When I was about 10 years old, my mother was into aquarium keeping, and we had two aquariums at home, home to fish and snails. We didn't buy the snails; they came on their own with some donated substrate. Seeing that if you don't disturb the snails or remove them from the aquarium, they magically multiply, I saw an easy production line and decided I should produce and sell them. Not just to anyone, but to become a supplier for the nearest pet store.

But since I had little experience, I decided that selling 1-5 snails outright was pointless; I needed to breed more and then take them. In the end, I let the aquarium get to the point where in 30 liters (not very large), there were 300-500 snails, they filled every available spot, devoured all the plants, and were already eyeing the fish hungrily. This was success, and I decided: it's time! I took a couple and brought them to the pet store. I am grateful to the women there for not just chasing me away or crushing the idea, but actually engaging in a discussion about purchasing. However, after looking at the snails, they told me these were not the right snails; they were pests that no one would buy, and now I had a very interesting adventure ahead to get them out of the aquarium, because some particularly cunning individuals survive even boiling.

So I learned that first you need to find out the demand, and then start production. Did I step on that rake later, or, wiser from experience, test the demand? Of course, I started production — because making a product is fun, while conducting interviews is scary.