The graveyard of good ideas
Solutions that were tried, and what stopped them.
Patents that were rejected or abandoned, products that shut down, projects that went quiet. Borrow the idea, avoid the dead end.
796 solutions
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Can I save my career?
I’ve had pretty much a failure of a career. For five years I was underpaid even when taking into consideration all the circumstances, stuck disorganized companies where tech was a cost center never in the sort of environment that let me grow, but I always said, next time I’ll be get there, but it seems that it’s too late at this point. A lot of it’s my fault, and I’m honestly really demotivated/jaded now, but at the same time I don’t want to give up. This time around I tried to be pickier, to target companies that looked like they paid well and could provide good growth, or in domains that interest me, but it was not working. Front door applications are a crapshoot, as I’m sure many are aware, and I could never manage to grab an interview. The frustrating part is it makes sense. My resume, my work history, is nearly irrelevant to what many of these companies are looking for. Cloud t
Why it failed: I’ve had pretty much a failure of a career. For five years I was underpaid even when taking into consideration all the circumstances, stuck disorganized companies where tech was a cost center never in the sort of environment that let me grow, but I always said, next time I’ll be
wherearetheyhuh
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?
I've tried now and failed multiple times to make this move over my career. Primarily been interviewing with Tier 1 companies and not getting through, so I figure might make sense to try to get the attention of the Tier 2's to at least get into the market, but none have really reached out or accepted my applications. Despite what the media wants you to think, Canada is not a good place to grow in IT and Software and ML. Best jobs here are being a part of a remote office for a FAANG or going to work for a Bank, or even just remote jobs for US companies since they'll pay you in USD which will mean you get an automatic 30% pay increase. Pay is 2-3x less than the US, and CoL is about the same (especially if you want to buy something with a somewhat commutable distance to the major metros). So my question to those who have successfully left later in their career (7-10 YOE), how
Why it failed: I've tried now and failed multiple times to make this move over my career. Primarily been interviewing with Tier 1 companies and not getting through, so I figure might make sense to try to get the attention of the Tier 2's to at least get into the market, but none have
rafiki6
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Who Has Retired Early?
Looking for other folks in my boat who actually pulled the trigger to retire: * “Young” - mid 40s * Significant assets but non “fuck you” levels. I consider FU >$10M, so likely looking at people in the $5-9M range. * Not doing some hyper austere FIRE lifestyle (burn rate of $125k-$150k annually - about $40k of this is mortgage that will end in ~20 years) * No plans or need to make some “fun money” by consulting or what have you All retirement calculators I use and fiends/family I consult seem to agree I should be able to retire. Firecalc’s Monte Carlo gives me zero failure cycles. Vanguard puts me at 98% success. Every light is green except my own financial advisors, who put us at ~80% success. I trust them, but also, I don’t feel like a financial planner ever got fired for saying “you should work more before you retire” Has anyone been in the same situation and pulled the trigge
Why it failed: Looking for other folks in my boat who actually pulled the trigger to retire: * “Young” - mid 40s * Significant assets but non “fuck you” levels. I consider FU >$10M, so likely looking at people in the $5-9M range. * Not doing some hyper austere FIRE lifestyle (burn rate of $1
throwawayretire
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How do I move up my career/life?
My background: I'm a 25 year old Indian software developer working in India. As for my education, I actually studied in the United States for my MS in Computer Science (from a large public university; not ivy league), and is one of the rare Indian students who actually returned to India immediately after I got my degree. I cannot pinpoint exactly why I returned; it was a combination of me being an introvert + I really felt like I didn't belong there. (Don't get me wrong here — all Americans (and non Americans, for that matter) I met in USA were wonderful nice kind people; it's just, I didn't belong there). After returning back to India, I got a software engineering job which I would've gotten anyway even if I never went to America (I try not to think too much about this). I have 2.5 years of work experience, and at work I do Laravel for the most part, with o
Why it failed: My background: I'm a 25 year old Indian software developer working in India. As for my education, I actually studied in the United States for my MS in Computer Science (from a large public university; not ivy league), and is one of the rare Indian students who actually retur
anonymous567
- startupShut down2021
Help HN: Stripe shutting us down with 48 hours notice on a holiday skeleton crew
Looking for someone who can escalate a query through Stripe (I know a lof of of Stripe are reading here including pc). We process about 5-10M a month through Stripe since 2018 without issues. On the 27th of December they have given us 48 hours notice, whilst the entire company is being ran on a skeleton support crew to completely get off stripe and switch to another processor. We've been in touch with them recently and this was never brought up. We've already started the process to switch do an actual acquiring bank rather than a PSP like Stripe but there's no way this can be completed now in 48 hours, IN BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NY. This seems to be in line with the race to the bottom support from Stripe but pulling something like this is a new low. So hoping that someone here can escalate.
Why it failed: Looking for someone who can escalate a query through Stripe (I know a lof of of Stripe are reading here including pc). We process about 5-10M a month through Stripe since 2018 without issues. On the 27th of December they have given us 48 hours notice, whilst the entire company is
thiscatis
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Has anyone paid someone else to develop your side projects?
TLDR: Has anyone paid others (solo or shop) to develop your ideas? was the process relatively easy? was the end-product good? Would you do it again? I'm getting to the point in my life where I'm finding myself with less and less time. I have a job as a programmer, a child on the way, and I live in a community that demands a bit more of my time away from the computer, (not to mention the child). I still think up fun ideas to do, and I don't come up with 50 ideas a day like when I was younger, but I do come up with 1 - 2 ideas each month / week / quarter, that I am able to think about for longer, chew on, and think them through. I love it, and being able to create things is the sole reason I got into programming in the first place. Being able to say "Wouldn't it be nice to have X" and then go off and create X is immensely attractive to me, and I thin
Why it failed: TLDR: Has anyone paid others (solo or shop) to develop your ideas? was the process relatively easy? was the end-product good? Would you do it again? I'm getting to the point in my life where I'm finding myself with less and less time. I have a job as a programmer, a chi
drekipus
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Why do so many developers seem hostile to their users these days?
This is a discussion I hope can lead to some answers among the developer community about what's going on these days. I previously wrote about how various shopping sites are being very hostile to their customer base [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29384866]. Why does a 32kb text article need 10MB of battery draining heavy javascript to just work? But this is more then just shopping sites as so many websites, browsers, programs, and even OS's are making decisions that are hostile to their users. And it's coming from everywhere. What used to be controversial (e.g. dark patterns), is now normal. And if the user complains - the answers from the developers is "we're sorry, just live with it?" I could write an essay on this but I'll focus on a company which publicly represent this hostility - Blizzard. Blizzard is an entertainment company
Why it failed: This is a discussion I hope can lead to some answers among the developer community about what's going on these days. I previously wrote about how various shopping sites are being very hostile to their customer base [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2938486
diminium
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Buying house – any disruptors I can use?
We are starting to look at houses and are realizing how much we will be paying for services that IMO are quite mundane. 1) Mortgage broker - This lady will charge us 1% (10,000$) to find us a suitable loan. Basically, she will compare about 10 loans and choose the best one. Software systems can do this easily. 2) The buying agent - so far she has not come up with any houses on her own. She finds the same things we find on line. I dont need her to visit open houses. Legally, in SF I need an agent to be present during the inspections. I can use the selling agent for a fee. If I use her to place an offer, there is a bias problem. A buyer agent may be biased towards placing a "strong" offer. The "stronger" the offer, higher the probability that it will go through and higher her share. I have researched the areas enough and am comfortable coming up with a price. Are there
Why it failed: We are starting to look at houses and are realizing how much we will be paying for services that IMO are quite mundane. 1) Mortgage broker - This lady will charge us 1% (10,000$) to find us a suitable loan. Basically, she will compare about 10 loans and choose the best one. Softw
100-xyz
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Texts to share with my co-founder re time-management and teamwork?
tldr; Looking for articles or books about teamwork and time-management between founders in a startup environment to share with my co-founder who has never worked in a team or in any structured job in his life. The business is physical business with production facilities, that exists for 6-7 years. During this time it hasn't grown but has always supported its owner financially. I've always helped a little bit with communication and marketing but not too much because there was lack of execution on the other side. Last year we agreed that together we can make this thing grow and I joined as partner. His profile: for his whole life he was always a business owner, mostly in production and printing. Loves making things with his hands, hobbyist woodworker. Not very digital - has a smartphone but you can't get him on a team discord for example. Lacks any organisation skills which
Why it failed: tldr; Looking for articles or books about teamwork and time-management between founders in a startup environment to share with my co-founder who has never worked in a team or in any structured job in his life. The business is physical business with production facilities, that exi
tseoeo
- startupShut down2021
Stripe Shut Us Down
We have been with stripe for over 2 years and on Sept 2, they shut us down without explanation. We tried to reach them and their help and call button have been disabled. We are a small online gym and since they shut us down, its been impossible to reach someone for help. Since then we have not been able to generate any revenue so we have lost thousands of dollars. We have employees that depend on us and not being to generate any income has been a tremendous burden. We decided to move to another payment partner and Stripe has still not sent us the file with our customer data so we can move on. What else do we have to do for the file migration? We have done and provided everything you requested and we have not heard from your technician and you are not responding to emails. Carol Price 8136108294
Why it failed: We have been with stripe for over 2 years and on Sept 2, they shut us down without explanation. We tried to reach them and their help and call button have been disabled. We are a small online gym and since they shut us down, its been impossible to reach someone for help. Since th
carol_ifyoucan
- startupShut down2021
Launch HN: Weweb.io (YC W21) – Create websites visually using JAMstack tools
We're Raphael, Florian and Marc, co-founders of weweb.io ( https://www.weweb.io/ ). We are building a Webflow/WordPress style product, but where users can drag & drop their own React/Vue components and use data fetched from any API. We started working together on a side project in 2016, it was a mobile app in rails that lets people choose music in their favourite bars. The app didn't bring much value to bar owners, but it was fun to build and we made good friends among our first customers. Aside from our jobs we loved spending time building and iterating on different web products, we even built a simple angular web-app that would let anyone create a website entirely from a mobile phone. Fast-forward to 2018, we stumbled upon the Jamstack ecosystem and loved it. But one thing surprised us so much that we decided to quit our jobs to solve it: while ma
Why it failed: We're Raphael, Florian and Marc, co-founders of weweb.io ( https://www.weweb.io/ ). We are building a Webflow/WordPress style product, but where users can drag & drop their own React/Vue components and use data fetched from any API. We started wo
raphael-gold
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How to get compeitors to use our open source interop-prototcol?
We make open-source software for the cannabis industry, there are roughly 150 other software providers in this space, and we all need to share data (Lot details, Crop details, Product details, Lab Results, etc). Around 2018 or so we published a OpenAPI specification for data models ( https://github.com/openthc/api ) that we were hoping to get others to participate in. It's been rather difficult. The previous blocker was that in much of the USA, this data flows through a central system operated by the Government (as a contract to BioTrackTHC, Metrc or Akerna/MJ Freeway/LeafData). So, there hasn't been a critical need for interop. However, recent states to legislate cannabis (Oklahoma, Maine) don't fully have that and one (Washington) is moving away from theirs at the end of the year. The Washington state one is now, finally, getting some eyebal
Why it failed: We make open-source software for the cannabis industry, there are roughly 150 other software providers in this space, and we all need to share data (Lot details, Crop details, Product details, Lab Results, etc). Around 2018 or so we published a OpenAPI specification for data mode
openthc
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: How can we solve politics?
I don’t know if peer review already does this, but it seems simple to solve politics if we had one place to list all points. The hard part is getting the other side to acknowledge and really understand the points of the opposing side. Twitter is a shouting match. Hotness algorithms black hole discussions in Reddit and HN comments. 1. List all points from both sides. 2. Force both sides to acknowledge all points of the other side. 3. Respond to all points. 4. Acknowledge all responses. 5. Respond to all responses. 6. Repeat. We should be tracking whether each side has acknowledged points from the other side. For every issue, we should have a list of latest responses to points. Why isn’t it easy for us to see where the experts disagree for an issue? Discussions usually start from the root and go down 2 or 3 levels before hitting a wall. When everyone knows where to go to see who’s ignoring
Why it failed: I don’t know if peer review already does this, but it seems simple to solve politics if we had one place to list all points. The hard part is getting the other side to acknowledge and really understand the points of the opposing side. Twitter is a shouting match. Hotness algorith
username3
- startupShut down2020
Show HN: Remake – A server-rendered framework for building CRUD web apps fast
I wanted to have a framework that would let me build web apps faster than ever before. I didn’t care if it was a little hacky or didn’t use best practices — I wanted to be able to get a multi-user application out the door in hours instead of months. I researched the CMS space for months before deciding to build something from scratch. My goal was to be 90% done building a web app once I had the static HTML and CSS finished. I’m not a big fan of building out API endpoints over and over again for every new app, fiddling with a database, or doing lots of config. What I ended up with was a syntax that lets developers tag HTML elements as containing data (i.e. objects or arrays), thereby transforming the tree structure of the DOM into a JSON tree that can be saved to the current user's account. It took a while after that to evolve the syntax and make it easy to use. I call the project Re
Why it failed: I wanted to have a framework that would let me build web apps faster than ever before. I didn’t care if it was a little hacky or didn’t use best practices — I wanted to be able to get a multi-user application out the door in hours instead of months. I researched the CMS space for
ollerac
- startupShut down2020
How we reached $6250 monthly recurring revenue in 77 days from launch
I build SaaS products for living and recently, launched Helpwise (https://helpwise.io) - shared inbox for teams to manage team emails like help@, jobs@ etc. Here I'm going to share how we reached $6k MRR within 77 days of launch. We built this product because we had tried the two other main players in the market and felt that these products are 1)expensive 2)complex On 2nd Dec'19, we launched on PH. Kept following things in mind: 1.Use GIF in the thumbnail 2.Product screenshots 3.Post close to 12:00 am PST 4.Never indulge in fake voting We ended that day @ 4th position! Coming in top 5 on Product Hunt opens a lot of early PR opportunities. So, we go covered by number of niche blogs. We spent $1k on SEO & $200 in FB Ads targeting job profiles like Support Manager, HR Manager etc. To break some users (similar to us) from existing players, we built 1-click account mi
Why it failed: I build SaaS products for living and recently, launched Helpwise (https://helpwise.io) - shared inbox for teams to manage team emails like help@, jobs@ etc. Here I'm going to share how we reached $6k MRR within 77 days of launch. We built this product because we ha
saasfounder
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: Getting depressed about money. How do I make a meaningful amount “fast”?
I am a software developer and like the company I work for. I am smart and capable but have few connections. I have a family and several people rely on my relatively high income so I can't drop everything and do a startup. I live in a place where cost of living is obscene and I have no option to move due to family. I am (finally) debt free, but projecting the rest of my life, I will be able to retire at 72-75. I want to get our early. Every day I watch people get stupid rich. I know the startup route and have done that a couple of times, though the products didn't take to their markets. I've tried stock trading, crypto trading, investment, small businesses, various passive income schemes, etc. None of this seems to return any decent investment. My portfolio can give me a solid 6-8% a year return, but unless I already have a couple of million to gamble it will still mean a s
Why it failed: I am a software developer and like the company I work for. I am smart and capable but have few connections. I have a family and several people rely on my relatively high income so I can't drop everything and do a startup. I live in a place where cost of living is obscene and
mcdoug
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: Are YouTube ads getting worse?
I opened a ~1 hour video and saw notches in the timeline for 10 different ad breaks. This is as bad as live TV now. Ads play at the end of videos. More videos have long, unskippable ads. More ad breaks in the middle of videos. Multiple people in my circles said they noticed this too when asked, but it could just be a fluke/some kind of group confirmation bias. Has anyone else experienced this? Or even better, collected data on it?
Why it failed: I opened a ~1 hour video and saw notches in the timeline for 10 different ad breaks. This is as bad as live TV now. Ads play at the end of videos. More videos have long, unskippable ads. More ad breaks in the middle of videos. Multiple people in my circles said they noticed this
Kye
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: 5K 27“ computer monitor recommendation?
I'm looking for a 5K 27" computer monitor but it seems there is literally only one option on the market: the LG/Apple UltraFine 5K 27" display. I prefer this resolution at this size because it amounts to 220 PPI, which is 'Retina' (HiDPI) at macOS's native integer scaling. Apparently there were a few models some years ago, such as the Dell UP2715K, the HP Z27q, and the Philips 275P4VYKEB, but they're discontinued. Other options like the Planar IX2790 and the iiyama XB2779QQS are impossible to find now. What's the solution here? There's a glut of 4K 27" monitors on the market but to get Retina, you'd have to run them downscaled by 4x to 1080p, which is less than ideal.
Why it failed: I'm looking for a 5K 27" computer monitor but it seems there is literally only one option on the market: the LG/Apple UltraFine 5K 27" display. I prefer this resolution at this size because it amounts to 220 PPI, which is 'Retina' (HiDPI) at macOS&#x
thoughtpeddler
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
It seems like most book recommendation threads end up being filled with a load of self improvement type books. Do you have any fiction book recommendations that have positively impacted your life? Maybe a book that helped you through tough times or made you change your outlook on life?
Why it failed: It seems like most book recommendation threads end up being filled with a load of self improvement type books. Do you have any fiction book recommendations that have positively impacted your life? Maybe a book that helped you through tough times or made you change your outlook on
sondog
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: Is “No Code” the future of web/app dev?
It's been "the future" for 40-ish years now, with dozens (if not hundreds) of failed attempts. At some point, one has to wonder: are we there yet? If not, why aren't we? To me it seems logical that designers should one day be building frontends through visual interfaces that are almost as malleable as tools like Sketch. It seems to me that many features from design programs (like Framer) seek to make design closer to development, and we've even seen a Git for design workflows. So why hasn't it happened yet, and will it ever?
Why it failed: It's been "the future" for 40-ish years now, with dozens (if not hundreds) of failed attempts. At some point, one has to wonder: are we there yet? If not, why aren't we? To me it seems logical that designers should one day be building frontends through visual
zaksingh
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: How should open source support critical dependencies?
In something slightly similar to the infamous leftpad issue, many NPM builds started failing yesterday because 'npm audit' now reports a security vulnerability for lodash. lodash is currently in use in over 7 million Github repos, and it's nearly impossible to use NPM without some transitive dependency that depends on lodash. This security vulnerability was reported in October (https://hackerone.com/reports/712065) and there have been 2 PRs open for 2 months that fix this issue, but lodash hasn't had any releases for a year. There is essentially one (unpaid) person who has power to release lodash, a library that a huge majority of reasonably-sized javascript projects now depend on. How should the open source community address essentially abandoned projects that have become critical in the ecosystem?
Why it failed: In something slightly similar to the infamous leftpad issue, many NPM builds started failing yesterday because 'npm audit' now reports a security vulnerability for lodash. lodash is currently in use in over 7 million Github repos, and it's nearly impossible to use
hn_throwaway_99
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: Where does an alcoholic with dementia and felonies find housing?
My friend is 30 years old. Her father has no family that will take him in. He's on social security disability and that $700/month isn't enough for him to live on his own, not to mention he can't even remember what he had for breakfast. And he's been denied for low-income/subsidized housing because of his past criminal record. Now she feels obligated to give up her ambitions and move somewhere where she can afford to have him live with her because otherwise, he'll end up living on the streets. Her mom passed away from an overdose when she was only 25, and her brother was only 18. Her brother didn't graduate high school. Despite this, she graduated from college, went on to obtain her master's degree. She is passionate about educating kids coming from poverty and has the technical abilities to scale her impact. Now I'm afraid she'll giv
Why it failed: My friend is 30 years old. Her father has no family that will take him in. He's on social security disability and that $700/month isn't enough for him to live on his own, not to mention he can't even remember what he had for breakfast. And he's been denie
ta21391
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: Have you abandoned Next.js for another front end framework/library?
I'm starting a new project as a technical lead. The last React app I built from scratch was as a freelancer using Next.js. Generally my experience with Next.js has been positive, but while I can still debate my options I'm wondering if anyone has run into problems that caused you to move away from Next.js? And if so can you please tell me about them.
Why it failed: I'm starting a new project as a technical lead. The last React app I built from scratch was as a freelancer using Next.js. Generally my experience with Next.js has been positive, but while I can still debate my options I'm wondering if anyone has run into problems that
ritchiea
- startupShut down2020
Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?
I'm at my wits end. I was made homeless and had my financial support dropped at the beginning of the year, and am currently staying in squats etc in the Netherlands. I have nearly no income - 10 euros a week in donations towards an open-source project I'm working on to build a live video streaming platform for the fediverse, and occasional requests for solidarity funds. My situation is... not great. Half my time is taken up by anxiety around police violence, illegal evictions, my friends being arrested. Still, in the immediate term, it's better than sleeping rough. I'm not sure how to find work; I've not had a paying job in the last 8 years. I've worked on software for myself and others in hackerspaces and the like; and helped run a volunteer cafe for a large portion of last year (sinking 20+ hours a week into that fairly consistently), but I can't seem
Why it failed: I'm at my wits end. I was made homeless and had my financial support dropped at the beginning of the year, and am currently staying in squats etc in the Netherlands. I have nearly no income - 10 euros a week in donations towards an open-source project I'm working on to
vertex-four