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.
3,100 solutions
- startupShut down2021
Launch HN: Mezli (YC W21) – Robotic restaurants that serve healthy fast food
Hi folks, Alex here – I’m the CEO and one of the cofounders at Mezli ( https://www.mezli.com/ ). (I’ve also been a Hacker News lurker since high school and always hoped I’d be posting a Launch HN one day!) We make “auto-kitchens”, fully autonomous restaurants in a shipping container form factor. They serve our menu of Mediterranean grain bowls for pickup and delivery, at a low price point enabled by our approach’s low costs. The three of us met as grad students at Stanford where we were all working on different things – I was doing AI research before dropping out of my PhD, Alex G was in a robotics lab (and just finished his PhD!), and Max was in aero/astro. We worked on a variety of classes, research, and side projects together, but we wanted to start a company and none of our ideas were looking particularly commercially viable. Then, as I was winding down a project
Why it failed: Hi folks, Alex here – I’m the CEO and one of the cofounders at Mezli ( https://www.mezli.com/ ). (I’ve also been a Hacker News lurker since high school and always hoped I’d be posting a Launch HN one day!) We make “auto-kitchens”, fully autonomous restaurants in a
kolchinski
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Is it unprofessional to leave a new job where everything is a mess?
Hi, after a long job hunting period I joined a small remote first company 5 months ago. Problems showed up immediately in the form of chaos and dysfunctions in the microservices cloud project I was hired in. Let's put it this way: say you get the seminal book on microservices and the seminal book on CICD. Now imagine reading along and doing almost everything from code up to project management the wrong way (essentially keeping on-prem 2000's philosophy and revamp it as microservices). On top of that add vendeta-developers in Asia (I'm in a small offshoot team in Europe) handing down half-baked frameworks (not-invented-here and reinventing the wheel are strong) with minimal documentation and a culture based on meetings instead of documenting things. Developer sandboxes that just don't work and unrealistic deadlines. In short a huge draining mess where I felt burnt out
Why it failed: Hi, after a long job hunting period I joined a small remote first company 5 months ago. Problems showed up immediately in the form of chaos and dysfunctions in the microservices cloud project I was hired in. Let's put it this way: say you get the seminal book on microservice
itistricky
- startupShut down2021
Launch HN: FirstIgnite (YC S21) – Matching scientists with relevant businesses
Hi, HN! I’m Cody Pawlowski and my co-founder is Chase Bonhag and we’re FirstIgnite ( https://firstignite.com/ ). We help researchers at universities connect with companies interested in funding or licensing their research. Currently, a vast majority of all research goes uncommercialized. This includes everything from new cancer therapies to energy storage improvements and other solutions to universal problems. By connecting research to relevant companies, we increase the probability that research will be commercialized. We met while I was running a natural language processing startup at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chase was working at Illinois Ventures, the venture capital arm of the university. U of I conducted over $900M a year worth of research, much of which was going uncommercialized. Because university research portfolios are massive, diverse, and
Why it failed: Hi, HN! I’m Cody Pawlowski and my co-founder is Chase Bonhag and we’re FirstIgnite ( https://firstignite.com/ ). We help researchers at universities connect with companies interested in funding or licensing their research. Currently, a vast majority of all research
codypilot
- startupShut down2021
Launch HN: Hotswap (YC S21) – Easily migrate customers away from competitors
Hi! We're Jay and Len (kevlened) from Hotswap ( https://www.hotswap.app ). We automate the process of changing software vendors by helping you migrate user data during your onboarding process. In other words, we make it easy to steal customers from your competitors! We've built a lot of enterprise software and done a lot of painful migrations over the years. I (Jay) have managed engineering teams at Frame.io, Squarespace, and Rent the Runway. Len was an early employee at Okta. At every single company we've worked at, we've spent a lot of time doing painful migrations. At Rent the Runway, we migrated our warehouse from UPS to FedEx. We changed credit card processors. We migrated ERP systems. It always took a ton of time, was not career-building work, and consultants charged $250/hr or more. We also were often stuck using platforms that weren't optim
Why it failed: Hi! We're Jay and Len (kevlened) from Hotswap ( https://www.hotswap.app ). We automate the process of changing software vendors by helping you migrate user data during your onboarding process. In other words, we make it easy to steal customers from your competitors
memset
- startupShut down2021
Launch HN: Infracost (YC W21) – open-source cloud cost estimator
Hi, we’re Ali, Hassan and Alistair and we co-founded Infracost ( https://www.infracost.io ). Infracost is an open-source cloud cost estimator for your pull requests. When you change your infrastructure code (Terraform), Infracost posts a comment in the pull request, which tells you the impact of this change to your cloud bill, e.g. “this will increase your bill by 25% next month”. Existing cloud cost management products focus on post-bill analysis and target finance and management teams via charting dashboards. We built one of these back in 2013. They are all missing an important piece - the people who are responsible for purchasing cloud resources are not shown costs upfront, so they don’t know how much the resources will cost before launching them. We want to make cloud costs simpler to understand for developers and DevOps so they can make better decisions, which we believe w
Why it failed: Hi, we’re Ali, Hassan and Alistair and we co-founded Infracost ( https://www.infracost.io ). Infracost is an open-source cloud cost estimator for your pull requests. When you change your infrastructure code (Terraform), Infracost posts a comment in the pull request, whi
aliscott
- startupShut down2021
Launch HN: Govly (YC S21) – Making it easier to sell to the U.S. government
Hi, we're Mike, Jon and Nick, founders of Govly ( https://www.govly.com ). We’re building a place for companies, resellers, and distributors to work together to bid on government contracts. The U.S. government buys lots of things. In 2021, over $218B will be spent purchasing technology products alone. The problem is, it's super confusing to participate in the market. You have to understand the rules, have the right connections to government contractors, have a record of strong performance selling to the government, and usually a sales force focused specifically on government sales. This friction leads to fewer companies (especially smaller companies) participating, less competition, and ultimately the government buying the loudest or most insider-connected products instead of the best or most innovative. Jon and I have been experiencing this problem for the last 15 ye
Why it failed: Hi, we're Mike, Jon and Nick, founders of Govly ( https://www.govly.com ). We’re building a place for companies, resellers, and distributors to work together to bid on government contracts. The U.S. government buys lots of things. In 2021, over $218B will be spent
mikeweiland
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Is domain squatting still profitable? Is there a solution?
I have nothing to do with domain squatting, but I do own a .co.uk domain for over 20 years and 18 years ago I tried to buy the .com from what I then found out was a squatter, out of principle I turned their offer down and the .com domain remains vacant, it’s not a particular interesting or valuable domain, so I’m not surprised no one else bought it. Fast forward to a few months ago, and I let one other domain expire, it was for a brand I was creating, the domain was a made up word and a squatter registered that domain as soon as it expired, assuming some service registered it without any human supervision as that made up word holds no value to anyone else and I consciously decided to let it expire. Since I made up that word and it was 14 characters long, are they just going to keep it for 20+ years? This just made me wonder how many vacant domains we have today, that it must still be (un
Why it failed: I have nothing to do with domain squatting, but I do own a .co.uk domain for over 20 years and 18 years ago I tried to buy the .com from what I then found out was a squatter, out of principle I turned their offer down and the .com domain remains vacant, it’s not a particular inte
9387367
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How to Stay Motivated in the Mornings?
I have been struggling this problem since early 2020 (ever since WFH was enforced). I work as a software developer and I find it immensely difficult to get much work done in the mornings. I usually wake up around 8 and after coffee, moderate exercise, shower and breakfast I start my work around 10:00. Apart from the daily stand-up (which happens around 11:00) I find it extremely difficult to be energetic and focus on my work during the morning session. As day passes by and after a short nap around 12:30, I become energized and am able to focus and work in a productive manner. Till that time I find it harder to be energetic and do anything meaningful. I do sleep well (7-7.5 hours) and I wake-up without an alarm. The place I work from is well ventilated, gets abundant sunlight, and is quite silent. I tried different things to keep myself engaged in the mornings like: skipping breakfast, ta
Why it failed: I have been struggling this problem since early 2020 (ever since WFH was enforced). I work as a software developer and I find it immensely difficult to get much work done in the mornings. I usually wake up around 8 and after coffee, moderate exercise, shower and breakfast I start
vazirthrowaway
- startupShut down2021
Show HN: Save 6 months to deploy your apps on AWS in 30 minutes
I am Romaric, CEO of Qovery (https://www.qovery.com) (Techstars Paris 2019). As an early-stage startup, I know how it can be painful to stay focus on our business. Especially when it comes to putting our apps online, that's precisely why, with my team of 7, we have created Qovery to help any company to deploy their apps on AWS in 30 minutes instead of months (no joke). We're still early stage, but: 1. More than 1200 developers and 10 companies are using Qovery . 2. We are financially backed by the co-founders of Datadog, Docker, PeopleDoc, and Contentsquare . Take a look at this article to see how you can get started ( https://docs.qovery.com/guides/tutorial/how-to-deploy-your-application-on-aws-in-30-minutes/ ). Today, we support AWS and Digital Ocean, we expect to support GCP and Azure in the coming weeks. About the co-founders: Pierre
Why it failed: I am Romaric, CEO of Qovery (https://www.qovery.com) (Techstars Paris 2019). As an early-stage startup, I know how it can be painful to stay focus on our business. Especially when it comes to putting our apps online, that's precisely why, with my team of 7, we have
ev0xmusic
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: What’s the most outrageous belief you’re confident is true?
I was thinking through my 2022 predictions and one came to mind that I thought, “hmm… I’d better keep that one to myself.” Its further out than 2022, and hopefully it’s a never. But I am confident it’s coming, and I sure it’s a bad outcome for humanity: we become more and more influenced by learning systems that are goaled to drive behaviors that are not in our best interest, and, eventually lead to a virtual enslavement that leaves us with no free will. I shudder at the thought. What outrageous belief are you confident is true?
Why it failed: I was thinking through my 2022 predictions and one came to mind that I thought, “hmm… I’d better keep that one to myself.” Its further out than 2022, and hopefully it’s a never. But I am confident it’s coming, and I sure it’s a bad outcome for humanity: we become more and more in
11thEarlOfMar
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How can I stop worrying and start living?
I am constantly worried that (1) I'm missing out on things, (2) something bad is going to happen and (3) can't see the point of it all since one day all will come to an end. I want to start enjoying and living a happy life. What are some steps I could take to achieve that?
Why it failed: I am constantly worried that (1) I'm missing out on things, (2) something bad is going to happen and (3) can't see the point of it all since one day all will come to an end. I want to start enjoying and living a happy life. What are some steps I could take to achieve th
acqbu
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: List of failed Smart Fridge startups?
I am trying to compile a list of all the startup that have tried to invent a "smart" fridge of some kind. Ex: the fridge which is supposed to auto-reorder milk when it runs out. Over the last 2 decades, I have seen many (many) of those projects. Although I didn't keep track, I strongly suspect that all of them failed. I would be very glad if the HN crowd could help me building this list, akin to a startup antipattern. Don't hesitate to share links. Thanks!
Why it failed: I am trying to compile a list of all the startup that have tried to invent a "smart" fridge of some kind. Ex: the fridge which is supposed to auto-reorder milk when it runs out. Over the last 2 decades, I have seen many (many) of those projects. Although I didn't k
vermorel
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Am I working too hard?
I really enjoy my line of work. I view it as an up-and-coming, innovative and ripe field in software. I have an excellent reputation with my coworkers as someone always willing to help out. I built out our core code that's used across the company for both older projects and newer ones, a powerful and flexible framework written in a modern language. I'm given both freedom and responsibility. I'm early in my career. I have a questionable habit of working into the evening, and sometimes on weekends. I do drink enough water, lightly exercise, and sleep 9+ hours every night. I take plenty of breaks. I don't do any large side projects - every couple months I will come across an interesting toy problem and may write a blog post about it for "portfolio development". I've been with my partner for 4 years, and we have a deep and loving relationship. We're bo
Why it failed: I really enjoy my line of work. I view it as an up-and-coming, innovative and ripe field in software. I have an excellent reputation with my coworkers as someone always willing to help out. I built out our core code that's used across the company for both older projects and
maybe_too_much
- startupShut down2021
Trying to get back on track in life
I am really socially, vocationally, and intellectually alienated and I have been for a while (years). I don't feel that bad day to day but I do feel bad that it seems that life is passing me by. I am not working or earning anywhere near my potential or interacting with people as I should be. I was wondering if the community here, such as it is, has any tips for daily exercises or practices that can help me get back on track in a kaizen or incremental way a little bit every day. For example I am so alienated, I don't even know what goals I would like to pursue. I have been interested in technology and computers for years and have some experience with Unix SA, programming and networking but at a hobbyist than at a professional level. The cloud and countainers and all the programing fads and stuff are actually becoming off-putting to me. I see the space (CS / SE) as increasin
Why it failed: I am really socially, vocationally, and intellectually alienated and I have been for a while (years). I don't feel that bad day to day but I do feel bad that it seems that life is passing me by. I am not working or earning anywhere near my potential or interacting with peopl
morpheos137
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Are paradigm shifting breakthroughs rarer or is it a bias in my eyes?
I feel that 10+ years back there used to be a lot of talk of a lot of technologies that would change the world following in the footsteps of Moore's law (although a bit more slowly). In the decade since a lot of exciting developments have happened. Smartphones have become cheaper, world is so much more connected, EVs looking to finally breakthrough etc. However exponential tech that takes us to something like 'singularity' does not seem to come up any more. Most growth is incremental and we hype every single Lab output with rarely seeing commercial breakthroughs. I was personally always excited about material science breakthroughs using graphene etc. but seems like it is difficult to manufacture at scale even today. Any specific tech or breakthrough you are personally waiting for coming to fruition ?
Why it failed: I feel that 10+ years back there used to be a lot of talk of a lot of technologies that would change the world following in the footsteps of Moore's law (although a bit more slowly). In the decade since a lot of exciting developments have happened. Smartphones have become ch
newyankee
- startupShut down2021
BitDefender Free has been discontinued
I just got an email from BitDefender (I personally use their antivirus) stating the following (at 10:01 PM tonight), verbatim: > Dear [redacted], > The decision to discontinue a product is never easy. > It’s especially hard with a product as popular as our Free Edition has been in recent years. > Since early 2020, we have had to weather immense changes in our industry; changes that upended many of our cherished plans for product development. > Sadly, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has been a casualty of those changes. > As of 1st of January 2022, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition will officially be discontinued and no longer available for use. > As a Free Edition user, how does this affect you, and how should you prepare? > We will continue to offer tech support for our Free Edition until 30st of June 2022. We hope this gives you time to choose and install an
Why it failed: I just got an email from BitDefender (I personally use their antivirus) stating the following (at 10:01 PM tonight), verbatim: > Dear [redacted], > The decision to discontinue a product is never easy. > It’s especially hard with a product as popular as our Free Edition h
tentacleuno
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How did you move on from past experiences?
I recently put an end to a drawn-out and stressful chapter of my life. It lasted many years and I'd like to get a sense of closure. Yet I can't seem to fully rekindle the same energy of my younger self. I've bought a couple of books to celebrate, but I haven't opened them yet because I don't want to taint them with past memories, if it makes sense. How did you close the previous chapters of your life? It may sound strange but I almost feel I have to ask for permission to move on. Like it's not real unless I share it with someone else.
Why it failed: I recently put an end to a drawn-out and stressful chapter of my life. It lasted many years and I'd like to get a sense of closure. Yet I can't seem to fully rekindle the same energy of my younger self. I've bought a couple of books to celebrate, but I haven't
Red_Tarsius
- startupShut down2021
Tech companies probably won't return to offices in September
Many tech companies (Google, Facebook, Apple, Uber, etc) have set early September as the time in which employees will be required to return to the office. In a world before the delta variant it seemed plausible that vaccination alone could allow everyone to return to office. But looking at the data coming out of Israel, UK, and the EU, as well as variant data in the US, we can assume that COVID-19 cases are going to significantly increase in the US in the upcoming weeks, followed by increased hospitalizations (albeit at a lower rate than pre-vaccination). Tech companies could still decide to force employees back into the office but outside of Apple I find it hard to believe that they'll force everyone to come back in the midst of an outbreak, which now seems inevitable.
Why it failed: Many tech companies (Google, Facebook, Apple, Uber, etc) have set early September as the time in which employees will be required to return to the office. In a world before the delta variant it seemed plausible that vaccination alone could allow everyone to return to office. But
rreichman
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Where is the AWS outage post-mortem?
I've been checking in on this page [0] frequently since the recent us-east-1 outage. The outage was significant and had many unexpected knock-on effects for us - despite most of our instances being in a totally separate region - so just wondering what happened. Any idea how long these post-mortems typically take to be published? Thanks. [0] https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/technology/pes/
Why it failed: I've been checking in on this page [0] frequently since the recent us-east-1 outage. The outage was significant and had many unexpected knock-on effects for us - despite most of our instances being in a totally separate region - so just wondering what happened. Any idea how
herodoturtle
- startupShut down2021
Azlo Is Closing Down
Just got the e-mail below. Odd decision given the massive pandemic growth and recent launch of Azlo Pro. Who has suggestions for migration? THX It is with regret that I share this news today: Our parent bank, BBVA US, has made the strategic decision to close Azlo. Transparency is incredibly important to me and the Azlo team, which is why we are sharing the news early. There will be no immediate changes to your account or to your service. As founders and entrepreneurs ourselves, we know that there can be unexpected bumps on the entrepreneurial journey. We’re sorry that we won’t be alongside you—our inspiring community of entrepreneurs—as you grow and flourish. We want to reiterate that Azlo’s service, and your account, is not going away today, and we will continue to support you during this period of transition. We understand that you will have questions for us. Please stay tuned for upda
Why it failed: Just got the e-mail below. Odd decision given the massive pandemic growth and recent launch of Azlo Pro. Who has suggestions for migration? THX It is with regret that I share this news today: Our parent bank, BBVA US, has made the strategic decision to close Azlo. Transparency is
brainsrgdropout
- startupShut down2021
Freenode has imploded – unannounced full services reset, database wipe
Looks like it's all over. Below is the global message sent to all users, on reconnect all channels are unowned and whoever rejoined first is the operator, all nicks are unregistered. 10:20 -keitwo(~kei@freenode/staff/kei)- [Global Notice 1/3] We are moving past legacy freenode to a new fork. The new freenode is launched. You will slowly be disconnected and when you reconnect, you will be on the new freenode. We patiently await to welcome you in freedom's holdout - the freenode. 10:20 -keitwo(~kei@freenode/staff/kei)- [Global Notice 2/3] If you're looking to connect now, you can already /server chat.freenode.net 6697 (ssl) or 6667 (plaintext). It's a new genesis for a new era. Thank you for using freenode, and Hello World, from the future. freenode is IRC. freenode is FOSS. freenode is freedom. 10:20 -keitwo(~kei@freenode/staff&#
Why it failed: Looks like it's all over. Below is the global message sent to all users, on reconnect all channels are unowned and whoever rejoined first is the operator, all nicks are unregistered. 10:20 -keitwo(~kei@freenode/staff/kei)- [Global Notice 1/3] We are moving pas
plantain
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: Has web development become insane or am I stuck in my ways?
I've been working in web development coding mostly in PHP / Laravel since 2008. I enjoyed my time at the beginning when everything was procedural code and things started changing (for the better). At the digital agency I worked at, we moved to frameworks like Laravel and the frontend side of things was pretty static with custom CSS and some custom Javascript. Everything was hosted on a big dedicated server that would eventually become a VPS per client. The web was really simple then but understandly so were users' expectations of what the web could do and so there wasn't this mismatch that I feel I'm finding now. Fast forward to today and I'm doing primarily product development for early stage startups. CSS is a problem that is solved with Tailwind (for me at least anyway, I know it's a contentious topic). Backend is a problem solved with Laravel which
Why it failed: I've been working in web development coding mostly in PHP / Laravel since 2008. I enjoyed my time at the beginning when everything was procedural code and things started changing (for the better). At the digital agency I worked at, we moved to frameworks like Laravel an
davzie
- startupShut down2021
Ask HN: How does one do it all?
Or to elaborate: how does one make time for it all? I understand that this might sound trite and a 'normal' existential crisis in a cliched way but I am genuinely interested in figuring out how people go about deciding what to do with their time? Is it all about one's job or family? How does one balance the pleasures and stimulation of good art in the way of books, movies, tv, music, games, etc alongside more rigorous dives into subjects that might interest one (and potentially not be related much or altogether to one's profession fortunately/unfortunately) such as psychology, philosophy, anthropology, literary theory, etc as well as producing one's own 'art' whatever that might be? Add to this concerns such as volunteering, a social life, taking care of one's physical and mental well being, fulfilling obligations to those around us, paying at
Why it failed: Or to elaborate: how does one make time for it all? I understand that this might sound trite and a 'normal' existential crisis in a cliched way but I am genuinely interested in figuring out how people go about deciding what to do with their time? Is it all about one
akzfowl
- 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