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.
1,395 solutions
- startupShut down2012
Show HN: I've created a site about Bone Marrow Donation
Hi HN,<p>I've posted a couple times here before (mostly within posts pertaining to Amit Gupta's search for a bone marrow donor) and I wanted to share a site I've been working on for the past 5 months or so that recently went live. I'm going on my fifth year of being an Acute Myelogenous Leukemia survivor, and while I didn't need a bone marrow transplant myself at one point it was a very real possibility. At that time I became aware of the lack of minority bone marrow donors and made a promise to myself to try to do something about it if I were to survive. This site is something of a fulfillment of that promise.<p>I don't know if this is explicitly HN-worthy, given that it's not a programmatically-impressive web app or a strictly technical exercise. But given the publicity that Amit's search for a donor has created for the cause, and some previous posts highlighting concer
Why it failed: Hi HN,<p>I've posted a couple times here before (mostly within posts pertaining to Amit Gupta's search for a bone marrow donor) and I wanted to share a site I've been working on for the past 5 months or so that recently went live. I'm going on my fifth year of being an Ac
danielna
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Can I visit your startup in SF?
Hi there, My name is Max, I'm a cofounder at Kera, and we're from Toronto. We started Kera to teach the world how to use software. Cameron (one of my cofounders) and I are coming to SF the week after next (Oct 22-26) so we can make new friends and learn how companies like yours are educating and onboarding new users. We're also looking for advice about building our startup. If you're doing something interesting, have an awesome company culture, or just like hanging with Canadians, we'd love to meet you. Any referrals or introductions are more than welcome. You can find out more about Kera here (http://kera.io), and we can be found at @maxcameron & @camwest on twitter. Thanks in advance, Max edit: my email is max@kera.io
Why it failed: Hi there, My name is Max, I'm a cofounder at Kera, and we're from Toronto. We started Kera to teach the world how to use software. Cameron (one of my cofounders) and I are coming to SF the week after next (Oct 22-26) so we can make new friends and learn how companies like yours a
maxcameron
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Tons of ideas, zero products.
Hi. I have a problems which I don't know how to solve. I consider myself a creative person and some time ago I had 2 ideas which I think have potential to succeed (I did short evaluation of those ideas: there is a market, there is no/very little competition, people I talked to say good things about my ideas). However, I don't know how to/where to start. My first problem is my personality: I always procrastinated a lot, I always had ideas which I dind't implement, very often I started project and abandoned it, I always had a lot of dreams and done just a few of them. Some time ago I decided to change this and I'm really doing this with my life. I procrastinate very seldom, I'm very motivated to succeed, I study a lot (I'm in college), every day I'm a better person. But I still can't find cure for my "not-starting"/"starting-and-abandoning" project problem. I really want to change this, I'
Why it failed: Hi. I have a problems which I don't know how to solve. I consider myself a creative person and some time ago I had 2 ideas which I think have potential to succeed (I did short evaluation of those ideas: there is a market, there is no/very little competition, people I talked to sa
maxvs
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Help? Breaking into the App Store top 100.
I thought I would never do this. But here I am so I'm just going to get it out there. Last year I had a baby and quit my awesome job as a graphic designer for the Blizzard web team largely because I wasn't making enough money to keep living in Southern California if my wife was going to be able to stay at home with our newborn. We moved to Las Vegas and now live with my wife's father. I spent most of the past year starting Falcon Empire and making my first iPhone game, Beat Boxes, which I finally released late last year. Of course, nobody noticed. Despite what you're reading here, I'm terrible at self promotion. In desperation and ready to give up on my dream and go apply for a job at McDonald's for a while, I started giving my game away for free. I figured that way at least some people would get to play it and I won't simply have wasted the last year of my life. I thought maybe a couple
Why it failed: I thought I would never do this. But here I am so I'm just going to get it out there. Last year I had a baby and quit my awesome job as a graphic designer for the Blizzard web team largely because I wasn't making enough money to keep living in Southern California if my wife was g
alanfalcon
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Is there a repository of failed startups (re-usable startups idea)?
I was wandering if someone keeps records of failed tech/internet startups and their codebase? Maybe it's not a bad idea to go back and re-use some of the failed startups whether it's a codebase or just a business model. I found a lot of reason for failed startups but not many use cases - mostly scattered around the Internet. If someone would built such a database would you contribute your failed business model and codebase?
Why it failed: I was wandering if someone keeps records of failed tech/internet startups and their codebase? Maybe it's not a bad idea to go back and re-use some of the failed startups whether it's a codebase or just a business model. I found a lot of reason for failed startups but not many use
zeratul
- startupShut down2012
Got a million but what now
I worked in oil and gas for 6 years. It paid well, and I have over a million in my bank account, I'm still 29 years old. I love reading and learning about startups, and it fits my personality so much better than O&G. I finally made the leap and left my job yesterday to focus full time on trying to steer my life in a new direction. My current plan is to learn enough about programming (Python and front end) to develop a prototype and try to get some traction. At some point I would like to acquire a co-founder, and try my hand at developing something that the world wants or needs. This sounded really good before I left, but the doubt level increased significantly after leaving my job. Am I crazy to think I can compete with all of these brilliant people? I really don't want to be damned into working at something I don't enjoy just for money, but I'm having a hard time seeing my way throu
Why it failed: I worked in oil and gas for 6 years. It paid well, and I have over a million in my bank account, I'm still 29 years old. I love reading and learning about startups, and it fits my personality so much better than O&G. I finally made the leap and left my job yesterday to focus
chamboo
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: losing faith in the startup where I'm employee #1
I'm very new to the startup world. A year ago, I left academia to join a startup as the first engineer employee. The skies were bright, we were going to change the world and become rich and all be happy together. Now a year later, things are way more gloom. We haven't raised any money, as of today we have effectively 0 active users, and our total revenue over the past year has been ~$100. Out of 3 founders, none is technical (the CTO is a very, very well connected industry veteran though), and they are all very unfocused and out of touch with certain realities (for example, they filed a patent for a silly tech idea right after incorporation and keep trying to implement that technology in products although it doesn't really solve anything). During meetings, I always feel like a killjoy by attempting to be realistic and focused and reserved about the brand new idea they come up with every
Why it failed: I'm very new to the startup world. A year ago, I left academia to join a startup as the first engineer employee. The skies were bright, we were going to change the world and become rich and all be happy together. Now a year later, things are way more gloom. We haven't raised any
tantrumpython
- startupShut down2012
Iran Shuts Down Major Websites and Https Protocol
I'm writing this to report the serious troubles we have regarding accessing Internet in Iran at the moment. Since Thursday Iranian government has shutted down the https protocol which has caused almost all google services (gmail, and google.com itself) to become inaccessible. Almost all websites that reply on Google APIs (like wolfram alpha) won't work. Accessing to any website that replies on https (just imaging how many websites use this protocol, from Arch Wiki to bank websites). Also accessing many proxies is also impossible. There are almost no official reports on this and with many websites and my email accounts restricted I can just confirm this based on my own and friends experience. I have just found one report here: http://kabirnews.com/iran-shut-down-gmail-google-yahoo-and-sites-using-https-protocol/202/ The reason for this horrible shutdown is that the Iranian regime celebrat
Why it failed: I'm writing this to report the serious troubles we have regarding accessing Internet in Iran at the moment. Since Thursday Iranian government has shutted down the https protocol which has caused almost all google services (gmail, and google.com itself) to become inaccessible. Alm
Sara70
- startupShut down2012
Show HN: I'm a non-hacker "idea guy" and my weekend project took 1,670 + days
I am a non-hacker "idea guy" with zero discernible talent. Like most, the story starts with me doing things the hard way. I dreamt of a tool that would save me countless hours. Like most of my ideas, it was supposed to die in a couple of hours, but this one had some legs.... "If I needed this, surely others did too" kept looping in my head. Could I get this built? Could I build it myself? Nah...too lazy to learn how, but before I did anything, I had to promise myself one thing: No more ideas! If ideas were sit-ups, I would have a six pack instead of this tire. It was a constant mental exercise. Ideas would peep in, I would spend 5 seconds and if it wasn’t related to THE TOOL, I had to throw it out. That's it. Focus achieved. I've been idea sober for 1670 straight days. I was now ready to find the right people that are the exact opposite of me. Translated: People that actually do stuff. I
Why it failed: I am a non-hacker "idea guy" with zero discernible talent. Like most, the story starts with me doing things the hard way. I dreamt of a tool that would save me countless hours. Like most of my ideas, it was supposed to die in a couple of hours, but this one had some legs.... "If
sunpatel
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Early employee salaries for startups in The Netherlands / Europe?
I haven taken a break from my full-time job for a couple of months to develop an app prototype on the iPad for a startup in its initial phase. My break is coming to an end and we are are pretty happy with each other. I like the work: not just coding but also (with the "server" guy, I'm the "client" guy) selecting technologies, managing features / the project, etc. And they seem to like me and what I, together with the other guy, have accomplished the last two months. Now, I know my weak point is salary negotiations. There have been a couple of posts about this the last weeks but I also like to have some indications of salaries for the region I live in: De Randstad in The Netherlands. I'll be monitoring this thread and will answer any questions people will have.
Why it failed: I haven taken a break from my full-time job for a couple of months to develop an app prototype on the iPad for a startup in its initial phase. My break is coming to an end and we are are pretty happy with each other. I like the work: not just coding but also (with the "server" gu
throwaway1
- startupShut down2012
Indinero to close free accounts
Nothing online, but I received the following email: Dear inDinero User, I hope this finds you well -- I'm writing to you to let you know about some business model changes we have to make. First off, it's been amazing to have your patience and support over the past two years. Without your help and feedback, our product wouldn't be where it is today. inDinero has been trying to support a free customer base since launching in 2010, but the costs associated with doing so have gone up considerably since. The company pays a very hefty fee to aggregate financial data, and we lose money on every non-paying user. Because of these unaffordably high costs, I've made the very difficult decision to discontinue our free plan. Many of you have told us that you'd prefer a premium/paid service that can better support a growing product. We agree that this is the direction we need to make, and we hope we h
Why it failed: Nothing online, but I received the following email: Dear inDinero User, I hope this finds you well -- I'm writing to you to let you know about some business model changes we have to make. First off, it's been amazing to have your patience and support over the past two years. With
AlexMuir
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Visiting SF for the first time: Where to stay? What to do? Who to see?
Looking for advice on getting the most out of the city from a startup perspective. My co-founder and I are coming from London as part of http://www.ldn2sfo.com/ . That aims to give us a whirlwind lowdown on how SV and SF operate, and a very high-level view of where a few startups and VCs are located. We'd love to get a somewhat deeper view and with a view to working our backsides off and growing our bootstrapped company into one that requires a US entity within a year, we want to get a good sense of how SF can be done bootstrapped or at least affordably (even from a London perspective the salaries, rent, etc look crazy high from here). At the very basic end there are just trip logistics: Recommend an AirBNB to use as a base, or a garage to sleep in, ideally owned by someone on HN and with a good internet connection (we work when we have moments spare). At the other end there's a more gen
Why it failed: Looking for advice on getting the most out of the city from a startup perspective. My co-founder and I are coming from London as part of http://www.ldn2sfo.com/ . That aims to give us a whirlwind lowdown on how SV and SF operate, and a very high-level view of where a few startups
buro9
- startupShut down2012
The Future Of Programming?
One of the things I've been thinking about lately and in the past years is the direction programming is heading as a whole. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the field has been getting more chaotic since its birth and the speed of this process is accelerating. Computer science is a relatively new field of science and the modus operandi has almost exclusively been a sort of a cowboy, wild wild west way of doing things. The one who gets there first claims the prize and defends it. As computer science is half about doing real science and half about the art of applying that science, I won't be touching the former part. Science works and the scientific method is unquestionably valid. The more interesting and as I said chaotic part is the art of programming. Chaotic is a strong word to use, but I really do think it describes best whats going on. I feel wrong every time I see a new serio
Why it failed: One of the things I've been thinking about lately and in the past years is the direction programming is heading as a whole. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the field has been getting more chaotic since its birth and the speed of this process is accelerating. Computer sci
zhiel
- startupShut down2012
Somebody please, for the love of god, fix shipping/couriers
In the past three years I've had to ship items nationally or receive shipped items in the UK on a few occasions. The experience has been universally terrible. 1. Sign-up process is convoluted. This should be so simple. Are you a business or a person? What are your billing details and contact details? Done. Don't give me a Merchant ID or make me telephone you. Don't make me put in address information: you can have that when I send something. 2. Believe it or not, I do not know how heavy my item is or its exact dimensions. I threw away the packaging. I don't have a set of bathroom scales because I'm not a teenage girl. Charge me a premium for not knowing. I don't give a shit. Just don't force me to enter the dimensions of something which I might not have in front of me or schlep it to the scales at my friends' house so that you can calculate how much diesel you need to be putting in your v
Why it failed: In the past three years I've had to ship items nationally or receive shipped items in the UK on a few occasions. The experience has been universally terrible. 1. Sign-up process is convoluted. This should be so simple. Are you a business or a person? What are your billing details
georgespencer
- startupShut down2012
I don't know who I am anymore and I can't tell anyone
Inspired by "I'm burning out and I can't tell anyone". My story is about the same. I think I'm at the stage that comes after the burning out. I'm a single, 30yo, systems architect at a quite known and popular Web company (top 30). I also have a strong open-source persona and pretty useful projects out there (overall around 2000 watchers, I guess). HN score of about 1400, all from feedback on projects I've released. I'm the guy who always get a crazy eyebrow raised when people hear I don't have my own start up yet. I get tons of offers from CTOs, CEOs and founders to co-found/participate, and I usually think of the people offering them as misguided and naive. And if we're anonymous, let me throw in that I used to be a hacker, cracker, around 13 years ago, when I was in high school. End background. I find myself waking up at 8:30am, at work at 9:30am, finishing up at 19:30-20:00pm and at h
Why it failed: Inspired by "I'm burning out and I can't tell anyone". My story is about the same. I think I'm at the stage that comes after the burning out. I'm a single, 30yo, systems architect at a quite known and popular Web company (top 30). I also have a strong open-source persona and pret
joedoe
- startupShut down2012
Either support Linux/BSD or don't.
There are three types of software that is irritating me beyond belief coming from major tech companies. Ill address the offenders. 1. partial support OFFENDER: Netflix. ChromeOS support but no other linux support? ORLY? 2. opensource software abuse OFFENDER: Sony, (via playstation mobile SDK.) Aka, building tech that uses mono vm, and monodevelop to make a windows only SDK. Are you kidding me? Sony has become a damn software molester. Is a disgusting abuse of other people's work. I dont want to use Windows, I want to use the open source software on the operating systems they were created to run on in the first place.... 3. Last week's promised "Linux support coming next week." bullshit OFFENDER: Google. Are we getting google drive anytime soon? Like this decade perhaps? My concluding words is this. As somebody who writes open source software for the benefit of all my fellow programmers.
Why it failed: There are three types of software that is irritating me beyond belief coming from major tech companies. Ill address the offenders. 1. partial support OFFENDER: Netflix. ChromeOS support but no other linux support? ORLY? 2. opensource software abuse OFFENDER: Sony, (via playstatio
mortdeus
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Laid off, frustrated, looking for advice
This is a combination of venting and looking for advice. It's a different account than my usual Hacker News, would like to be anonymous at this point since I'm looking for work. I live in a large city in the Eastern time zone, 40+ years old, my most recent job was for 12+ years at the same place, 10+ in Java. I got laid off in May. Got my resume together, talked to some recruiters, the usual stuff. I've had a couple of nibbles, couple of interviews, but no offers so far. It seems my problem is that the assignments I was given was just regular Java coding, more back end than front end. Not much J2EE technologies, light on servlets, JSP, JSF. Also, the company didn't use Hibernate or JUnit. Basically, I don't have the fashionable skills. I have no doubt that I could pick them up quickly, but if I don't go in saying that I have actual experience with them then firms don't want to talk to me
Why it failed: This is a combination of venting and looking for advice. It's a different account than my usual Hacker News, would like to be anonymous at this point since I'm looking for work. I live in a large city in the Eastern time zone, 40+ years old, my most recent job was for 12+ years a
layofflayabout
- startupShut down2012
Tell HN: Frustrated and feeling pretty useless at this point.
When my startup last year did terribly, I felt like crap. While it wasn't really a surprise (I kinda knew it was going to happen), it was a pretty painful experience. Having said that, it's nothing compared to what I feel now. I sincerely, truly believed that my current startup had potential to grow but I lost the one chance I had. After failing our startup last year, we picked up on advice from HN- we started over. We finally found something we truly believed in and created our first iPhone App after 6 months. Given that we didn't have any programming or design experience, we worked like hell to really make up for all the areas we were lacking in. Were barely surviving by (we had left our jobs since the last failed startup) and working nonstop because this was THE idea we believed in. One of the startup advice that I hear most often is to create a product that solves a problem of your o
Why it failed: When my startup last year did terribly, I felt like crap. While it wasn't really a surprise (I kinda knew it was going to happen), it was a pretty painful experience. Having said that, it's nothing compared to what I feel now. I sincerely, truly believed that my current startup h
iamjonlee
- startupShut down2012
501/anti 501 are symptoms, not the disease
tl;dr You are not a factory worker, stop working like one. And if you are starting a tech company don’t model it after a factory. I’m a fan of Hacker News, but I view it from afar. It’s like a strange other world and I’m just a voyeur. I’m a tech entrepreneur, but I live outside of the US. I’m not trying to bump my valuation to get bought out by a giant. But a lot of great information is shared on Hacker News, and I like you guys, even if I don’t always understand you. :-) The 501 manifesto and the anti 501 response strike me as really amusing. I know where the 501ers are coming from. I used to be a coder in the trenches. I also understand the anti-ish response, because as soon as you write a manifesto people will come running to trash it. It’s just a risk you take when you write a manifesto. And now here I am to tell you that you are both wrong. And dammit that puts me dangerously close
Why it failed: tl;dr You are not a factory worker, stop working like one. And if you are starting a tech company don’t model it after a factory. I’m a fan of Hacker News, but I view it from afar. It’s like a strange other world and I’m just a voyeur. I’m a tech entrepreneur, but I live outside
Buddy_D
- startupShut down2012
Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero, a game to teach game development
Today DEVELOP magazine's front page stories were: ZYNGA falls 18%, Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero a game that teaches game development with a code gun, and Tim Schafer raises $2 million on Kickstarter.<p>Well I am the founder of Code Hero in the picture, Alex Peake, and our Kickstarter has blown up today hitting BoingBoing, TechCrunch, ThinkGeek and more blogs than I know what to do with.<p>TLDR: Try Code Hero and let us know what you think! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/primerist/code-hero-a-game-that-teaches-you-to-make-games-he<p>We've accelerated steadily every day since Tim Schafer raised his million in a single day, mostly because it lit a fire under us to push push push every way we didn't know we knew how to prove that a totally unknown indie can pull off a proportionate success to that of a legend like Tim. Now we're on track to hit the $1
Why it failed: Today DEVELOP magazine's front page stories were: ZYNGA falls 18%, Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero a game that teaches game development with a code gun, and Tim Schafer raises $2 million on Kickstarter.<p>Well I am the founder of Code Hero in the picture, Alex Pe
lxpk
- startupShut down2012
Show HN: Selling a web app, Auto Swatch
Unfortunately, I have a failed startup that needs to pay off some of its debts. Myself and a few others have over a combined 300 hours of work into this project. I'm hesitant to put this on Flippa or eBay or whatever; I just don't think that crowd will appreciate it. I'm looking for suggestions on where to try and sell it (other than HN). The site is Auto Swatch: http://swatch.nick.sg (this is just a demo site for the purpose of selling it. Actual domain is http://autoswatch.com). Discussion of the launch on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2466545 Obviously this is a depressing outcome. The project IMO still has a ton of potential, but I don't have the resources or time to make it successful. I've grown tired of the idea of investors, shlepping myself out just to get some PR, etc. The business side of things sucks. I hope someone can take over and go up against the big guys like
Why it failed: Unfortunately, I have a failed startup that needs to pay off some of its debts. Myself and a few others have over a combined 300 hours of work into this project. I'm hesitant to put this on Flippa or eBay or whatever; I just don't think that crowd will appreciate it. I'm looking
nicksergeant
- startupShut down2012
Tell HN: RAM Requirements are going through the roof
There have been a few talks about how Moore's law is coming to an end, about how you can now build servers with close to a TB of RAM, how you can now scale clusters of servers and achieve great metrics when it comes to raw data storage or memcaching, how incredible feats in both parallelization and miniaturization will reverse the downhill trend for high-end computing. Then there's the desktop. My desktop PC, for instance. It's a great 6 months old working computer, with 8 cores and 16GB of RAM. "This ought to be enough for all my needs", I thought. The Bill Gates in me was right so far, but unfortunately this won't be enough for long. Yesterday I took a look at my memory usage, out of curiosity: 11.4GB. Woah. I had a look at the breakdown. - Chrome : ~3GB - Firefox : ~1.5GB - Java (eclipse) : ~1.2GB - Rest in tons of various work-related apps. I'm of course responsible for letting this
Why it failed: There have been a few talks about how Moore's law is coming to an end, about how you can now build servers with close to a TB of RAM, how you can now scale clusters of servers and achieve great metrics when it comes to raw data storage or memcaching, how incredible feats in both
babebridou
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Where do deadpool founders go?
Background: Fresh out of college, I cofounded a social media startup with another friend. We've been plugging away at it for the last 2 years making all the conceivable mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make. What finally broke the camel's back was actually not money but my realisation one day that we were not capable of executing the plan. There were many reasons for this but to name a few: 1) We were not end users of our product. Dog fooding felt like a chore 2) We caught on to the lean startup/4 steps schools of thought too late and could have saved ourselves a ton of mistakes by just reading the 4 steps 3) Inexperience all through the board from product management to marketing. Bad mentors giving bad advice exacerbated matters So the question is for me is really what next? The context for this question is that I definitely definitely definitely want to be involved in another startup
Why it failed: Background: Fresh out of college, I cofounded a social media startup with another friend. We've been plugging away at it for the last 2 years making all the conceivable mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make. What finally broke the camel's back was actually not money but my reali
Heisenbergg
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Help, my $150,000 student debt is ruining my life, and my future
Dear enlightened HN community, I am earnestly seeking as many helpful advice as I can get, pertaining to the painful state of existence I reside in due to ignorant & impulsive college decisions I made about a decade ago. Due to excessive math & science training in high school, I impulsively decided to go to an expensive East Coast Art school to study Art & Design, paid for on entirely borrowed student debt average 40k a year, for 4 years straight. I was extremely financial ignorant at that age, not at all understanding the actual income of those who chooses career in the creative fields. Straight out of school, I got an entry level marketing job offer. At that point, the job offer was so low, that it would leave me starving after my basic necessities, such as apartment & student debts are paid. I chose instead, to do something riskier, and more entrepreneurial straight ou
Why it failed: Dear enlightened HN community, I am earnestly seeking as many helpful advice as I can get, pertaining to the painful state of existence I reside in due to ignorant & impulsive college decisions I made about a decade ago. Due to excessive math & science training in high sc
heavilyindebt