6 ms·

Podcast-conversations with YC founders whose startups failed

105 points by thinkwithlucie 5y ago

drcode 5y ago
Hi, sounds interesting- is it available outside of Spotify?
- yuppiepuppie 5y ago
  Seems like it https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie?s=20&t=r9TEtQtGFRgD9pKBYFEByw https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie?s=20&t=r9TEtQtGFRgD9pKBYF...
- lucierepova1 5y ago
- Brajeshwar 5y ago
  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-29-why-do-startups-fail-and-what-can-we-learn/id1585828204?i=1000555967597 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-29-why-do-star...
throwaway158497 5y ago
Also, This series is good, although sadly, I dont see much new content being added. https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/lessons-from-a-failed-startup-perry-ogwuche-B95Nqz6jEYQ/ https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/lessons-from-a-failed-s... Also, if I were to give one advise to startup founders. Ignore all advice online about how to succeed. It's mostly whitewashed stuff. Unless you know the founder privately, 1-on-1, it is useless. The only honest ones are from failed founders.
- uh_uh 5y ago
  Whitewashed as in the secret sauce is kept secret to avoid giving away leverage?
  - thinkwithlucie 5y ago
    I've contacted founders who completely deleted that experience from their Linkedin and pretended they were never involved with the startup, others wanted to seek YC's permission or were charging a fee to speak with me...crazy
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    Startups often use dirty tactics and connections to grow, but will later go on to say they just worked hard and found product market fit. The public example that comes to mind is reddit astroturfing their community to grow it, and that's a really mild example. Startups can do some pretty evil shit to get going.
  - throwaway158497 5y ago
    No. Whitewashed as as in give an aura of we did no shady things, we never faked anything, we did not have to give an extreme discounts to anyone, all our discussions with customers were straight forward. We just walked into people's offices, gave presentation and they were a contract, there are no externalities to our product, we are very profitable and stress free at each step of the journey.
    - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
      Also include, 'We didn't have rich parents, Who didn't provide us with connections and more importantly didn't provide us with the safety-net required for taking risks'.
chrispeel 5y ago
I wasn't able to find a link that would work with Overcast.
- thinkwithlucie 5y ago
  You can add this URL: https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss
paisawalla 5y ago
It would be great to be able to add this podcast via RSS. Seems like it's only available on Apple or Spotify
- thinkwithlucie 5y ago
  https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss
  - ta988 5y ago
    Thanks a lot, really excited to listen to your podcast!
  - paisawalla 5y ago
    Thank you, consider please adding it to Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/submit/ https://pocketcasts.com/submit/
    - thinkwithlucie 5y ago
      https://pca.st/pax0qhxj https://pca.st/pax0qhxj
ryanSrich 5y ago
Is there a podcast URL I can use to add to Overcast?
- thinkwithlucie 5y ago
  https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss
eole666 5y ago
90% of startups fail : https://review42.com/resources/what-percentage-of-startups-fail/ https://review42.com/resources/what-percentage-of-startups-f... There is no surprise a startup is failing, most of them propose products nobody needs and are a big waste or time, energy and money. But hey, creating a startup and trying to make it an unicorn is still trending. Still tons of people with too much money have a hobby investing in bullshit tech things, so there is hope for each founder to find a lot of founding money if they are good at selling their product idea, no matter how bad or good it actually is. And then, when the initial cash flow runs dry, the startup fails, time to create another one !
- michihuber 5y ago
  so what? that’s the cost of making the other 10% happen. and that’s how society becomes prosperous.
  - eole666 5y ago
    Yes, and the society is doing great and is very prosperous those days, thanks to all those succeeding startups, that's really cool. Just keep creating startups with all this money, and everything will be fine. No problem at all.
    - nwiswell 5y ago
      Do you know which website you are using?
      - hackernewds 5y ago
        Reddit for engineers?
        nwiswell 5y ago
        Reddit Orange Edition Why orange? Nobody knows
DantesKite 5y ago
I wonder what's the most common cause for failure. Or if there's even a common cause.
- thinkwithlucie 5y ago
  From my interviews, it seems like cofounder issues and product market fit are the most common reasons. Excited to speak with more founders to prove this point
  - Oras 5y ago
    Co-founder issues would be very interesting to hear more about. I’m a solo founder and really getting sick from posts everywhere from VCs and investors against going solo. Don’t get me wrong, being solo is hardest than anticipated but imagine with all the hard work you put, you have the emotional rollercoaster of dealing with a co-founder when you discover you’re not good fits few months or years down the line. YC always urge to find a co-founder yet there are no stats about how many startups failed due to mismatch or issues between the co-founders.
    - ilamont 5y ago
      > I’m a solo founder and really getting sick from posts everywhere from VCs and investors against going solo. The YC/investor mantra that insists upon founding teams is real, and it's sending the wrong message. How many successful products have been built with solo founders, or with "teams" in which one person is basically making the hard decisions and doing most of the work? If you can swing it as a solo founder (and many people do) you are avoiding the Russian roulette that comes with pairing up with someone else.
      - Oras 5y ago
        238 Solo Founder Startup Unicorns https://www.failory.com/startups/solo-founder-unicorns https://www.failory.com/startups/solo-founder-unicorns
    - 5y ago
ozten 5y ago
Off topic: I think Spotify should have created two products - Spotify Music and Spotify Podcast.
- AlwaysRock 5y ago
  Why seperate them?
  - thinkwithlucie 5y ago
    just uploaded a video version of episode 30 using the new Spotify video feature, works great btw! Powered by Mux <3
    - 0des 5y ago
      Please stop focusing on Spotify.
  - FractalHQ 5y ago
    For one, it’s infuriating that all of the music in my house stops if I want to listen to a podcast. Refuse to even try Spotify podcasts for that reason alone. I often have quiet background music on with a podcast in the foreground.
    - AlwaysRock 4y ago
      So the issue isnt really that you want to have podcasts and music be seperate. It's that you want to be able to play two audio streams at once from Spotify. That isnt a supported feature. They would ask you to get a second account if you want to do that.

Hi, sounds interesting- is it available outside of Spotify?

yuppiepuppie 5y ago
Seems like it https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie?s=20&t=r9TEtQtGFRgD9pKBYFEByw https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie?s=20&t=r9TEtQtGFRgD9pKBYF...
lucierepova1 5y ago
Brajeshwar 5y ago
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-29-why-do-startups-fail-and-what-can-we-learn/id1585828204?i=1000555967597 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-29-why-do-star...

Also, This series is good, although sadly, I dont see much new content being added. https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/lessons-from-a-failed-startup-perry-ogwuche-B95Nqz6jEYQ/ https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/lessons-from-a-failed-s... Also, if I were to give one advise to startup founders. Ignore all advice online about how to succeed. It's mostly whitewashed stuff. Unless you know the founder privately, 1-on-1, it is useless. The only honest ones are from failed founders.

uh_uh 5y ago
Whitewashed as in the secret sauce is kept secret to avoid giving away leverage?
- thinkwithlucie 5y ago
  I've contacted founders who completely deleted that experience from their Linkedin and pretended they were never involved with the startup, others wanted to seek YC's permission or were charging a fee to speak with me...crazy
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  Startups often use dirty tactics and connections to grow, but will later go on to say they just worked hard and found product market fit. The public example that comes to mind is reddit astroturfing their community to grow it, and that's a really mild example. Startups can do some pretty evil shit to get going.
- throwaway158497 5y ago
  No. Whitewashed as as in give an aura of we did no shady things, we never faked anything, we did not have to give an extreme discounts to anyone, all our discussions with customers were straight forward. We just walked into people's offices, gave presentation and they were a contract, there are no externalities to our product, we are very profitable and stress free at each step of the journey.
  - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
    Also include, 'We didn't have rich parents, Who didn't provide us with connections and more importantly didn't provide us with the safety-net required for taking risks'.

chrispeel 5y ago

I wasn't able to find a link that would work with Overcast.

thinkwithlucie 5y ago
You can add this URL: https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss

paisawalla 5y ago

It would be great to be able to add this podcast via RSS. Seems like it's only available on Apple or Spotify

thinkwithlucie 5y ago
https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss
- ta988 5y ago
  Thanks a lot, really excited to listen to your podcast!
- paisawalla 5y ago
  Thank you, consider please adding it to Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/submit/ https://pocketcasts.com/submit/
  - thinkwithlucie 5y ago
    https://pca.st/pax0qhxj https://pca.st/pax0qhxj

ryanSrich 5y ago

Is there a podcast URL I can use to add to Overcast?

thinkwithlucie 5y ago
https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss https://anchor.fm/s/6e02cc2c/podcast/rss

eole666 5y ago

90% of startups fail : https://review42.com/resources/what-percentage-of-startups-fail/ https://review42.com/resources/what-percentage-of-startups-f... There is no surprise a startup is failing, most of them propose products nobody needs and are a big waste or time, energy and money. But hey, creating a startup and trying to make it an unicorn is still trending. Still tons of people with too much money have a hobby investing in bullshit tech things, so there is hope for each founder to find a lot of founding money if they are good at selling their product idea, no matter how bad or good it actually is. And then, when the initial cash flow runs dry, the startup fails, time to create another one !

michihuber 5y ago
so what? that’s the cost of making the other 10% happen. and that’s how society becomes prosperous.
- eole666 5y ago
  Yes, and the society is doing great and is very prosperous those days, thanks to all those succeeding startups, that's really cool. Just keep creating startups with all this money, and everything will be fine. No problem at all.
  - nwiswell 5y ago
    Do you know which website you are using?
    - hackernewds 5y ago
      Reddit for engineers?
      - nwiswell 5y ago
        Reddit Orange Edition Why orange? Nobody knows

DantesKite 5y ago

I wonder what's the most common cause for failure. Or if there's even a common cause.

thinkwithlucie 5y ago
From my interviews, it seems like cofounder issues and product market fit are the most common reasons. Excited to speak with more founders to prove this point
- Oras 5y ago
  Co-founder issues would be very interesting to hear more about. I’m a solo founder and really getting sick from posts everywhere from VCs and investors against going solo. Don’t get me wrong, being solo is hardest than anticipated but imagine with all the hard work you put, you have the emotional rollercoaster of dealing with a co-founder when you discover you’re not good fits few months or years down the line. YC always urge to find a co-founder yet there are no stats about how many startups failed due to mismatch or issues between the co-founders.
  - ilamont 5y ago
    > I’m a solo founder and really getting sick from posts everywhere from VCs and investors against going solo. The YC/investor mantra that insists upon founding teams is real, and it's sending the wrong message. How many successful products have been built with solo founders, or with "teams" in which one person is basically making the hard decisions and doing most of the work? If you can swing it as a solo founder (and many people do) you are avoiding the Russian roulette that comes with pairing up with someone else.
    - Oras 5y ago
      238 Solo Founder Startup Unicorns https://www.failory.com/startups/solo-founder-unicorns https://www.failory.com/startups/solo-founder-unicorns
  - 5y ago

ozten 5y ago

Off topic: I think Spotify should have created two products - Spotify Music and Spotify Podcast.

AlwaysRock 5y ago
Why seperate them?
- thinkwithlucie 5y ago
  just uploaded a video version of episode 30 using the new Spotify video feature, works great btw! Powered by Mux <3
  - 0des 5y ago
    Please stop focusing on Spotify.
- FractalHQ 5y ago
  For one, it’s infuriating that all of the music in my house stops if I want to listen to a podcast. Refuse to even try Spotify podcasts for that reason alone. I often have quiet background music on with a podcast in the foreground.
  - AlwaysRock 4y ago
    So the issue isnt really that you want to have podcasts and music be seperate. It's that you want to be able to play two audio streams at once from Spotify. That isnt a supported feature. They would ask you to get a second account if you want to do that.