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Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
Failure is a subjective term, but why did your startup not meet expectations? Many of us have had ventures that did not go quite like we expected, and I'm curious why.
Being in Dallas, I often hear things from failed entrepreneurs like not being in SV, and the access to capital, doomed their venture. Not that I completely agree with this, but I find this geographic excuse interesting.
I personally have had ventures fail due to one was a bad idea, and the other was with the wrong business partner. I'd be interested in your story or at the very least your reason.
- Mz 14y agoI will be shutting down my health website. This decision was made last night. It never became anything profitable. It mires me in controversy. It makes me a target of personal attacks. I am pretty thick skinned and I understand the reasons why people are skeptical of my story, but it simply isn't possible to develop the site in a feedback vacuum. The personal attacks I get in no way help me figure out what I need to talk about or how I need to talk about it. But they make it abundantly clear that it is potentially dangerous to tell my story. I did not spend twelve years getting myself well just to inspire some stressed out mom to shoot me because her child isn't getting well. I will be focusing on lighter topics with more hope of being monetized. Hopefully I can figure out how to shut up about my medical situation. Shutting up isn't one of my strengths but I remain deeply in debt and struggle to get enough to eat every month. I need to figure out how to make money. Trying to make the world a better place has never gotten me anything but pissed on and very few people care at all that getting myself well has cost me so much. I cannot get anyone to understand that this is far cheaper and more effective than conventional treatments, the problem is a) it all came out of my pocket rather than being covered by insurance and b) the single biggest thing I still need is an online income so I do not have to go back to a regular job. A regular job winds up keeping me so sick that it is a net negative income. I have been better off jobless and homeless but my creditors are becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Anyway, I am sure you don't actually care and didn't really want to know. Fwiw: cystic fibrosis currently costs the U.S. about $3 billion (with a B) annually for medical care for a mere 30,000 people. Much of that no doubt comes at taxpayer expense. My debts after getting both me and my son with cf well are a few $10k. One time expense. My condition is now managed with diet and lifestyle. Neither of us takes any medication. But I am a former homemaker. I cannot determine a means to monetize educating people about diet and lifestyle changes which cost a fraction of their current medical bills. And I currently need to focus on making money and leave the creation of medical miracles to someone else, someone with a spiffier title than "former homemaker" I imagine. Thank you for the excuse to write something which will hopefully be cathartic and help me to move on and focus on making money.
- jborden13 14y agoI'm sorry to hear about your struggles. One of the benefits of tough times is that it really makes you appreciate the good times. Best of luck...
- Mz 14y agoI am not really in a mood for platitudes. It seems pretty callous, all things considered, for you to say such a thing to me. I imagine I will regret posting the announcement. I normally have no regrets. But I seem to have a lot of them here lately. Edit: Have an upvote anyway. I know you mean well. But it really is the wrong kind of thing to say.
- jborden13 14y agoCall it what you want. It was a genuine gesture for your well-being. If I offended you - that was not the intent.
- itsprofitbaron 14y agoStartups fail for a variety of reasons, PG listed some mistakes that Startups make in 2006[1] which is still actually a good read/relevant today (I disagree with the Single Founder point though). However, there are problems which you generally see when a startup fails: 1. Poor Management Team - Can't effectively execute, have a poor strategy and a poor management team 'breeds' a poor team (A players hire A players etc). A good management team will avoid the other issues below: 2. Market Problem - No Market or a Market not large enough. (May have been too soon etc) 3. Product Problems - Creating a poor product, so noone uses it. 4. Business Model Problem - Acquiring a Customer costs more than Long-term Value 5. Poor Execution 6. Building A Company around Technology not the Solution - This goes back to point 2 but your users don't care about your stack. Seriously you users do not care about your stack they care if you have a solution to their problem. If you do then you have a potential company but if you focus on building it around technology instead of giving them the solution, you're going to run into a lot of problems. 7. Lack Of Focus - Not saying 'NO' enough 8. Running Out Of Money - Most people raise to get to the next round of funding. That is wrong! If you are raising money etc then you should raise enough money to achieve a set number of milestones which attracts another round of investment from existing/new investors. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
- jborden13 14y agoI'm familiar with the generic reasons why most startups fail. But the question was targeted to why did YOU fail.
- devendramistri 14y agoNot Yet Shut Down. But thinking so. I started a website called "mistrics". This was designed to help students to document their college projects and work together as a team from multiple locations. Also getting right guidance from teachers. BUT looks like no body is interested to help students. Basically in India. College admin and teachers have decided to not accept technology especially if it is free. What i learned is there is time gap between technology in India and rest of the world. We in India are not going to change our legacy rules (In education, not at all).