My name is Azamat, and I’m the founder of Ohmywishes. Today, our service is a leader in its niche, generates resources for its own growth, and has strong scaling potential.
But it wasn’t always like this. When I started, I had no investments or resources — just an idea, enthusiasm, and two hands. At first glance, that seems like a serious constraint. In practice, however, a lack of budget brings not only challenges but also specific advantages that shape both the product and its development.
I came to the idea of building the service as a user myself. I discovered wishlists and realized how convenient they are: people simply share what they want, and you no longer need to guess gifts. But the services I used were clunky and poorly designed. As a designer, I wondered if it could be done better.
At the beginning, I wasn’t trying to build a company or think about scale. I had no monetization ideas at all. It was more about exploring and finding a balance between aesthetics and usability — where neither compromises the other, and the user gets a strong experience. The first thing I did was create a concept. This is a basic step: until you visualize an idea, it’s hard to tell if it’s viable. The concept helped validate the hypothesis quickly and showed there was real potential.
Soon it became clear I couldn’t build it alone. I could handle design and product, but without development nothing would work. With no budget, hiring wasn’t an option. You go straight to people you already trust.
That’s what I did. I shared the idea with colleagues I had strong relationships with and invited them to give it a try. At that stage, it wasn’t about money — the idea itself resonated. The project ran on interest and trust. This is one of the key advantages of having no budget: you become extremely selective about your team. When there’s no money, everything depends on people — their motivation, engagement, and responsibility.
Lack of budget also changes how you scale. With limited resources, you can’t do everything at once. You constantly prioritize what matters now versus what can wait. This becomes critical when user feedback starts coming in. You get many ideas — new mechanics, features, expansions. But large features require time and resources. A wrong priority can waste both.
So we often chose a different path: small improvements with immediate impact on user experience. This is not rapid scaling — it’s refinement of the core idea.
A clear example is recommendations. Early users liked the concept but struggled to fill their wishlists or choose gifts. They needed a place for inspiration. We saw this pattern and built a simple recommendations section. The first version was minimal — I manually curated ideas, defined categories, and set principles for useful gift suggestions.
Over time, this evolved into a full product direction. Today, a 17-person editorial team led by an editor-in-chief works on it. Recommendations have become one of our key differentiators.
In essence, lack of resources acts as a filter. You can’t spread yourself thin, so every decision is more deliberate.
Another point became clear later: investment requires skill — knowing where to allocate capital, what to prioritize, and what results are realistic. Early on, these skills are often missing.
At the same time, funding shifts your mindset toward growth and scaling. That’s useful, but at early stages it can be premature — especially when you’re building a product driven by intrinsic motivation rather than revenue. There’s a risk of scaling before understanding what actually works. We developed the product organically, alongside users and the market.
And if I were starting now, I’d follow the same approach: build a concept, visualize the idea, and assemble a minimum viable product quickly. Today, this is easier — AI tools allow you to build an MVP in days. But one thing hasn’t changed: the team.
Yes, a single person can launch faster now. But at the growth stage, the same challenges appear — scaling development, maintaining stability, expanding functionality. One person is no longer enough.
So I would still rely on people I trust, who apply strong modern practices in their work.
In summary, lack of budget doesn’t slow development — it defines a different operating model. You move at a sustainable pace, make more deliberate decisions, and stay closer to your intuition.
In our case, it wasn’t a limitation but a factor that enabled Ohmywishes to emerge, grow, and build a foundation for unlimited scaling.