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 down2015
Ask HN: Bootstrappers, what do you do during down time?
I wish things were always busy. By busy I mean, I'm getting inbound leads, I'm having conversations via email or phone, I'm selling, I'm quoting, I'm fixing stuff on the product. Then it goes from crazy busy to suddenly quiet. I just don't know what to do with the down time. I get super uneasy and anxious. I try to do some content marketing but I make so little progress, it's hard to see any result very quickly, so I switch to optimizing the web or landing page and then get see how my PPC campaigns are doing and then reading HN or listening to podcast on bootstrapping etc. I feel inefficient and spread thin. I feel terrible when things are quiet. I have an urge to start cranking out updates and new features on the product but I stop myself, as I only decided to create features that enough paying users request. I have a terrible habit of playing counters
Why it failed: I wish things were always busy. By busy I mean, I'm getting inbound leads, I'm having conversations via email or phone, I'm selling, I'm quoting, I'm fixing stuff on the product. Then it goes from crazy busy to suddenly quiet. I just don't know what
curiously
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Any HN stats analysis been done?
I was just thinking of some questions about HN discussions - things like what does the average discussion look like? How long between replies is common / polite (I seem to let the other end hang for hours) I don't particularly care about best time to post (that's defined by me as when I am struck by something) but there are many interesting questions one could ask the corpus (Which leads to the other question - is there a good way to get hold of the corpus?)
Why it failed: I was just thinking of some questions about HN discussions - things like what does the average discussion look like? How long between replies is common / polite (I seem to let the other end hang for hours) I don't particularly care about best time to post (that's d
lifeisstillgood
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: What do you wish you knew in your early twenties?
I ask this question to people in my life who, by my standards, "made it". It's usually a person who successfully sold his startup, is leading research field expert or otherwise distinguished in his career (e.g. a president of huge corporation). The question is vague for a reason - to not bias the person. I am interested to hear about everything: technical, financial, social, professional, etc. My thesis is that while we cannot look forward in time (well, not yet) it is easy to look backwards and connect the dots. Hence, I ask this question to learn what's ahead and get prepared for it now. There are few things that usually come up, for example: be humble, work backwards from end-goal, hard work is basis for most things, it's often worth scarifying short term goals for a longer term pay-off, learn to appreciate simple things in life. So, HN audience, what do you w
Why it failed: I ask this question to people in my life who, by my standards, "made it". It's usually a person who successfully sold his startup, is leading research field expert or otherwise distinguished in his career (e.g. a president of huge corporation). The question is vagu
AndriusSutas
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: How do you deal with after work fatigue?
I started working in programming 3 years ago. Ever since I got into 8h/days programming, I feel really tired after I come home. I'm not able to do the meaningless task, and sometimes I just get into bed at 7 and sleep. I suppose that the nature of our jobs depletes our will and maybe that's why I'm like this. I tried doing some push-ups, going by bike to work, quitting smoking, but didn't solve much. So if anyone was in the same position and found a way to get by, I would really appreciate some advices. I feel I live only during the week-ends.
Why it failed: I started working in programming 3 years ago. Ever since I got into 8h/days programming, I feel really tired after I come home. I'm not able to do the meaningless task, and sometimes I just get into bed at 7 and sleep. I suppose that the nature of our jobs depletes our
zuzuleinen
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Can you give me some advice on writing essays?
I am trying to learn to write some interesting essays/blog post, and I need some advice, because I'm completely stuck. I have had trouble coming up with things to talk about my whole life. I read a lot, and I feel like I know a lot of things, but when I sit down to write my mind goes completely blank, I have nothing to say, or rather I feel like there's nothing worth writing about. I don't have anything to say to people who know less than me, because explaining obvious things seems boring, and I don't know what to say to people on HN/LessWrong, because I feel like they are smarter than me and already know everything I am about to say. For example when I read Eliezer Yudkowsky's essays, I think that I already know a lot of the things he is talking about, so before I've read them I had this information in my head, information that could be turned int
Why it failed: I am trying to learn to write some interesting essays/blog post, and I need some advice, because I'm completely stuck. I have had trouble coming up with things to talk about my whole life. I read a lot, and I feel like I know a lot of things, but when I sit down to writ
rayalez
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: My tools broke, and I am broke, what now?
I am from Brazil, that is having a economic hard time right now, also I don't have a regular income for almost an year (and my last real job was many years ago). I got some small freelancing work to do, I was going to deliver a milestone tomorrow, I was using my startup old workstation that was left on my house (after the startup ran out of rent money) to work on that, but the HDD failed about one hour and a half ago, and the diagnostic tools that come with OSX say that it is impossible to salvage. I am broke, almost literally, in Brazil you cannot ask for bankruptcy as individual, if I could I would ask, I am in debt, have no income and I am struggling to pay rent and food. And the work I had to do requires an OSX, I also own a laptop in its last throes (several parts of it already failed or are randomly working only sometimes) but it is one of those that came with a stupid bios lo
Why it failed: I am from Brazil, that is having a economic hard time right now, also I don't have a regular income for almost an year (and my last real job was many years ago). I got some small freelancing work to do, I was going to deliver a milestone tomorrow, I was using my startup old
speeder
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: What should I do if I feel burnt out?
I'm a 23 year old developer working for a medium size startup. I made the switch to my current employer about four months ago from a corporate job. While I enjoyed the move for the first three months or so, I do not feel the same now. The reason is that recently one of "star" developers at my current employer was poached by another company. As a result, most of his work (which I had no clue of) came on my shoulders. The code that I inherited is unidiomatic and written in a way that only the author could understand. And now, since I "own" the code, I've been putting extra hours and working on it as much as 15 hours a day to understand it and make fixes (which has become my day job). Despite of all this, I've failed to deliver on most deadlines (as the managers had higher expectations from me). To add to all of this, I've been diagnosed with hyperten
Why it failed: I'm a 23 year old developer working for a medium size startup. I made the switch to my current employer about four months ago from a corporate job. While I enjoyed the move for the first three months or so, I do not feel the same now. The reason is that recently one of "
rsjaaji
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: When do you know your startup has failed?
I'm currently going through a mini depression. We've gone without salary for the last 4 months, abandoned our business model to do pay for hire work in the hopes of trying to raise money to keep the lights on. Honestly I feel like I'm going to be evicted from the house. My rent is already up, and as of now I have < $1 :). My partner is fine actually, he has rich parents and doesn't really depend on the startup for income. Which actually gives my friends and family the illusion that we're both killing it. We have almost 0 chance of raising more money, it's much harder to get money it seems if you're in a poor country. So, if you've had a failed startup, how did you know? Did you run out of money and call it quits? If you succeeded, did you have a patch so rough that you were evicted? I'm 25, I feel like I'm losing at life already. It wa
Why it failed: I'm currently going through a mini depression. We've gone without salary for the last 4 months, abandoned our business model to do pay for hire work in the hopes of trying to raise money to keep the lights on. Honestly I feel like I'm going to be evicted from the h
superpi
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Real odds of making a living off a web app
My goal is to make a webapp that makes a middle class income. It does not have to be Bay Area middle class, but say 100k a year. What is the real probability this can happen? Or is it a fool's errand? I'm from a non-software field in my 30's, but I'm tired of grinding it out with a salary that can barely cover the expenses. I'd like to work remotely and live somewhere more affordable. I don't expect anything to happen right away, but over the next 5 years. Because I don't see myself saving my way to retirement, owning a business where you control your time is the only end game I can see. I like building apps and take pride in my work, so it seems like a good avenue for me. Thanks.
Why it failed: My goal is to make a webapp that makes a middle class income. It does not have to be Bay Area middle class, but say 100k a year. What is the real probability this can happen? Or is it a fool's errand? I'm from a non-software field in my 30's, but I'm tired of
savorypiano
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: How do you familiarize yourself with a new codebase?
My question is pretty straightforward: how do you, hacker news enthusiast, familiarize yourself with a new codebase? Obviously your answer is going to be contingent on the kind of work that you do. Some background: What's motivating me to ask is that I am flirting with the idea of trying to add a couple of features to SlickGrid (https://github.com/mleibman/SlickGrid), Michael Leibman's phenomenal javascript grid widget. Unfortunately Leibman got busy and isn't actively supporting it anymore. The codebase is something like 8k lines of javascript, so it's not ludicrously big, but I'm kind of intimidated thinking about trying to make sense of it. My first strategy is just to open up important-looking javascript files (slick.core.js, slick.grid.js) and read through for comprehension. This seems like a pretty slow way to build a mental model of the
Why it failed: My question is pretty straightforward: how do you, hacker news enthusiast, familiarize yourself with a new codebase? Obviously your answer is going to be contingent on the kind of work that you do. Some background: What's motivating me to ask is that I am flirting with the i
roflc0ptic
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Any luck with Stackoverflow careers (employer side)?
I've published an ad for a developer position on stackoverflow careers, but the response has been a bit underwhelming so far... We are offering competitive salary and we do not deviate much from mainstream technologies, so I was definitely expecting more and better candidates. I'm now thinking about shutting down the ad and go for a more traditional route (monster, indeed, ...), which is a pity because I liked the idea of finding quality developers through the SO platform. Did some of you ever try to advertise a position through SO careers? And how was your experience?
Why it failed: I've published an ad for a developer position on stackoverflow careers, but the response has been a bit underwhelming so far... We are offering competitive salary and we do not deviate much from mainstream technologies, so I was definitely expecting more and better candidate
andrea_s
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: How do you deal with professional jealousy and getting older?
I'm a 26 y.o. software dev working on going indie. All my life, I've struggled with procrastination. I find it very hard to sit down and work on a project without an external motivator, and on many nights I end up vegging out in front of the TV or aimlessly clicking around on the internet. As a result, even though I am successful on an absolute scale — CS degree from a top-10, worked at a startup and a large company, enough savings to last a few years of solo development — by my own metric of success, I am crippled by the feeling that it's "too late". Every day, I read an article by some hot-shot young dev who has a handful of fancy projects behind his belt (not to mention a great website and design sensibility) while I have exactly zero — and he's half a decade younger than me! How will I ever be able to catch up? Experience-wise, I'm still a junior de
Why it failed: I'm a 26 y.o. software dev working on going indie. All my life, I've struggled with procrastination. I find it very hard to sit down and work on a project without an external motivator, and on many nights I end up vegging out in front of the TV or aimlessly clicking aro
tastyface
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Pivoting my startup, how should I submit to AngelList?
I'm in the process of pivoting my startup, and for this new product we'll need to raise money. The product was half built some years ago but the timing was bad and it was shelved. Today the timing is excellent for it. I started filling up an entry in AngelList about the new product, but it's asking for questions about the operation of my company, for which the answers would show we been running for 4 years, while the product even though we built part of it ages ago, it's not in operations and it's nothing more than a landing page. The reason why I wasn't creating the profile with my company name is that if someone look at our company's website, we have other products, including some experimental, lower profile stuff that really doesn't need the funding I'm trying to raise. What should I do? Any advise? This is my company: https://Car
Why it failed: I'm in the process of pivoting my startup, and for this new product we'll need to raise money. The product was half built some years ago but the timing was bad and it was shelved. Today the timing is excellent for it. I started filling up an entry in AngelList about the
pupeno
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?
My startup of about two years has failed. We were hanging on for the last couple of months in the hopes of getting a big break. We're out of money now. My motivation levels are also pretty low after so many repeated failures. My question is, for other people that have been in the same situation: What did you do after? Did you start looking for a job? Did you jump straight into your next startup. I'm also considering whether it's possible to pick up small programming jobs on Elance to pay the bills.
Why it failed: My startup of about two years has failed. We were hanging on for the last couple of months in the hopes of getting a big break. We're out of money now. My motivation levels are also pretty low after so many repeated failures. My question is, for other people that have been i
blinduck
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: I don't know how to launch; I'm scared to. How do I follow through?
Long-time reader, adequate poster, but obviously shy. I'm very young (early 20s) and I haven't hit any homeruns, gone to school, or even finished a course online - ever. My back story is quite interesting, and is the reason for why I am where I am. Do I regret it? No. Would I like to change some things? Yeah, in a way. Regardless, and perhaps thankfully, I've always been curious enough to learn how things work, and how to make them work in my favor. I have two products (web) that I have completely finished, tested, and have developed the site, its content, done the FAQ/KB, setup a helpdesk, payment gateway is ready to go, ToS/PP are written, all that stuff. One of them will take off like a rocket and I'm convinced of it -- I've never been more convinced of anything in my lifetime actually. The other one is a longer-play and will take some time to develo
Why it failed: Long-time reader, adequate poster, but obviously shy. I'm very young (early 20s) and I haven't hit any homeruns, gone to school, or even finished a course online - ever. My back story is quite interesting, and is the reason for why I am where I am. Do I regret it? No. W
scaredtolaunch
- startupShut down2015
MacOS is the new Windows
I'm typing this on my late 2010 MacBook Air. Recently I was starting having problems with it (you know when you type your password and the system does not recognize your key presses, etc.). And I thought, “Oh, ok, I have to accept that we live in a world of planned obsolesce (how else faster-than-a-gigahertz multi-gigabyte-RAM machine could become slow? If it is capable of real-time response to user's actions, it should respond in real-time) and I have to upgrade to get my job done”. So I switched to this new aesthetically marvelous wonder: an early 2015 13 inch MacBook Pro. In 5 days I'm using it the machine restarted two (or three?) times "because of problems" though it has much less software installed than my old rock-stable-in-comparison MacBook Air. And now I'm installing an OS update which already restarted my system twice. First it restarted the syste
Why it failed: I'm typing this on my late 2010 MacBook Air. Recently I was starting having problems with it (you know when you type your password and the system does not recognize your key presses, etc.). And I thought, “Oh, ok, I have to accept that we live in a world of planned obsolesce
beyondcompute
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Do I give up now?
I've heard failure is good, but 10 years is a long time. That's how long I've been failing for now. I've worked on failed project after failed project, and now at 25, I'm wondering what the fuck I've been doing with my life - my youth. When I was 15 me and my friend started a little hosting website. It was really fun. I learnt to program, and we even made a little bit of money. In the excitement I began to learn about business, startups and programming. I thought it was going to be so easy to make money. I mean, if I could make a bit of money on the web at 15 without knowing anything about business or programming, I'm going to be great at this startup stuff by 20 right? Well, clearly, I'm not. And I read a lot. And I think even more. I just have no idea why I'm not succeeding. Because for the last 10 years I've worked 16-18 hours a day, e
Why it failed: I've heard failure is good, but 10 years is a long time. That's how long I've been failing for now. I've worked on failed project after failed project, and now at 25, I'm wondering what the fuck I've been doing with my life - my youth. When I was 15
smokesigns
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Sell, open-source, or abandon a $10k/year Mac app?
In 2011 I wrote a low-end GIS program for Mac, called Magic Maps. The idea for the app was to make a simple, Mac-like alternative to ArcGIS and QGIS that makes it easy to plot points, import Shapefiles, and create chloropleth maps and animations without first wanting to open your veins in a bathtub. It was my first desktop app, so the code isn't great, but it's found a loyal user base over the years has netted over $50k since 2011. Unfortunately, Magic Maps is now suffering from neglect and bit-rot, and some of the users are starting to revolt. At the very least, it needs a bit of work to fix crashes, ensure it works smoothly on Yosemite, etc. I'd do this work myself, but I am putting all my time into another app, and as much as it pains me, I just don't have time to invest into Magic Maps any longer. I'm putting this out there because I'm honestly not sure
Why it failed: In 2011 I wrote a low-end GIS program for Mac, called Magic Maps. The idea for the app was to make a simple, Mac-like alternative to ArcGIS and QGIS that makes it easy to plot points, import Shapefiles, and create chloropleth maps and animations without first wanting to open your
EvanMiller
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: The struggle to stay motivated
I'm an engineer at $LARGE_SOFTWARE_CO. I'm just shy of 10 years in the workforce. With some skill and lots of luck, I find myself as the lead for a prominent product with a large, established user base. I've run this project for a couple years and enjoy a lot of creative freedom and influence over its future. The project itself is successful and growing fast. The team is smart and effective. I make great money in this role, which is really the only way I'm able to eke out a decent lifestyle (married, kid on the way) in my hometown, $INCREDIBLY_EXPENSIVE_US_CITY. I set my own schedule, and I never work 40 hours. I carry a pager, but it's not much of a burden. By all accounts, it's a top-notch job and I'm lucky to have it. Problem is, I can't stand it anymore. I'm constantly stressed; I have no motivation to complete anything; when I'm in t
Why it failed: I'm an engineer at $LARGE_SOFTWARE_CO. I'm just shy of 10 years in the workforce. With some skill and lots of luck, I find myself as the lead for a prominent product with a large, established user base. I've run this project for a couple years and enjoy a lot of cr
pupsocket
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: If I were your dream hire, would you hire me? I live in Somalia
I'm at a dead end career-wise and the job market I'm at does not offer any better alternatives than my current job. The pay is great but I find the work I do pretty depressing compared to the stuff I know I'm capable of. I've tried to demonstrate and explain the value I could be bring if we were to do things differently but I've lost hope that I'll ever get through to anyone. HN has always been inspiring regarding starting your own business and although that is something I want to try, I'm more curious right now about the feasibility of finding a job outside the country. The question is, I don't know if that's even possible. How would a company even determine if I'm worth hiring and going through all the work to get me a work visa if they can't even interview me in person? Would they tolerate my crappy internet if they try to intervi
Why it failed: I'm at a dead end career-wise and the job market I'm at does not offer any better alternatives than my current job. The pay is great but I find the work I do pretty depressing compared to the stuff I know I'm capable of. I've tried to demonstrate and explain t
xtrumanx
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: Has the HN Community changed for the worse?
Increasingly I have felt a hesitation to post my thoughts on HN as it seems that more often now than in the past my comments are down-voted because of a disagreement with my opinion rather than a reflection on the quality or "rudeness" of my comment's content. Sometimes I can be rude, and down-votes are not unexpected in those cases of course. Some possible reasons for this are: 1. I've become more sensitive. 2. The quality of my comments have gone down. 3. More people are using the down-vote privilege to express simple disagreement. Of course, this is not a complete list. #1 is unlikely, I am doubtful that my personality has changed much over 3 years. #2 is possible, as I get more comfortable on HN I am more likely to post poorly thought out or emotional comments. My theory behind how #3 could be the reason is that the type of user that is gaining the down-vote privi
Why it failed: Increasingly I have felt a hesitation to post my thoughts on HN as it seems that more often now than in the past my comments are down-voted because of a disagreement with my opinion rather than a reflection on the quality or "rudeness" of my comment's content. Some
wuliwong
- startupShut down2015
Ask HN: How did you get to your current job/startup?
We all see "success stories" featured on internet blogs (basically every website with the "tech" prefix) and some trends tend to distort how we perceive how people arrived at where they are. I want to know — How did you get your current job or startup? Did you go to college? Dropout? If your did go to college, have you ever failed a course? Did you have to move to a different country? How did you manage that and what was (in general) the biggest obstacle/low-point of your journey so far? Note — Why I'm asking this: Because many of the people in this community may be in a low-point themselves, and reading about how other people persevered and what they did might just make things seem a bit easier for them. Thank you all :)
Why it failed: We all see "success stories" featured on internet blogs (basically every website with the "tech" prefix) and some trends tend to distort how we perceive how people arrived at where they are. I want to know — How did you get your current job or startup? Did you
arsalanb
- startupShut down2015
Assembly is shutting down December 6, 2015
Read more here: http://assembly.com/
Why it failed: Read more here: http://assembly.com/
acadet
- startupShut down2015
Zirtual may have just abruptly shut down
Slack message from my ZA 10 min ago: I'm up late tonight and received an email to my personal email from Zirtual that for financial reasons, they cannot continue as a company effective immediately. I would still like to help you in any way I can! I no longer have access to my Zirtual accounts, including the secure system where I had saved your passwords, but I'm glad I can still access this Slack! I can still access your calendar, too. I would be happy to discuss how to continue our assistant-client relationship if you would like. I'm also sending you an email from my personal email [redacted]. This would be a difficult transition, but once I have access to everything like [redacted] again, we can just continue as we had been before
Why it failed: Slack message from my ZA 10 min ago: I'm up late tonight and received an email to my personal email from Zirtual that for financial reasons, they cannot continue as a company effective immediately. I would still like to help you in any way I can! I no longer have access to m
opendoorryan