I can completely understand what you're talking about. We learned the bitter lesson between trendspotting and trendsetting (Sam Altman's comments have credence

I can completely understand what you're talking about. We learned the bitter lesson between trendspotting and trendsetting (Sam Altman's comments have credence here too), and are almost back to square one. It hurts quite a lot because we think of the time we wasted, and at times, I personally look back wondering if we just didn't execute correctly instead of there not being a market. 1) When things are going terribly? Dig down and talk with your partners in the trenches. Get motivated (see other posts). Remember your users because they are the ones who give the best advice about your product. At the earliest stage, I think your community of users, fellow hackers, and partners are your best way to respond. Know to admit that you don't know and you need guidance from others. 2) Usually PG's comments about iterating apply here. You will always be changing because your users will tell you to. Whatever is hindering make smart and rapid changes to your product should obviously be changed. Nevertheless, maybe you just haven't made the right product for a growing market or your competition beat you, then... 3) Quit... I honestly don't know when though. For us, it was when we I realized I had become Ahab. Except instead of a great white whale, my partners pointed out it was a small beluga. The market was not there for political gaming (outside of the slow-growth educational sector) and if we wanted to really compete, we would need to be a media company or provide a utility to gov professionals (e.g. vertical gov search or customized gov aggregation). My partners and I talked over it and they really never liked politics as a vertical (but they thought Moby Dick was somewhere out there). One of my partners bristles at the mention of politics and he sort of outright dismisses politics even as a backup for our YC app. Sometimes the backlash to failure is hard to handle, so it's important that everyone tries to focus on what's best for the company. We're still in it because we dream of electric sheep and we really want to create value in the world (even though we're still the quintessential guys in a house). We now are back to square one, with no experience with the new bad-ass idea, and we're in the middle of tying things up with our previous contracts and licenses (which keeps us from just diving in), but it'll be okay even if you do quit. The good thing is that since you're bootstrapped you didn't waste a significant amount of money from someone else.