessons again on june 22 deeper this time, more builds, the real journey continuing but before that — i need your help for these 2 days i want to grow this channel and bring in more people who are ready to learn tech and business from scratch with us so here is a small challenge for the next 2 days 📌 share this channel with at least 3 people around you who want to learn but have not started yet 📌 after you share it — comment "shared" below so i know that is it no pressure, just help me bring more people into this journey before we go deeper lessons resume june 22 thank you for being here 🙏 #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

okay i have to be honest with you guys 😅 i have exams so i will not be posting until june 20 i know i know — consistency is everything but right now i need to sit down and focus after june 20 i am coming back with more deeper lessons more builds and the actual product journey starting for real thank you for being patient with me it genuinely means a lot and if you know someone who wants to learn tech or start building something but keeps putting it off — send them here now so they are ready when we continue 🙏 see you june 20 🫡

"The size of the market is not what you think it is. It is what you can realistically capture multiplied by what each customer will pay. Everything else is someone else's revenue." — Framework used across venture capital globally

📊 business lesson 8 — market sizing TAM SAM SOM every founder thinks their idea is big very few have actually calculated how big market sizing turns a feeling into a number and a number into a decision three circles you need to know TAM — total addressable market every possible customer if you captured the entire world SAM — serviceable addressable market the customers you can actually reach with your product and location SOM — serviceable obtainable market the customers you can realistically win in the next 12 months the one rule that separates credible founders from the rest never use top-down sizing "the global market is $5 billion and we want 1%" — meaningless always use bottom-up "there are 47,000 registered shops in addis ababa if 500 of them pay 400 birr per month that is 2.4 million birr per year in year one" that number is real, specific, and defensible building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built and you cannot sell effectively if you do not know who your buyers are and how many of them exist share this with someone working on a business 🙏 tomorrow morning: python setup — writing your first real code #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

⌨️ lesson 8 — the command line most people control computers with buttons and icons their whole life and never realize there is a completely different way the command line you type instructions directly the computer executes them immediately no buttons no icons no waiting for menus to load the difference in practice with a gui — rename one file at a time by clicking with the command line — rename 10,000 files in one second with one command with a gui — install software by clicking through wizards with the command line — install 50 programs automatically while you sleep with a gui — you cannot access most servers at all with the command line — you control any computer anywhere in the world this is why every developer lives in the terminal the money angle server administration happens entirely in the command line businesses with websites and databases need someone who can manage their servers a developer who can ssh into a server and fix problems charges real money for that skill 3,000 to 15,000 birr for a few hours of work building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built and the command line is where the most sellable skills live share this with someone learning to build 🙏 evening lesson: market sizing — how to calculate the real size of your opportunity #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

"The mom test: would your mom lie to you about your business idea? Yes. Because she loves you. Most people behave like your mom in customer conversations. They want to encourage you. Your job is to ask questions your mom cannot lie about." — Rob Fitzpatrick, The Mom Test

🗣 business lesson 7 — customer discovery the most expensive mistake in tech is building something nobody needs badly enough to pay for customer discovery is how you find out the truth before you spend months building the wrong thing the key insight — stop asking opinion questions "would you use this?" → useless "do you think this is a good idea?" → useless "how much would you pay?" → useless start asking behavior questions "tell me about the last time this problem cost you money" "how do you currently handle this — walk me through every step" "how often does this happen and what does it cost you" past behavior is the only reliable data people cannot lie about what already happened the question that changes everything "tell me about the last time that happened" if they have a specific story with real numbers — real problem if they say "oh it happens sometimes" — fake problem and here is the money angle a customer discovery conversation done right is also your first sales conversation because you come back later speaking their exact words about their exact pain and that closes sales faster than any pitch building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built discovery is where the selling starts share this with someone working on a business idea 🙏 tomorrow morning: command line — how developers talk to computers directly #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

🔀 lesson 7 — version control with git and github every professional developer on earth uses this if you cannot use git you cannot work on a real team git is a tool that tracks every change to your code who changed it, when, what changed, and why so you can — go back to any point in your project's history — work on new features without breaking working code — collaborate with a team without overwriting each other's work the workflow every team uses 1. create a branch for your feature 2. write your code 3. commit with a clear message 4. push to github 5. open a pull request for review 6. get approved and merge into main here is what most people do not know your github profile is your most powerful sales tool as a developer clients and employers look at it before they look at your cv 30 days of consistent commits says more than any certificate building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built and a github profile full of real projects sells itself share this with someone learning to code 🙏 evening lesson: customer discovery — how to talk to real people and get honest answers #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

"The question is not whether people like your idea. The question is whether the problem is real enough that they are already doing something about it." — Rob Fitzpatrick, The Mom Test

💡 business lesson 6 — real vs fake problems most business ideas fail not because the product was bad but because the problem was never real a real problem has one signal that never lies people are already solving it — badly notebook tracking stock in a shop in merkato paper receipts at a school collecting fees whatsapp groups coordinating a team that needs a system those notebooks those paper receipts those whatsapp groups are not habits they are proof that the problem is real and no good solution exists yet a fake problem sounds like this "everyone said it was a great idea" "i would definitely use it" "you should build that" none of those mean anyone will pay the question that separates real from fake "tell me about the last time this cost you money or time" if they have a specific story — real if they say "oh it happens sometimes" — fake the quality of the problem you find determines the price you can charge a problem costing someone 2000 birr per month supports a 400 birr monthly subscription easily weak problem — no pricing power — no business building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built find the real problem first and the sale becomes obvious share this with someone working on an idea 🙏 tomorrow morning: version control — how developers save and never lose their work #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

🖥 lesson 6 — how tech products are actually built most developers just start coding that is why most products fail before they launch professional teams follow 6 phases 1. problem discovery — talk to real people before touching code 2. solution design — draw the product on paper before building it 3. MVP development — build the smallest version that delivers real value 4. testing — break it yourself before your customers do 5. launch — ship it and charge for it from day one 6. iteration — improve based on what real users show you the most important insight from this phases 1 and 2 have nothing to do with code they are about understanding the problem so well that the solution becomes obvious and here is what most people miss this process is also your sales process by the time you launch in phase 5 your customer already knows what you built because they helped you define it in phase 1 building is pointless if you cannot sell what you built the founders who sell while they build never struggle to find customers at launch like and share this with someone building something 🙏 evening lesson: real vs fake problems — how to know if your idea is worth building #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

"The most important thing I did as a young CEO was to be honest with myself about what I did not know. Because what you do not know about yourself is the thing that will kill your company." — Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things

🪞 business lesson 5 — know yourself before you build anything most founders spend all their time studying the market the product the competition almost none spend serious time studying themselves but here is what i learned tonight the business you build will always reflect the person you are your strengths become your strategy your blind spots become your most expensive mistakes howard schultz built starbucks on his greatest strength — human connection then almost destroyed it because he did not see his blind spot — dependency on his personal vision the fix was not a new strategy it was an honest self-assessment of what had gone wrong inside him first tonight i answered 5 questions i had been avoiding what problem am i most likely to cause in my own company what feedback do i tend to avoid and why what breaks if i am not available for a month the answers were uncomfortable and completely necessary week 1 is done 10 lessons 10 days of building something inside my mind share this with someone building something 🙏 week 2 starts tomorrow — how tech products are actually built from idea to launch #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

🖥 lesson 5 — frontend vs backend every product ever built has two sides frontend — everything the user sees the buttons the screens the colors the animations built with HTML CSS and JavaScript backend — everything the user cannot see the logic the database the security the calculations built with Python Flask and PostgreSQL they communicate through APIs the frontend sends requests the backend processes them and sends back responses the frontend displays the result real example — you log into telebirr frontend: shows you the login screen, takes your input, sends it to the backend backend: checks your credentials, verifies your identity, retrieves your balance frontend: displays your home screen with your balance one action. two worlds working together in under a second. like and share this with someone learning to code 🙏 evening lesson: the founder self assessment — know exactly where you are right now before you build anything #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

🧠 business lesson 4 — fixed vs growth mindset there are two ways to respond when something goes wrong fixed mindset: "i am not good enough for this" growth mindset: "i cannot do this yet — what do i need to learn" one word separates them yet stanford researcher carol dweck spent 30 years studying why some people grow and others plateau the finding: it was never about talent or intelligence it was about what people believed about talent and intelligence fixed mindset people avoid challenges to protect their identity growth mindset people seek challenges because they know that is where growth lives the practical difference for founders when a customer says no fixed: "i am not a salesperson" growth: "what did i learn about what they actually need" when your code breaks fixed: "i am not technical enough" growth: "what specifically is broken and how do i fix it" sara blakely became a billionaire partly because her father asked her every friday: "what did you fail at this week" what would change for you if you treated every failure that way like and share this with someone who needs to hear it 🙏 tomorrow morning: frontend vs backend — what each one does and how they work together #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

🗄 lesson 4 — how apps store and retrieve data every app you use stores data in tables rows and columns — like a spreadsheet but infinitely more powerful here is a real example a shop in merkato has a products table id | name | price | stock 1 | cooking oil | 85 | 24 2 | sugar 1kg | 45 | 8 3 | notebook | 35 | 0 and a sales table that connects to it every sale records which product was sold and how many to get a full sales report the database joins both tables in less than one second across millions of rows the language that makes this work is called SQL it reads almost like english SELECT name, stock FROM products WHERE stock < 10 translation: give me the name and stock level of every product running low a shop owner running everything in a notebook cannot answer "what was my best selling product this month" without hours of work a database answers it in one second that gap is where the value lives share this with someone learning to build 🙏 evening lesson: the mindset that separates founders who survive hard times from those who quit #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY

💡business lesson 3 — know your why most founders can tell you what they are building almost none can tell you why it actually matters and the difference between those two things is everything simon sinek discovered something that changed how the world thinks about business people do not buy what you do they buy why you do it two versions of the same company version 1: "we build software for ethiopian businesses. it is affordable and easy to use." version 2: "we believe every ethiopian entrepreneur deserves the same tools that billion-dollar companies use. so we build software that works in amharic and fits local realities." same product completely different feeling version 2 does not sell a product it invites you to believe in something the Why is also what keeps you going when everything is hard when customers say no when money is low when the team is tired if you only have a What — one bad week can end everything if you have a real Why — obstacles become fuel if you are building something — what is your real Why not the polished version — the honest one share this with someone figuring out why they are building 🙏 tomorrow morning: how data is stored — the foundation of every product you will ever build #HAMZ_TECH_JOURNEY