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 down2011
What should I do with my life?
I'm 20. Never finished high school, did several years of classes at community colleges I took just for fun (mostly art, science, and math). I really just breathed through most of my classes there, and usually would come stoned, just to hangout (and still end up passing classes most of the time). Somehow college seemed like a better alternative to sitting at home watching stupid movies. Worked as a software engineer (Flash/C++) for some time, then was like "fuck it", quit, started freelancing/studying art. Now, I don't know what to do. My lack of degree or specialization makes me feel like I have less of an identity. I don't know what to put in my Facebook profile. I always feel like a drug-addled high-school drop-out, who burned his mind so much he'll end up homeless on the street. Like one of those crazy people who talk about aliens all the time, and such. But then I remember I actually
Why it failed: I'm 20. Never finished high school, did several years of classes at community colleges I took just for fun (mostly art, science, and math). I really just breathed through most of my classes there, and usually would come stoned, just to hangout (and still end up passing classes mo
mannicken
- startupShut down2011
Tell HN: Our VC turned the process of getting acquired into a nightmare
I run a startup I co-founded on the east coast, which is about as specific as I can be right now. The past three months has been some of the worst in my life but also provided some of the most valuable lessons learned. I thought I would use a throwaway account to blow of some steam and hopefully get some valuable feedback. This is the situation: My startup is profitable with a team of 10 or so people and with a very happy and loyal customer base. But after five years in business I have come to accept that it has failed to yield any really high growth. This has forced us to take a step back and look at how we can reframe our business. We need to find a new product/market fit to kick in the next gear and get back on track to higher growth. Three months ago, a favorable acquisition offer comes along. Part cash part equity, favorable terms. Because of our dwindling growth it is lousy timing
Why it failed: I run a startup I co-founded on the east coast, which is about as specific as I can be right now. The past three months has been some of the worst in my life but also provided some of the most valuable lessons learned. I thought I would use a throwaway account to blow of some ste
throwaway5317
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Would you share your story of a failed startup, please?
I am working on a new project. I think it could be of interest for the public. It's a place where you can share your story about your failed startup. It will be a detailed review of the project from its start to its end. There is a good approach to think that there is no bad experience. You are not a loser if you have a startup that didn't pay out with money or success. You with your experience can be a more valuable professional than the one who never faced all the hurdle of developing and promoting a startup. More than that, if there are only fewer than 10% of startups take become successful, why there is so little information on the remaining 90%? Together we can fill in this source providing images, statistics, interviews, images. It can then help new entrepreneurs make their decisions more wisely as well as it will make the whole image of startups life clearer. I have almost done th
Why it failed: I am working on a new project. I think it could be of interest for the public. It's a place where you can share your story about your failed startup. It will be a detailed review of the project from its start to its end. There is a good approach to think that there is no bad expe
cosmorocket
- startupShut down2011
In regards to the opinions about the quality of HN
I've been a long time fan of online community. I've had forums that I attached to and gave them my "blood, sweat and tears." I've made myself a well known member of MMO communities because I enjoyed chatting in the game more than playing it. I turned Blizzard's Battle.net gaming service into an IRC-like hacker chat service because I hadn't discovered IRC yet. I've hosted my own IRC server since 1999 - averaged like ~40 users consistently since then, too! Do you know what the one thing that running this IRC server has taught me over the past 12 years? The people and the purpose behind the server change over time. Initially, the server was full of 14 year old kids, my e-friends from all over the globe, hacking Diablo and Warcraft. I had friends on there that I never thought would leave. Over the period of 12 years things happen, though. Some of them got married. Some got jobs that demanded
Why it failed: I've been a long time fan of online community. I've had forums that I attached to and gave them my "blood, sweat and tears." I've made myself a well known member of MMO communities because I enjoyed chatting in the game more than playing it. I turned Blizzard's Battle.net gaming
Skywing
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Why are a majority of companies not-open to hiring remote developers?
I have worked in all types of settings. Fortune 250. 5 person startup. Mid-size companies. I have managed remote teams that have built amazing technology. I have been a part of local teams that can't get their head straight. In speaking with job prospects recently, it seems like very few companies (~ 5%) are open to some type of remote work. Now please understand, I am not looking to work remote b/c I want to live in the French Riviera. I have personal commitments where I am that prevent me from leaving (at least temporarily). As a Ruby developer (from what I hear and see), my skills are in high demand. Take this awesome recruiter email to me: -- start email ---- I am a recruiter here in the Bay Area working with several significant consumer-focused internet tech companies. What's going on in the Bay Area right now (and why I am writing you) is a major shortage of qualified Ruby engineer
Why it failed: I have worked in all types of settings. Fortune 250. 5 person startup. Mid-size companies. I have managed remote teams that have built amazing technology. I have been a part of local teams that can't get their head straight. In speaking with job prospects recently, it seems like
mdink
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?
I'm sure this is common amongst us developers with ideas. I come up with new ideas for websites all the time. Most of the time I will have 2-3 ideas a week. I will usually invest several hours into each idea. If I know enough to jump right into code, I will. Otherwise I start by researching for the idea. Most of my ideas I am initially excited about. If I'm lucky then I may even be genuinely positive that the idea is "going to work". But, just like clockwork, I eventually begin to doubt the idea and usually end up dropping it. This usually occurs the day or so after the inception of the idea. Usually, my reasoning for dropping an idea is that it seems so useless and minor in the grand scheme of things. I try to picture people using the product and it actually making their life better in some way. This is obviously not an easy thing to do. I think that over the years I've trained myself t
Why it failed: I'm sure this is common amongst us developers with ideas. I come up with new ideas for websites all the time. Most of the time I will have 2-3 ideas a week. I will usually invest several hours into each idea. If I know enough to jump right into code, I will. Otherwise I start by
Skywing
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: I'm considering leaving a startup to look for big-company jobs (really).
I know this decision may not be popular around here, but I think the quality of advice that I'll get is good, so I'm going to ask for it. I'm a talented programmer who is now considering leaving a startup and moving back into the big-company fold. My savings are near zero-- that rules out another startup-- and a part of me thinks that a big-company job for a while might not be the worst thing in the world. I've decided to leave a startup in which I was a founder, although the partnership was always a bit unequal (I'm the youngest and don't have any contacts to potential customers or VCs) and our CEO often takes the attitude of it being a one-man show (i.e. he tends to get "set" in decisions without appeal, he makes shitty comments if we take a long lunch, and we deal with 2-4 status checks per day). I've been treated enough like an employee that my motivation has crashed and I essentiall
Why it failed: I know this decision may not be popular around here, but I think the quality of advice that I'll get is good, so I'm going to ask for it. I'm a talented programmer who is now considering leaving a startup and moving back into the big-company fold. My savings are near zero-- that
throwaway4921
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Best way to learn the CS background I missed by not going to school?
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask if it's not I apologize. This is my first post to HN.<p>Background: Basically I've been a developer for almost four years now. I started as a front-end developer writing HTML/CSS/JS, but quickly moved to the back-end writing PHP. Before now I've considered myself a decent developer, but lately I've been feeling burnt out and have been looking to move to a position that would make me happier. I've been looking at Ruby/Rails positions on the various job boards and I really feel like I don't have enough CS knowledge to land any of these positions. I'm feeling more and more like a copy and paste PHP developer. I mean, how can I get a job that is asking for engineers to apply? I really got a punch in the face when I read through a post on Stack Overflow about lesser known data structures like Ropes, and Bloom Filters, and Skip Lists. I ha
Why it failed: I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask if it's not I apologize. This is my first post to HN.<p>Background: Basically I've been a developer for almost four years now. I started as a front-end developer writing HTML/CSS/JS, but quickly moved to the back-end writing
brandoncordell
- startupShut down2011
Wanted: a Mentor
It is time I ask for help. After years of failed website ideas (not startups), I realize I desperately need someone who is willing to guide me in implementing small niche websites. (I typically find niche opportunities than disruptive game changers). By reaching out and asking for help, I am realizing my limitations and hopefully I can learn the skills I currently do not have. If you have been successful in testing ideas, from squeeze page to paid traffic testing, I would love to chat, pick your brain (I hate that term, sorry), or bounce ideas off. In my line of work, I constantly spot small-time opportunities, but just can't seem to get my ideas tested and the lo-fi version implemented, so I can scope out the market to ultimately decide to stay or move on. About me. I work from a home office making digital maps for clients. I have been pipe-dreaming of internet startup since 1993. I hav
Why it failed: It is time I ask for help. After years of failed website ideas (not startups), I realize I desperately need someone who is willing to guide me in implementing small niche websites. (I typically find niche opportunities than disruptive game changers). By reaching out and asking fo
mapster
- startupShut down2011
.ly domain reseller suspended by SoftLayer citing US/UN Sanctions
My contact at libyanspider.com has informed me that his hosting and DNS service at SoftLayer.com has been shut down citing UN/US/ Presidential Order of sanctions against Libya. Some ~12,000 sites owned by ~5000 Libyan and International customers are offline or unreachable, 20 employees out of work. LibyanSpider is the largest reseller I think of .ly domains. They also offer other DNS and internet services. Softlayer was kind enough to add "Best of luck in your future endeavors." to their notice before even shutting off his support system account. *wince [quote] Unfortunately, your account has been reclaimed due OFAC violations. With the current situation abroad and subsequent changes to the list, your account has been deactivated immediately. OFAC: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/Programs.aspx Best of luck in your future endeavors, SoftLayer Accounting [/
Why it failed: My contact at libyanspider.com has informed me that his hosting and DNS service at SoftLayer.com has been shut down citing UN/US/ Presidential Order of sanctions against Libya. Some ~12,000 sites owned by ~5000 Libyan and International customers are offline or unreachable, 20 emp
strebel
- startupShut down2011
Show HN: Fitocracy, an RPG for fitness
My cofounder and I have been working on a site called Fitocracy (www.fitocracy.com), which is a social game for fitness. The idea was very much inspired by our experiences growing up as nerds playing video games, later on discovering weightlifting, and drawing the parallel between working out and "leveling yourself up." XKCD has a pretty well known comic to this effect: http://xkcd.com/189/. We find that the metaphor of workout out as leveling up in a video game resonates with quite a few people, so Fitocracy is an attempt to bring that to life. On Fitocracy, tracking your workouts earns you points/levels, unlocks special achievements, and fulfills "quests", which are basically exercise milestones that aim for workout variety and progression. As you progress in your training, Fitocracy offers more quests, increases the level up requirements, etc. We also try to make the experience as com
Why it failed: My cofounder and I have been working on a site called Fitocracy (www.fitocracy.com), which is a social game for fitness. The idea was very much inspired by our experiences growing up as nerds playing video games, later on discovering weightlifting, and drawing the parallel betwee
brianmwang
- startupShut down2011
Show HN: "Never wait on hold again" service built with Rails and Twilio
My buddy paulsingh and I have been working on this for a few weeks, got something up and running and wanted to show you. The problem we're solving: When you need customer service (your flight got canceled, strange fees on your bill, etc) you just want to talk to a real person. Waiting on hold wastes your time AND your concentration; you can't be coding in the zone when part of your brain is waiting for an operator. Our solution: We wanted to make it "one click" to reach a real person. How it works: You click on who you want to talk to (even a specific department, like the billing dept at AT&T) and we take it from there. Our system dials in, presses whatever buttons need pressing and waits on hold for as long as it takes. Only when we have an actual operator on the line do we call you. Website version: http://www.fastcustomer.com (free) iPhone: http://itunes.com/app/FastCustomer (99 c
Why it failed: My buddy paulsingh and I have been working on this for a few weeks, got something up and running and wanted to show you. The problem we're solving: When you need customer service (your flight got canceled, strange fees on your bill, etc) you just want to talk to a real person. Wa
ekanes
- startupShut down2011
Mixpanel - Internships. A story.
Mixpanel is looking for summer interns. In 2008, I interned at Slide, Inc and it was one of the most valuable summers of my life. I went from college hacker interested in starting a company to learning deeply about product design and what it was like to work on a team. That summer I was fortunate enough to work with an awesome PM, Adora (who taught me the essentials of product development) and Max Levchin. I am still not sure why Max ended up working so closely on the product we working on. Our product was new and had the least business value of all the things Slide was working on but it was still exciting. If I had to say, I think he just liked that we worked so hard on it. At Slide, I was determined to work hard. I wanted to know if hard work paid off so I worked from 10am to 12am. It did: Slide offered me a full-time but I declined. At the end of the summer I had huge takeaways: - I k
Why it failed: Mixpanel is looking for summer interns. In 2008, I interned at Slide, Inc and it was one of the most valuable summers of my life. I went from college hacker interested in starting a company to learning deeply about product design and what it was like to work on a team. That summe
suhail
- startupShut down2011
Open letter to FB from protest leaders in macedonia.
Open Letter to Facebook Re: Protests against Policy Brutality in Macedonia (June 2011) Dear Facebook, We are writing to express our concern over the swift deletion policy that has been imposed on the facebook pages and events that we as participants in a protest against policy brutality in Macedonia are currently dealing with. We have been made aware by the press secretary for the Ministry of Interior that their administrators are responsible for reporting the groups for calls for violence and hate speech, but considering that we know the content of those pages and deny the allegations made by press secretary Kotevski, we wonder how your administrators confirm those allegations before you delete the pages. Do you confirm them at all? The systematic deletion especially of events that bring people together in peaceful protests adds significantly to the climate of fear created by those we a
Why it failed: Open Letter to Facebook Re: Protests against Policy Brutality in Macedonia (June 2011) Dear Facebook, We are writing to express our concern over the swift deletion policy that has been imposed on the facebook pages and events that we as participants in a protest against policy br
Gabriel_Martin
- startupShut down2011
Need Help. Going through late 20 career crisis.
Let me first tell you about the current situation and the events leading to it. I did my B.Sc. in computer science in 2004. My dream since second year of my graduation was to have my own startup, my own company where we can develop quality software products. After my graduation I worked as intern(SAP ABAP Developer) at a large indian IT company. As I excelled in my work there and was better than most of the experienced programmer there, they offered me a permanent position in the company. I worked there for 2 more years and got tired of the boring corporate culture. There was no more real work left and I just got my salary doing nothing. It was frustrating as I always wanted to do quality work. I felt like my life was leading to nowhere. Besides that my ambition was to startup my own business. So, I played a gamble and it backfired. I quit my job and started a company with one of my coll
Why it failed: Let me first tell you about the current situation and the events leading to it. I did my B.Sc. in computer science in 2004. My dream since second year of my graduation was to have my own startup, my own company where we can develop quality software products. After my graduation I
reymook
- startupShut down2011
The Untold Story of Chegg PT 1
My name is Ousama Haffar and I was one of the early guys at Chegg. While Chegg isn't a Zynga or a Facebook story that attracts the oohs and ahhs of Silicon Valley, I would love to share a bit with you about what I learned about entrepreneurship and being scrappy during my time at Chegg as founding member of the team from 2006-2010 and how we went from $0 to over $100M in revenue. Chegg originally start its life as a college classified site that attracted 60,000 students across the country to buy and sell your everyday college type items; t-shirts, mini fridges, old beat up Pontiacs, etc. Our team was about 5-7 people, mostly engineers and I focused mostly on product, marketing and whatever odd jobs that needed a hand. In our early days we attracted a couple hundred thousand visitors to our website each month, mostly buy building a campus marketing team and doing your traditional marketin
Why it failed: My name is Ousama Haffar and I was one of the early guys at Chegg. While Chegg isn't a Zynga or a Facebook story that attracts the oohs and ahhs of Silicon Valley, I would love to share a bit with you about what I learned about entrepreneurship and being scrappy during my time at
dotmatrix
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Tell me about your failed startup.
Inspired by this post - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2086218 - which mentions the fact people only focus on success stories which are actually the minority. I think it would be good to hear some personal stories of startup failure so we can all learn from them. What went wrong? What did you learn for next time and can pass on? How did you recover and what are you doing now? Having failed once, would you try again?
Why it failed: Inspired by this post - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2086218 - which mentions the fact people only focus on success stories which are actually the minority. I think it would be good to hear some personal stories of startup failure so we can all learn from them. What went w
SimonPStevens
- startupShut down2011
Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.
TL;DR - My startup failed, I'm now broke and unemployed, I have no idea who I am anymore professionally, and had to move back to the middle of nowhere to take care of my aging parents. I don't want to get stuck living this life. How do I fix all this? =========== Hello HN, As a long-time reader of HN I would greatly appreciate some advice and/or suggestions of how some of you would deal with this situation. I'd like to believe that as an entrepreneur that I can find solutions to problems but at this point I have to admit I'm a bit shaken. What would you do if this were your situation? 1) I'm a failed startup entrepreneur fighting my way back out of depression, spiritless-ness, and massive debt. I've also been unemployed for over 1.5 years now due to a loss of identity and overall purpose. I have no life savings left to try and squeeze my out of this situation. 2) Concurrently, I had to m
Why it failed: TL;DR - My startup failed, I'm now broke and unemployed, I have no idea who I am anymore professionally, and had to move back to the middle of nowhere to take care of my aging parents. I don't want to get stuck living this life. How do I fix all this? =========== Hello HN, As a l
mattman
- startupShut down2011
Consider your naming schemes - a cautionary tale
Recently we had a contract for a large company that required the code be put in escrow. This isn't unusual, we're in an industry where if you have fewer than 10,000 employees you're regarded as small and a risky proposition. We have succeeded despite that perception because we're very good at what we do. So an agent for the appointed escrow company comes in to vet the software, check that we can do a full and complete build from the source provided, and then are about to take away the copy to put in safe storage. It'll never be seen again unless we fail to meet our (fairly reasonable) obligations. Then the agent doing the vetting asks for a break. He goes away and makes a phone call. Then another. Then another. Finally he comes back and says that he has a legal responsibility to report us to the authorities. Why? We use a package called "upskirt" - https://github.com/tanoku/upskirt - and
Why it failed: Recently we had a contract for a large company that required the code be put in escrow. This isn't unusual, we're in an industry where if you have fewer than 10,000 employees you're regarded as small and a risky proposition. We have succeeded despite that perception because we're
ColinWright
- startupShut down2011
HN Meetup: Beijing
Since the last one was a really good time, we're organizing another Beijing HN meetup, at 8:00PM on Saturday, May 7th. If you'd like to come, drop a line to eric.meltzer@gmail.com, and I'll send over the details about where we're meeting once we know how many people are coming!
Why it failed: Since the last one was a really good time, we're organizing another Beijing HN meetup, at 8:00PM on Saturday, May 7th. If you'd like to come, drop a line to eric.meltzer@gmail.com, and I'll send over the details about where we're meeting once we know how many people are coming!
emeltzer
- startupShut down2011
It seems my Chinese supplier has stolen $50,000...do I have any recourse?
Sorry for the rambling disorganized story.... I've been having some goods manufactured in China for several years now. We have always worked through the same contact, let's call her "Zoe". Zoe was recommended to us by a Chinese friend (let's call him Lee) of my business partner. Whether it has been the same company performing the actual manufacturing this whole time I do not know. We typically place orders consisting of 3 forty foot shipping containers at a time. The typical terms of the agreement are that we pay for containers #1 & #2 up front, #1 is manufactured and sent to us, we pay for #3, and then #2 and #3 are sent to us. The justification for this is that they had to purchase raw materials for the entire order in advance. This seems reasonable to me. Whether or not that is actually done I do not know. It typically takes us about 18 months to work through 3 containers of inven
Why it failed: Sorry for the rambling disorganized story.... I've been having some goods manufactured in China for several years now. We have always worked through the same contact, let's call her "Zoe". Zoe was recommended to us by a Chinese friend (let's call him Lee) of my business partner.
mistermann
- startupShut down2011
Tell HN: Dear 'open source' people (on defending rms)
There have been countless times when rms has said something, and you jumped to attack him, on every level. Here are some of your argumets. I try coming with some answers. 1) "To me, free is the freedom to use whatever I want, including propertiary software." In this context, when we talk about 'Freedom', we mean 'Free Software'. Fortunately, Richard Stallman, they guy you are bashing about, defined the term 'free software'. Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose. Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish. Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits. This is what 'Free Software' means. Please, feel free to use any properti
Why it failed: There have been countless times when rms has said something, and you jumped to attack him, on every level. Here are some of your argumets. I try coming with some answers. 1) "To me, free is the freedom to use whatever I want, including propertiary software." In this context, when
emilsedgh
- startupShut down2011
Italian Wikipedia shut down
Today, unfortunately, the very pillars on which Wikipedia has been built - neutrality, freedom, and verifiability of its contents - are likely to be heavily compromised by paragraph 29 of a law proposal, also known as "DDL intercettazioni" (Wiretapping Act). This proposal, which the Italian Parliament is currently debating, provides, among other things, a requirement to all websites to publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her image. Unfortunately, the law does not require an evaluation of the claim by an impartial third judge - the opinion of the person allegedly injured is all that is required, in order to impose such correction to any website. http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Comunicato_4_ottobre_2011
Why it failed: Today, unfortunately, the very pillars on which Wikipedia has been built - neutrality, freedom, and verifiability of its contents - are likely to be heavily compromised by paragraph 29 of a law proposal, also known as "DDL intercettazioni" (Wiretapping Act). This proposal, which
coldarchon
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: How often startups get acquired and you get nothing?
Today the startup I worked for got bought out. I am one of the first few Developers with employee stock options. I have given 3 years of my life to this startup. I believed in what we were doing. During this time I have seen one complete product rewrite, Whole top management being replaced (CEO, CTO, etc), numerous product direction changes. I worked on some of the most critical pieces of the software. I lead the last rewrite as the Principal Architect (with very high control on what to be build). This last rewrite lead the startup being bought out by a very large enterprise company. In the end I got nothing. They tell me my stock options are worth nothing. This has happen to me second time. How often this happen? Is this normal? I am frustrated. The only solace is that they are keeping my team so at least i know my team has a good home. I have decide not to be part of this acquisition.
Why it failed: Today the startup I worked for got bought out. I am one of the first few Developers with employee stock options. I have given 3 years of my life to this startup. I believed in what we were doing. During this time I have seen one complete product rewrite, Whole top management bein
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