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 down2019
Launch HN: Buy Me a Coffee (YC W19) – Give your audience a way to thank you
Hi HN! We’re Joseph, Aleesha, and Jijo, the founders of Buy Me A Coffee ( https://www.buymeacoffee.com ). We make it super easy to accept contributions and recurring memberships from your audience. A bit of backstory - Joseph and I grew up in India. When I was 12, I started making a little bit of money from my blog, and it had a huge impact on my life. I got to buy books and gadgets, pay for web hosting, none of which I could’ve afforded otherwise. We built our first product in 2010. It was an ad network for bloggers called AdIndigo. There were a bunch of Adsense alternatives doing well at that time, and it grew to serve 6 million impressions at its peak. We later had to shut it down because of the expenses. Buy Me A Coffee is our third (and only successful) attempt at building for the creators. When we started working on Buy Me A Coffee as a side project, it was a quick way to
Why it failed: Hi HN! We’re Joseph, Aleesha, and Jijo, the founders of Buy Me A Coffee ( https://www.buymeacoffee.com ). We make it super easy to accept contributions and recurring memberships from your audience. A bit of backstory - Joseph and I grew up in India. When I was 12, I sta
jijosunny
- startupShut down2019
Launch HN: Point (YC W19) – First Debit Card with Points
Hi HN community, We’re Patrick, Kenan, and Sid, the founders of Point ( https://trypointbank.com ), a consumer digital bank focused on rewards. After being fed up with the poor customer experience and tactics of traditional banks, we did some digging into why we put up with our own subpar banks. We've discovered that the way most people end up with their current bank is by default (ex: parents set it up for them), rather than by choice. The complete opposite was the case for credit cards; credit cards were actually chosen based on their qualities. We began to wonder why a solution that combined the rewards and benefits of a credit card, with the simplicity of a bank account didn’t exist. After extensive research and testing of various existing products, we determined that everything came up short for our personal needs. That was the problem. Whether it was simply the lack
Why it failed: Hi HN community, We’re Patrick, Kenan, and Sid, the founders of Point ( https://trypointbank.com ), a consumer digital bank focused on rewards. After being fed up with the poor customer experience and tactics of traditional banks, we did some digging into why we put up
patrickmro
- startupShut down2019
Launch HN: Lofty AI (YC S19) – Real estate investment with alternative data
Hi Hacker News Community, My name is Jerry, and I’m one co-founders for Lofty AI ( https://www.lofty.ai/ ). We use machine learning to help identify homes where values are likely to appreciate, and we help home buyers buy them. People can partner up with us to buy a recommended property. If they do, we are willing to cover any potential losses on the property. In exchange, the buyer agrees to share some of the future profit on the home with us. The agreement lasts 3 years. Before starting this company, my co-founder and I had tried to invest in homes. However, we quickly got tired of realtors telling us to make offers based on very little data. We wanted to figure out a way to buy affordable homes that had the highest growth potential via a data driven approach. We realized there was a wealth of new alternative data out there, which could be used to predict both neighborho
Why it failed: Hi Hacker News Community, My name is Jerry, and I’m one co-founders for Lofty AI ( https://www.lofty.ai/ ). We use machine learning to help identify homes where values are likely to appreciate, and we help home buyers buy them. People can partner up with us to buy
loftyai
- startupShut down2019
Launch HN: zeroheight (YC S19) – UX design docs that stay up-to-date
Hi HN! We’re Jerome and Robin, the founders of zeroheight ( https://zeroheight.com/ ). zeroheight is an online editor that lets companies create a wiki site to document their design process. The documentation is integrated with their design tools so that it’s always up-to-date, which enables large design and development teams to stay on the same page, ship faster and deliver consistent user experiences. Documentation is the first piece of the puzzle – our vision is to enable any company in the world to have a "design system": a system of reusable UX and front-end components, tools and guidelines. We want companies that don’t have the resources of design giants like Salesforce, IBM and Shopify to be able to create design systems which are just as powerful e.g. https://www.lightningdesignsystem.com (Salesforce), https://www.carbondesignsystem.co
Why it failed: Hi HN! We’re Jerome and Robin, the founders of zeroheight ( https://zeroheight.com/ ). zeroheight is an online editor that lets companies create a wiki site to document their design process. The documentation is integrated with their design tools so that it’s alway
jdelafargue
- startupShut down2019
Show HN: Open sourcing my email sending startup
Hi all, I've posted a few times here about Maildown, a startup that I've been trying to validate lately. Due to lack of time to focus on this, I've taken the decision to abandon the project as a startup, but to make it available as an open source solution instead. The (still very basic) github repository is here: https://github.com/chris104957/maildown Maildown now exists as a simple CLI wrapper for Amazon SES which bakes in Markdown and styling support, making it much easier to get transactional mails up and running in any project Thanks for looking, Chris
Why it failed: Hi all, I've posted a few times here about Maildown, a startup that I've been trying to validate lately. Due to lack of time to focus on this, I've taken the decision to abandon the project as a startup, but to make it available as an open source solution instead.
chris140957
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?
Hi there, I'm at the end of my MSc. studies in CS. At the moment, I can choose to graduate in a month or two, or stay-on for another 9 months doing research in interactive theorem proving that will potentially lead to a PhD opportunity. I'm doing my MSc in a foreign country and I'm very unhappy here. Another ~9 months seems like a huge hurdle to me. The current situation is if I choose to graduate soon, I will likely surrender my chance for a PhD. I don't particularly love studying. I think interactive theorem proving is quite cool, but the actual practice of studying/research hasn't been that enjoyable to me, but I enjoy having the knowledge once I've acquired it. In many ways it seems like "the future" to me, and it'd be really neat to be one of the first passengers on that train, so to say. I have no desire to become a professor/r
Why it failed: Hi there, I'm at the end of my MSc. studies in CS. At the moment, I can choose to graduate in a month or two, or stay-on for another 9 months doing research in interactive theorem proving that will potentially lead to a PhD opportunity. I'm doing my MSc in a foreign cou
foopdoopfoop
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: What’s Your ROI in Browsing Hacker News?
I currently feel like I’m in a place where the cool stuff is something I can’t use because it’s too technical, not fully dependable, or just a cool concept at the end of the day. What value have you gained from hacker news submissions or comments that has helped you in your life? This is not meant to make HN look bad.
Why it failed: I currently feel like I’m in a place where the cool stuff is something I can’t use because it’s too technical, not fully dependable, or just a cool concept at the end of the day. What value have you gained from hacker news submissions or comments that has helped you in your life?
slipmagic
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Are You Hopeful About the Environment?
I guess this is sort of an open-ended question, but I just wanted to know if people on HN were hopeful about solving environmental change/damage. Last June is now officially the hottest June ever recorded. I guess you can add that to the laundry list of environmental issues we have. My worry is that its looking more and more like we need some sort of technological miracle (or everyone everywhere just stops buying most stuff ). And tech seems to be a step function - sometimes you get big things like the Internet and the Engine which can spawn lots of smaller things. But those big things historically have seemed to come about by chance and happenstance as much as hard work. I sometimes worry that we might not solve the environmental crisis because we just won't get lucky. Does anyone else feel this way? Or are people here mostly hopeful that this thing will all work itself out (p
Why it failed: I guess this is sort of an open-ended question, but I just wanted to know if people on HN were hopeful about solving environmental change/damage. Last June is now officially the hottest June ever recorded. I guess you can add that to the laundry list of environmental issues
_fol8
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How do you organize everything you want to do?
I keep categorizing ideas that I really want to execute into groups like work, personal life, projects etc, and then try to allocate time to them. But even when I try to focus and narrow the list of things I want to do, life still gets in between. So how do you go about it? In the end I spend more time reorganizing my ideas than working on them >.<
Why it failed: I keep categorizing ideas that I really want to execute into groups like work, personal life, projects etc, and then try to allocate time to them. But even when I try to focus and narrow the list of things I want to do, life still gets in between. So how do you go about it? In th
mezod
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How to get a job after a failed startup?
I worked it for 8 months. I've now completely exhausted my savings. Our product is live but the growth is super slow. There is no way I can see it reaching product market fit. Investors are not interested with such low numbers. I am a product guy with moderate level tech skills. Should I keep the startup on my resume (with reason for shutting down + lessons)? Or should I leave it out from my resume and instead add the product we built as a 'project'? I'm looking at product management jobs or software engineering jobs.
Why it failed: I worked it for 8 months. I've now completely exhausted my savings. Our product is live but the growth is super slow. There is no way I can see it reaching product market fit. Investors are not interested with such low numbers. I am a product guy with moderate level tech ski
startuplife01
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Is anyone still using Meteor framework?
I remember they made quite a fuzz 5 years ago, but now after I checked it after some years it seems they are done. Anyone knows how MDG the company is doing? It seems this startup have failed. They seemed so promising at the time...
Why it failed: I remember they made quite a fuzz 5 years ago, but now after I checked it after some years it seems they are done. Anyone knows how MDG the company is doing? It seems this startup have failed. They seemed so promising at the time...
natashas
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How to get this fraudulent copy of our website shut down?
I run AutoTempest.com, a car listings search engine. A few weeks ago, someone registered autoStempest.com, with an extra 's'. They copied our logo and branding, as well as faking other information, such as their team and location. (For example, their "CEO" is actually the CEO of Edmunds.) They've taken other steps to appear legitimate, such as creating a fake Yelp profile and reviews. From what we've heard from our users, they're creating fake craigslist listings, and when people contact them, they're directing them to links on their site, claiming to be "Auto Tempest". Then they solicit payments (presumably reservations or down payments, if not complete sight-unseen purchases), while using our name recognition to gain trust. We've determined that their registrar is Namecheap (as is ours, coincidentally), and they are hosted by a com
Why it failed: I run AutoTempest.com, a car listings search engine. A few weeks ago, someone registered autoStempest.com, with an extra 's'. They copied our logo and branding, as well as faking other information, such as their team and location. (For example, their "CEO" is
tempestn
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How do I make the move to consultant?
I sort of stumbled onto a consultancy job two years ago in cryptocurrency that's sadly just come to an end... going back into an office full time feels like a step back at this point. I also don't really want to be anywhere near cryptocurrency for a while... and to make matters worse I live halfway around the world from my home in a country that doesn't speak English - I'm a reliable remote worker but I know that's going to put people off, how to alleviate concerns here? I'm planning to fly home tomorrow, I rented somewhere for a month and I'm already printing business cards and trying to get myself out there on local subreddits. Perhaps other social media too? Anything I've missed? How can I advertise myself out there? I absolutely kick ass on cloud migration and architecture (and while I know they're not everything, had the certifications to
Why it failed: I sort of stumbled onto a consultancy job two years ago in cryptocurrency that's sadly just come to an end... going back into an office full time feels like a step back at this point. I also don't really want to be anywhere near cryptocurrency for a while... and to make
Monotoko
- startupShut down2019
Show HN: Recordings of phone screenings for employment
I have installed a program on my phone called ACR, which records all incoming and outgoing phone calls. I have recorded 26 phone screens from the past 3 or 4 months of trying to find a job as a full stack web developer. Some of the interviews are non-technical screens, some of them get technical. I have not gone through and beeped out any names or personal details. I maybe should have, but it was bad enough I had to live through these moments once, I didn't want to have to relive them by listening through them again to add in the beeps. Some people may get mad at me for giving away their company's interview details, but it is what it is. The main reason why I'm posting them is because there's this myth that is commonly spoken about on the internet that the unemployment rate is at an all time low, and that companies are dying to hire developers, and if you're a de
Why it failed: I have installed a program on my phone called ACR, which records all incoming and outgoing phone calls. I have recorded 26 phone screens from the past 3 or 4 months of trying to find a job as a full stack web developer. Some of the interviews are non-technical screens, some of th
freework
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Startup failed after years of work – Can I even get a job now?
I quit college to work on my startup. After 7 years of work, it's almost game over (will be shutting down in a few weeks). I haven't worked for anyone in years and I don't have a degree, but I've been coding for a long time, shipping real products to real customers... How do you think I should prepare for the job market? I'm 31 if it matters at all.
Why it failed: I quit college to work on my startup. After 7 years of work, it's almost game over (will be shutting down in a few weeks). I haven't worked for anyone in years and I don't have a degree, but I've been coding for a long time, shipping real products to real cust
perfect_loop
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: We are shutting down our startup, I get our code. What now?
I'm a technical co-founder and invested a lot of time building our website, app, backend and CMS over two years. My co-founder recently decided to shut the company down, focusing on what he/she does best rather than being reliant on tech/design loops by making our amazing designer create a Shopify site that he/she can manage him/herself. Without going into details, it is fair but we will need to have serious talk once everything has settled so I can move forward. Anyhow, as my payment for these past years, I get to sell whatever we have created, code wise, and get the dough for it. The problem is that I have no clue how to properly handle a sell like this. There is a bunch of new startups that has recently popped up, doing what we initially did with a caveat; they lack an app for it, currently hustling to make things work. So there might be a pretty good possibil
Why it failed: I'm a technical co-founder and invested a lot of time building our website, app, backend and CMS over two years. My co-founder recently decided to shut the company down, focusing on what he/she does best rather than being reliant on tech/design loops by making our
sad_cofounder
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Random upper back pain is ruining my life. At wits end. Anyone else?
I'm writing in total desperation. I feel like I can't make it through another day of meaningless, constant back pain. I've had it on and off for 7 years now, since I was 24 (now 31) It's this weird vibrating, tingling, burning, muscle sore combination that moves between the left side of my neck, under my shoulder blade, my left trap, and sort of out to the back of my ribs right below my shoulder blade. The pain moves around and sometimes I'll get a similar feeling on the other side of my body which makes it all the more confusing. I've been to doctor after doctor after doctor and I have absolute no more info then when I started. I'm on the verge of quitting my job because I feel like I can't go through another day tomorrow. The only thing I've ever correlated with more or less pain is how hydrated I am (ie less pain if more hydrated) and even
Why it failed: I'm writing in total desperation. I feel like I can't make it through another day of meaningless, constant back pain. I've had it on and off for 7 years now, since I was 24 (now 31) It's this weird vibrating, tingling, burning, muscle sore combination that mov
anm89
- startupShut down2019
4/7 Engineer
I've been at a new job for about a month. So far it's great, catered meals, WFH days, nice work-life balance and so-on. Yesterday I had my first 1:1 with my manager, in which he told me the company has rated me as a "4 out of 7" in terms of skill. The conversation was pretty friendly, we were laughing etc. but as the day went on I kept thinking "4 out of 7? Based on what metrics?". I asked my manager what the rating is based on over Slack, no response. Later in the day after we had talked about other stuff, asked again briefly, no response. What the job has been like so far: • I worked with design in my 1st week to prototype 3 different design systems in CRA apps – basically todo-list apps using different UI libraries. The goal was to see which React app was easiest for designers or Rails devs (and anyone else who is anti-styled components) to jump in and mo
Why it failed: I've been at a new job for about a month. So far it's great, catered meals, WFH days, nice work-life balance and so-on. Yesterday I had my first 1:1 with my manager, in which he told me the company has rated me as a "4 out of 7" in terms of skill. The conversa
exactchange
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Life after corporate job
I’m a guy, late 30s, 20+ years of programming experience. Active developer in C++, C, Python, Java presently (also Perl, Javascript, PostScript, Clojure, PHP, Fortran, build systems, Linux). I’ve been in big corporate (investment bank) environments for 10+ years. Overall, it has been great, I learnt a lot about large-scale systems and governance, traveled the word, all that stuff. I have realized that I’m approaching the end of the road with this line of work, and I want to get back to actual hacking on something more manageable again. I want to be building up something of long-term value (to me) over time. I have had a few little side-projects carved out over the years where I can just work on one well-defined thing, like rewrite an old system with the same interfaces but 10x faster, and I did well with those projects. How can I start, or be involved in, something more rewarding? I did
Why it failed: I’m a guy, late 30s, 20+ years of programming experience. Active developer in C++, C, Python, Java presently (also Perl, Javascript, PostScript, Clojure, PHP, Fortran, build systems, Linux). I’ve been in big corporate (investment bank) environments for 10+ years. Overall, it has
throwawaymlc
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?
In other words, how do you decide between what you want to work on and what should be worked on? I've been stuck with trying to figure what to do with the rest of my life. I can't decide whether I should be working on what I want to work on (Energy, AI) or whether I should work on what I believe should be worked on (Healthcare). It's a short life, so I want to be careful with this decision, to avoid any future regrets. Because I can't decide on this, I end up not getting anything done. Time continues to march on, while I'm still stuck with not knowing what to do. Has anyone had any experience with this before? If yes, then what and how did you make your decision? What was the outcome? Is there a middle ground or silver lining, where you managed to work on both cases?
Why it failed: In other words, how do you decide between what you want to work on and what should be worked on? I've been stuck with trying to figure what to do with the rest of my life. I can't decide whether I should be working on what I want to work on (Energy, AI) or whether I sho
amadk
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: Coping when your client is an asshole?
I'm a project manager for a ~60 person software dev firm. One project I'm on is with a large American enterprise, and the product owner and his direct manager are absolute assholes. I've got 8 developers that I try to shield from accusatory questions and extremely aggressive and borderline abusive behaviour. In the beginning we we all agreed not to take anything personally and to let it just roll off the back. We agreed to tighten up our processes and try to avoid confrontations by being super proactive with all our work, but we're coming close to the launch date, and it's getting worse as more pressure mounts. Ordinarily, we would have dropped the client by now and refused to put up with the end-justifies-the-means tactics, but unfortunately our company could not survive without this and a handful of other projects we have with this client. My company is activel
Why it failed: I'm a project manager for a ~60 person software dev firm. One project I'm on is with a large American enterprise, and the product owner and his direct manager are absolute assholes. I've got 8 developers that I try to shield from accusatory questions and extremely
codinginhell
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How do you manage long hours vs. spending time with loved ones?
I've been experiencing a problem over the last few years and am asking for help on how to solve. I work a lot of variable hours/travel (startup) and my spouse works as a nurse so her schedule is all over the place as well. We can't seem to find a way to manage our schedules very well. What ends up happening is we go extended amounts of time without an overlap in free time and then miss out on dates, time with friends, etc. We both love our work so quitting isn't exactly helpful. Some things we've tried: Shared Google Calendar: This works well but we never actually update. Its tedious too. And we don't like sharing exactly what we're doing with our friends to coordinate schedules with. I'd prefer the calendar just said busy 9-9 not 9-11am doctors appointment, 12-3pm taking son to therapy,etc, etc. This is just a simple example Paper/Pen - This
Why it failed: I've been experiencing a problem over the last few years and am asking for help on how to solve. I work a lot of variable hours/travel (startup) and my spouse works as a nurse so her schedule is all over the place as well. We can't seem to find a way to manage our
raleigh_user
- startupShut down2019
Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?
My typical cycle of execution is something like this Find out something through HN/Reddit/Other medium --> Get motivated --> Get good knowledge about it through research --> See others succeed, get motivated a bit more --> Execute and get to, say, 25-50% of the journey --> Get bored --> Abandon --> be passive for couple of months --> repeat. Be it creating new websites or new products (probably the reason I have not launched something as a personal project, despite having tried like 10-11 of them with varying degree of success), weight loss journey, running, meditation etc. I have tried breaking things into manageable chunks and then taking them one-by-one, or through methodologies like GTD, or by making others accountable (tough to find someone who takes personal interest in what I would do; also, I have strongly come to perceive myself as being driven
Why it failed: My typical cycle of execution is something like this Find out something through HN/Reddit/Other medium --> Get motivated --> Get good knowledge about it through research --> See others succeed, get motivated a bit more --> Execute and get to, say, 25-50% of
djangovm
- startupShut down2019
Pingdom discontinues free plan
Just got this email "To ensure the best possible product experience for SolarWinds® Pingdom® users, and to focus our resources and investment on this next phase of our product development, we will no longer offer our free plans as of February 6, 2019. To continue enjoying the benefits of Pingdom, all free users will need to sign up for a paid subscription plan option by this date."
Why it failed: Just got this email "To ensure the best possible product experience for SolarWinds® Pingdom® users, and to focus our resources and investment on this next phase of our product development, we will no longer offer our free plans as of February 6, 2019. To continue enjoying th
siquick