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.
1,703 solutions
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Your "Keeper" articles.
This being Hacker News there are many articles here that are "of the moment," items absolutely worth reading, and interesting to see, but not ones that you would refer back to. There are articles, however, that are worth filing away and coming back to read later, and I'd be interested in seeing the ones that others have kept hold of in this manner. Recently we've had "Who Can Name the Bigger Number?" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1539538 ) as an example, an article that repays rereading, and I personally enjoyed Zed Shaw's "Ragel state charts" and PG's "The Top Idea in Your Mind" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1536356 ) I've filed those away with some tags to help me find them again. What articles are your keepers*?
Why it failed: This being Hacker News there are many articles here that are "of the moment," items absolutely worth reading, and interesting to see, but not ones that you would refer back to. There are articles, however, that are worth filing away and coming back to read later, and I'd be inter
RiderOfGiraffes
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: How to be successful online without SEO bullshittery?
This is a hot topic near and dear to my heart. I create a site 4 years ago that I've been writing on every since... there are probably near 2000 articles on it. Everything from fixing your MTU settings on your Q1000 modem to Java framework tips I find handy to years worth of game and movies reviews to hilarious cat pictures. It's just anything and everything I've ever found interesting written in a slightly more professional manner than "stream of thought" with a small amount of attention paid to titles and internal links only when appropriate and valuable (I HATE how sites like Engadget inner-link every keyword for Google sake). My understanding was always that "If I wrote it, they will come". 4 years later and that's not the case at all... I seem to be hitting a goddamn glass ceiling that I cannot figure out for the life of me why it exists or who is imposing it and I want to scream. T
Why it failed: This is a hot topic near and dear to my heart. I create a site 4 years ago that I've been writing on every since... there are probably near 2000 articles on it. Everything from fixing your MTU settings on your Q1000 modem to Java framework tips I find handy to years worth of game
rkalla
- startupShut down2010
TellHN : Go Test It is closing down on 22nd March
This is a mail I received from Amir Chaudhry (amir@go-test.it) : Hello, As a registered user of Go Test It, I'm writing to inform you that Go Test It is shutting down. The service will cease sometime after 5pm on Monday the 22nd of March and we encourage you to back-up your test scripts as soon as possible. We sincerely apologise for any disruption this may cause you. A lot has happened over the last few weeks and this decision has been a difficult one. We have every intention to work alongside our users to minimise the impact and have included a brief list of other automated testing services you might find useful. If you need help with backing up your scripts, please email us on support@go-test.it We really appreciate your support and patience at this time. If you have questions, please direct them to the email address above. Best wishes, Amir - Alternative Services - Some alternative s
Why it failed: This is a mail I received from Amir Chaudhry (amir@go-test.it) : Hello, As a registered user of Go Test It, I'm writing to inform you that Go Test It is shutting down. The service will cease sometime after 5pm on Monday the 22nd of March and we encourage you to back-up your test
dan_sim
- startupShut down2010
Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
This is a short, funny but tragic story about my quest for a job. (Apologies for the length and writing style, its half story / half venting). Background: I’m 23, graduated last year with a business degree. I have a bunch of startup experience, having projects mentioned on Techcrunch, TIME, CNet, CBSNews, and more. After a summer of working on a startup with my friend and technical partner, he decided to get a job with one of the big mobile handset developers. That left me with a choice; do something on my own (with limited technical ability) or get a job and learn something. In September, I decided to give it shot and sent email out to the CEO of a local startup. I figured I wanted to be a part of the growing social product space, so a social analytics company made sense. I kidd you not, the subject of my email was “I want to work for you for free!”. It worked, and I got the attention I
Why it failed: This is a short, funny but tragic story about my quest for a job. (Apologies for the length and writing style, its half story / half venting). Background: I’m 23, graduated last year with a business degree. I have a bunch of startup experience, having projects mentioned on Techcr
coryl
- startupShut down2010
Plea HN: Any work?
This is a throwaway account. My main is a fairly high karma HN account that's been here for years. I've met some of you in real life. I recently took a lower paying (but much lower stress) job to allow me more time to bootstrap my own startup. This made our budget tighter, but between my income and my wife's, all the necessities were at least covered. Fast forwarding to now, my wife just lost her job, making my leaner budget entirely unworkable. I have no idea how I'm going to cover the bills that we have, much less have any money left over for Christmas for my family. I'm a competent Python web developer, and have familiarity with Django, Tornado, Mongo, MySQL, SQLite, Nginx, et al. I have decent design skills, though I am nowhere near a master, understand HTML, XHTML, CSS and am dabbling with HTML5. I can slice PSDs, develop web pages end-to-end. I build solid UI/UX interfaces that are
Why it failed: This is a throwaway account. My main is a fairly high karma HN account that's been here for years. I've met some of you in real life. I recently took a lower paying (but much lower stress) job to allow me more time to bootstrap my own startup. This made our budget tighter, but be
throwaway911
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Do the benefits of the Valley outweigh the costs?
This might seem like a no-brainer for those of you who live in Silicon Valley, but coming from way, way outside the Valley (as in Melbourne, Australia) I would love to hear your views on whether the benefits of building a startup in the Valley outweigh the high costs of living there. I have some idea of the advantages. Here are three that come to mind: access to venture capital, networking and jobs (i.e. if my company failed in the Valley I could probably get an equivalent executive role with a technology company, whereas such opportunities are thin on the ground in Australia, let alone Melbourne.) Or am I wearing a pair of rose colored glasses?
Why it failed: This might seem like a no-brainer for those of you who live in Silicon Valley, but coming from way, way outside the Valley (as in Melbourne, Australia) I would love to hear your views on whether the benefits of building a startup in the Valley outweigh the high costs of living th
annajohnson
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Problem finding/choosing an idea to work on
TL;DR: Bad at coming up with startup ideas, or possibly just think about them too critically and don't pursue them. Advice? To give context: I'm 17 and just started college (web dev. with design degree). Got my first computer at 13. Have been interested in startups and designing/coding for a couple of years. Had a job at a web dev. company in Summer '09. They offered me a full-time job as a front-end designer for when I finished high school (Summer '10), but I gracefully declined as I wanted to pursue my own projects and go to college. Debated about going to college and eventually decided to go for the networking aspect - and since my country has a free educational system, it's not as if going would put me in debt like in the US. But I have this ongoing problem. At first, I just thought I was bad at generating good startups ideas, but now I'm starting to think maybe the problem is over-t
Why it failed: TL;DR: Bad at coming up with startup ideas, or possibly just think about them too critically and don't pursue them. Advice? To give context: I'm 17 and just started college (web dev. with design degree). Got my first computer at 13. Have been interested in startups and designing/
throwAway741
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: YC interviewees coming from outside US
We're getting on a plane from Edinburgh in about 24 hours and flying over for our YC interview this week. We want to make the most of our time out there and meet other startups, angels, find out about meetups etc. I thought it might be useful if I did a public shoutout for: 1) Anyone with a couch or floor to put up YC interviewees 2) Recommendations for which coffee shops are good to work in 3) Recommendations for good meetups over the next week 4) Anyone who wants to play tourguide or chill and work together. -- edit: from jkaljundi: 5) Also any of the other teams for YC want to meetup? email me at 'sam at getbloop dot com' and I'll try and coordinate something between us if there's demand.
Why it failed: We're getting on a plane from Edinburgh in about 24 hours and flying over for our YC interview this week. We want to make the most of our time out there and meet other startups, angels, find out about meetups etc. I thought it might be useful if I did a public shoutout for: 1) An
samcollins
- startupShut down2010
Tell HN: Denver Meetup of HN
We're throwing a meetup of HN fans in Denver, Colorado next week, on Thursday October 7th. If anyone is interested, please come join us. Ideally you live in Colorado but if you're just visiting, that's cool too. Very informal, just to say hello, chat, network, maybe enjoy a beer or two. Starts at 6:30pm at the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Denver, off 16th Street. Myself and evo_9 are organizing it. A few of us will have an orange-and-white HN badge on our shirt, or standup card on a table, so you know what group to look for. If you can't make this one, there will be more in the future, at different times and locations so that everybody gets a chance to make it. Please email me if you plan on coming, just so I know what to expect. Email in my HN profile. Thanks, and I think we'll have fun! Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&
Why it failed: We're throwing a meetup of HN fans in Denver, Colorado next week, on Thursday October 7th. If anyone is interested, please come join us. Ideally you live in Colorado but if you're just visiting, that's cool too. Very informal, just to say hello, chat, network, maybe enjoy a beer
mkramlich
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: How would you spend $1-2K a month in marketing/ads for a web app?
We have a web app/service (http://nextproof.com) that is about 18 months old. It has a solid user base, a steady number of signups, and is profitable. However, most of the signups are coming from existing customers of our other services (we offer it when they signup). I'd like to start bringing in new customers directly. I've set aside $1-2k per month for marketing, ad campaigns, etc. Anyone have creative suggestions on how to spend this money? Ideas so far include: - AdWords - Facebook ads - Niche ads on industry-related sites, blogs, and forums - Paying someone to blog steadily I also don't mind spending on related tools and apps. I'm looking into things like Kissmetrics, AdGrok, etc.
Why it failed: We have a web app/service (http://nextproof.com) that is about 18 months old. It has a solid user base, a steady number of signups, and is profitable. However, most of the signups are coming from existing customers of our other services (we offer it when they signup). I'd like to
callmeed
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Help, Investor wants money back in 7 days "Or else"
We recently sold a total of 22% share of our established company to an investor that also wanted to work for us as director of Sales. The person had a large rolodex in a segment of our market that we had not been able to tap and felt they could bring a lot to the table as an employee. So we put together some additional vesting based on rev targets all tied to being employed. The investment granted preferred shares and a seat on the board, voting is with ownership % and it takes 67% to pass. So here we are 8 weeks after the deal, and things could not have gone worse. From day 1 the employee made it clear they did not intend to do sales, but instead had a "vision" for the company and wanted to run it. They first tried to buy out the CEO and president to do so, but we refused. After that they refused to work the sales plan we had developed, refused to be accountable to any touches/sales goa
Why it failed: We recently sold a total of 22% share of our established company to an investor that also wanted to work for us as director of Sales. The person had a large rolodex in a segment of our market that we had not been able to tap and felt they could bring a lot to the table as an empl
anon0264
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Where do I go from here?
While I've never been actively engaged in the Hacker News I do know what a tremendously helpful and intelligent community it is. Time and time again I've seen people asking for help and being overwhelmed with the supportiveness from fellow members. It is with that said that I myself am in need of some guidance. My story goes like this: One lazy afternoon, while a sophomore in high school, I watched the movie Antitrust; after which I immediately knew what it was that I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a developer of some sort. This lead me to George Mason's Computer Science programming. Prior to which I'd only fooled around with C++ and Java for a year. In May I graduated from George Mason University with a B.S. in Computer Science and a Minor in Business. Going through college I worked on a networking team (mostly helpdesk) for 5 years and considered it to be my career choice, n
Why it failed: While I've never been actively engaged in the Hacker News I do know what a tremendously helpful and intelligent community it is. Time and time again I've seen people asking for help and being overwhelmed with the supportiveness from fellow members. It is with that said that I mys
ArashEE
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: What is Gravity?
While watching a documentary that mentioned gravity (forgive me the particulars escape me at the moment) my 8yo son reached across my lap and tapped the space-bar pausing the video. He then turned toward me and asked, ‘what is gravity?’ Now, in our house we require explanations for actions because we are becoming, sadly too late in life, convinced that being on purpose is paramount. Because it is our opinion that if you do not understand, even at the most base level (epistemological questions aside), why you are doing something then you will never have any power over what you do. When any of us does something that results in negative consequences we try to be in the habit of either tracing down the root of our reasoning or admitting that we had none. To this end we have made much of the distinction between description and explanation. Briefly; all explanations include description but not
Why it failed: While watching a documentary that mentioned gravity (forgive me the particulars escape me at the moment) my 8yo son reached across my lap and tapped the space-bar pausing the video. He then turned toward me and asked, ‘what is gravity?’ Now, in our house we require explanations f
shawndumas
- startupShut down2009
I think I just failed out of college...
(temp account) I just finished my last final today and it was yet another one where I pretended to study for an hour before the test after not having gone to class in the last 3 weeks, I guess in an attempt to not feel guilty about my lack of caring/trying. I'm a smart kid. I could do well at school if it was a priority of mine. I'm just so not focused on putting effort into it, and because my major is Philosophy, and I don't want the job lifestyle that comes from a Liberal Arts degree, this BA would not be unlocking any doors for me. The path this degree has me on is exactly opposite of what I really want. I have had a really tough year, been very depressed and have just a dark cloud over me for a long time. I fell into a really bad habit of procrastination and indifference that really flipped my world upside down. But I have been seeking counseling and have received medication and over
Why it failed: (temp account) I just finished my last final today and it was yet another one where I pretended to study for an hour before the test after not having gone to class in the last 3 weeks, I guess in an attempt to not feel guilty about my lack of caring/trying. I'm a smart kid. I cou
nodegreeforme
- startupShut down2009
A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.)
A few notes in defense of libertarianism: In response to the recent slew of articles posted to HN criticizing libertarianism, I have decided to jot down a few points that I think were overlooked. First, George W. Bush and the Republican party are NOT libertarians. Zed's argument was essentially this, and it's about as logical as declaring that you're going to write an essay about the flaws of vegetarianism and then proceeding to mention a bunch of bad things about pepperoni. Republicans occasionally use some libertarian rhetoric, but they do not follow it at all. George W. Bush has increased the size of government tremendously, and he's intervened in international affairs and created all kinds of entangling alliances, etc. Libertarians are also strongly opposed to the "family values" rhetoric used mostly by Republicans and by some democrats. Libertarians have been opposed to nearly every
Why it failed: A few notes in defense of libertarianism: In response to the recent slew of articles posted to HN criticizing libertarianism, I have decided to jot down a few points that I think were overlooked. First, George W. Bush and the Republican party are NOT libertarians. Zed's argument
grandalf
- startupShut down2009
A book suggestion: Founders That Almost Made It
An open suggestion to the authors/producers/publishers of Founders At Work (which I'm reading at the moment): What do you think of writing a book 'Founders That Almost Made It'? Using a similar fashion, but talks to startup founders who almost made it big, but didn't quite make it. Perhaps they had to exit via Plan C rather than Plan A, or they just quietly wound down the startup. Following the adage that people learn more from mistakes, perhaps it'd be just as useful to get information on why they think they failed, than to read about those who have succeeded wildly?
Why it failed: An open suggestion to the authors/producers/publishers of Founders At Work (which I'm reading at the moment): What do you think of writing a book 'Founders That Almost Made It'? Using a similar fashion, but talks to startup founders who almost made it big, but didn't quite make i
bengtan
- startupShut down2009
Thoughts on "e-readers"
Amazon's Kindle felt right. When it was announced I thought "finally!". Seth Godin (a popular marketing author) predicted back in '98 that Amazon was building what he called a "permission asset" that would later be leveraged to disrupt the entire book publishing industry when Amazon would supplant the publisher by allowing authors to publish directly via Amazon's platform... ala what is now the Kindle and it's open "Digital Text Platform". Kindle also felt right because if felt like an iPod. Apple had already shown the world a great model for building a system capable of replacing atoms with bits: iPod + iTunes. iPod success was in the design not only of it's digital music player but of the entire music delivery/experience system; from the simplicity of the clickwheel to the immense library that would become the iTunes Music Store. Every music retail store you've stepped into at the mall
Why it failed: Amazon's Kindle felt right. When it was announced I thought "finally!". Seth Godin (a popular marketing author) predicted back in '98 that Amazon was building what he called a "permission asset" that would later be leveraged to disrupt the entire book publishing industry when Ama
jamesmcintyre
- startupShut down2009
Given Expert Advice, Brains "Shut Down"
Article here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004957
Why it failed: Article here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004957
robg
- startupShut down2009
MixPanel (YC S09); my mini review
After spotting the mixpanel logo at the bottom of HN I decided to give it a spin on a reasonably serious site to see what it can do. I've got some issues with GA that I can't seem to resolve so I figured maybe MixPanel can replace them. First impression is that it looks really neat and simple, but on my browser (ff 3.01) the form fields all somehow manage to hang outside the containing blocks. The sign up process is very quick, but there is no email verification, which is a bit of a pain because it could mean that people use a fake address leading to emails dumped on unsuspecting bystanders. After signing up you get a secret token and a skeleton piece of javascript that you can flesh out to track variables that are important. This is mostly a manual operation, you insert the relevant bits in strategic spots on your site, 'instrumenting' it so MixPanel can keep track of what is happening.
Why it failed: After spotting the mixpanel logo at the bottom of HN I decided to give it a spin on a reasonably serious site to see what it can do. I've got some issues with GA that I can't seem to resolve so I figured maybe MixPanel can replace them. First impression is that it looks really ne
jacquesm
- startupShut down2009
So...what the hell's wrong with you, Shooter?
[NOTE: This post is both personal and medical in nature and only about hacking in the sense that it is about searching for a solution to a complex problem. Some of the “HN is for hacking only”–types may not want to waste their time reading it. It’s also extremely long, but I don’t have or want a blog right now. You’ve been warned.] This is my answer to apu's question to me on another thread about ALS (and, specifically, my misdiagnosis with ALS and other illnesses): Q: "If you don't mind me asking, what was the final diagnosis? How was it discovered? And how are you coping?" A: Basically I had multiple infections (both viral and bacterial) that were slowly eating me alive. I started having migratory shooting pains, chronic joint pain, extreme fatigue, and rapid weight gain years ago. (I gained 100 pounds in about 4 months, with absolutely no change in my diet or exercise program. I went
Why it failed: [NOTE: This post is both personal and medical in nature and only about hacking in the sense that it is about searching for a solution to a complex problem. Some of the “HN is for hacking only”–types may not want to waste their time reading it. It’s also extremely long, but I don’
Shooter
- startupShut down2009
Tell HN: 360 Voltage is out of Beta (10 PRO accounts to giveaway to HN)
360 Voltage is out of Beta, it's a set of online marketing tools that my agency envisioned for in-house use and decided to turn into a freemium web site along the way, which we now use in house (natch). To say that HN has been good to me is an understatement, it's an oasis of rational thought and discussion in a wasteland of online social media sites... (</digression>)<p>So I've got 10 yearly 360 Voltage PRO account subscriptions ($149/ea.) to give away here to some devs who would really dig into the site, use the tools, and then give us ongoing feedback as we iterate like mad and try to populate the blog with useful content. Obviously, that's all unenforceable, but you get the idea...<p>Once again, I'm giving away 10 yearly pro account subscriptions to HN users to help us prime the pump on our freemium web site, which is a search marketing tool set called 360 Vol
Why it failed: 360 Voltage is out of Beta, it's a set of online marketing tools that my agency envisioned for in-house use and decided to turn into a freemium web site along the way, which we now use in house (natch). To say that HN has been good to me is an understatement, it's an oasis of rat
wmeredith
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: I think my startup is going to fail, what should I do?
Dear Hacker News: About six months ago, me and two of my friends (we work at the same company) decided to go and start a startup. Since we didn't have funding, we figured we'd keep our day jobs, build the website, get a few users, and then quit and work on the company full time. The initial plan was for me to do the programming/technical stuff, one of my friends to handle getting funding and the other to handle marketing/getting users. I've built a pretty decent site (in my humble opinion), but I think my friends want to abandon the project. They've floated the idea (several times) of just scrapping all my current code and starting over, they don't propose new features anymore, they haven't gotten around to getting the paperwork to form the company since they said they would (in June) and they say now they might never do it, etc., etc. I only put a few months of full-time equivalent work
Why it failed: Dear Hacker News: About six months ago, me and two of my friends (we work at the same company) decided to go and start a startup. Since we didn't have funding, we figured we'd keep our day jobs, build the website, get a few users, and then quit and work on the company full time.
startupguy73
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Afraid I've dug myself into a hole
Hello guys. This is my first time writing to HN so I'm not sure if I'm stepping out of line here in any way, sorry in advance if I am. I'm a Computer Engineer and right out of college I started working as a SAP Consultant (BW/BI in case you are familiar) and I have been doing that for the last 4 years. Now I want to change the course, I’m no longer satisfied by the work I do and by the SAP environment and would like to try something else, because after all, SAP is all I’ve known since college and I cannot say if that’s what I really want to do for the rest of my life. This is the point where I find that I might have digged myself into a hole because once I started looking around I realized that apparently all the technical skills I gained during this four years are only valuable in a SAP environment and that outside of that I have not gained anything that a non-SAP recruiter might be loo
Why it failed: Hello guys. This is my first time writing to HN so I'm not sure if I'm stepping out of line here in any way, sorry in advance if I am. I'm a Computer Engineer and right out of college I started working as a SAP Consultant (BW/BI in case you are familiar) and I have been doing tha
hitokiri82
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Graduate early?
Hello, HN. I'm a junior in high school. I have the option of attempting to graduate early. What do you think of that? I don't know whether it should be done. Here's backstory: I'm a junior. By the end of this year, I will have completed Multivariable Calculus, if that matters, and would've taken 7 APs. There are still some interesting classes to take next year in my school, but I'm thinking maybe there would be less crap to deal with in college, and more learning; I'm also not sure of advantages of staying in high school. I'm thinking that life is short, so there's no reason to waste it, and I might as well skip a year. I'd like your take on this. Thanks so much.
Why it failed: Hello, HN. I'm a junior in high school. I have the option of attempting to graduate early. What do you think of that? I don't know whether it should be done. Here's backstory: I'm a junior. By the end of this year, I will have completed Multivariable Calculus, if that matters, an
PieSquared