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.
3,400 solutions
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Is there a repository of failed startups (re-usable startups idea)?
I was wandering if someone keeps records of failed tech/internet startups and their codebase? Maybe it's not a bad idea to go back and re-use some of the failed startups whether it's a codebase or just a business model. I found a lot of reason for failed startups but not many use cases - mostly scattered around the Internet. If someone would built such a database would you contribute your failed business model and codebase?
Why it failed: I was wandering if someone keeps records of failed tech/internet startups and their codebase? Maybe it's not a bad idea to go back and re-use some of the failed startups whether it's a codebase or just a business model. I found a lot of reason for failed startups but not many use
zeratul
- startupShut down2012
Somebody please, for the love of god, fix shipping/couriers
In the past three years I've had to ship items nationally or receive shipped items in the UK on a few occasions. The experience has been universally terrible. 1. Sign-up process is convoluted. This should be so simple. Are you a business or a person? What are your billing details and contact details? Done. Don't give me a Merchant ID or make me telephone you. Don't make me put in address information: you can have that when I send something. 2. Believe it or not, I do not know how heavy my item is or its exact dimensions. I threw away the packaging. I don't have a set of bathroom scales because I'm not a teenage girl. Charge me a premium for not knowing. I don't give a shit. Just don't force me to enter the dimensions of something which I might not have in front of me or schlep it to the scales at my friends' house so that you can calculate how much diesel you need to be putting in your v
Why it failed: In the past three years I've had to ship items nationally or receive shipped items in the UK on a few occasions. The experience has been universally terrible. 1. Sign-up process is convoluted. This should be so simple. Are you a business or a person? What are your billing details
georgespencer
- startupShut down2012
The Future Of Programming?
One of the things I've been thinking about lately and in the past years is the direction programming is heading as a whole. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the field has been getting more chaotic since its birth and the speed of this process is accelerating. Computer science is a relatively new field of science and the modus operandi has almost exclusively been a sort of a cowboy, wild wild west way of doing things. The one who gets there first claims the prize and defends it. As computer science is half about doing real science and half about the art of applying that science, I won't be touching the former part. Science works and the scientific method is unquestionably valid. The more interesting and as I said chaotic part is the art of programming. Chaotic is a strong word to use, but I really do think it describes best whats going on. I feel wrong every time I see a new serio
Why it failed: One of the things I've been thinking about lately and in the past years is the direction programming is heading as a whole. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the field has been getting more chaotic since its birth and the speed of this process is accelerating. Computer sci
zhiel
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Visiting SF for the first time: Where to stay? What to do? Who to see?
Looking for advice on getting the most out of the city from a startup perspective. My co-founder and I are coming from London as part of http://www.ldn2sfo.com/ . That aims to give us a whirlwind lowdown on how SV and SF operate, and a very high-level view of where a few startups and VCs are located. We'd love to get a somewhat deeper view and with a view to working our backsides off and growing our bootstrapped company into one that requires a US entity within a year, we want to get a good sense of how SF can be done bootstrapped or at least affordably (even from a London perspective the salaries, rent, etc look crazy high from here). At the very basic end there are just trip logistics: Recommend an AirBNB to use as a base, or a garage to sleep in, ideally owned by someone on HN and with a good internet connection (we work when we have moments spare). At the other end there's a more gen
Why it failed: Looking for advice on getting the most out of the city from a startup perspective. My co-founder and I are coming from London as part of http://www.ldn2sfo.com/ . That aims to give us a whirlwind lowdown on how SV and SF operate, and a very high-level view of where a few startups
buro9
- startupShut down2012
Indinero to close free accounts
Nothing online, but I received the following email: Dear inDinero User, I hope this finds you well -- I'm writing to you to let you know about some business model changes we have to make. First off, it's been amazing to have your patience and support over the past two years. Without your help and feedback, our product wouldn't be where it is today. inDinero has been trying to support a free customer base since launching in 2010, but the costs associated with doing so have gone up considerably since. The company pays a very hefty fee to aggregate financial data, and we lose money on every non-paying user. Because of these unaffordably high costs, I've made the very difficult decision to discontinue our free plan. Many of you have told us that you'd prefer a premium/paid service that can better support a growing product. We agree that this is the direction we need to make, and we hope we h
Why it failed: Nothing online, but I received the following email: Dear inDinero User, I hope this finds you well -- I'm writing to you to let you know about some business model changes we have to make. First off, it's been amazing to have your patience and support over the past two years. With
AlexMuir
- startupShut down2012
I don't know who I am anymore and I can't tell anyone
Inspired by "I'm burning out and I can't tell anyone". My story is about the same. I think I'm at the stage that comes after the burning out. I'm a single, 30yo, systems architect at a quite known and popular Web company (top 30). I also have a strong open-source persona and pretty useful projects out there (overall around 2000 watchers, I guess). HN score of about 1400, all from feedback on projects I've released. I'm the guy who always get a crazy eyebrow raised when people hear I don't have my own start up yet. I get tons of offers from CTOs, CEOs and founders to co-found/participate, and I usually think of the people offering them as misguided and naive. And if we're anonymous, let me throw in that I used to be a hacker, cracker, around 13 years ago, when I was in high school. End background. I find myself waking up at 8:30am, at work at 9:30am, finishing up at 19:30-20:00pm and at h
Why it failed: Inspired by "I'm burning out and I can't tell anyone". My story is about the same. I think I'm at the stage that comes after the burning out. I'm a single, 30yo, systems architect at a quite known and popular Web company (top 30). I also have a strong open-source persona and pret
joedoe
- startupShut down2012
501/anti 501 are symptoms, not the disease
tl;dr You are not a factory worker, stop working like one. And if you are starting a tech company don’t model it after a factory. I’m a fan of Hacker News, but I view it from afar. It’s like a strange other world and I’m just a voyeur. I’m a tech entrepreneur, but I live outside of the US. I’m not trying to bump my valuation to get bought out by a giant. But a lot of great information is shared on Hacker News, and I like you guys, even if I don’t always understand you. :-) The 501 manifesto and the anti 501 response strike me as really amusing. I know where the 501ers are coming from. I used to be a coder in the trenches. I also understand the anti-ish response, because as soon as you write a manifesto people will come running to trash it. It’s just a risk you take when you write a manifesto. And now here I am to tell you that you are both wrong. And dammit that puts me dangerously close
Why it failed: tl;dr You are not a factory worker, stop working like one. And if you are starting a tech company don’t model it after a factory. I’m a fan of Hacker News, but I view it from afar. It’s like a strange other world and I’m just a voyeur. I’m a tech entrepreneur, but I live outside
Buddy_D
- startupShut down2012
Show HN: Selling a web app, Auto Swatch
Unfortunately, I have a failed startup that needs to pay off some of its debts. Myself and a few others have over a combined 300 hours of work into this project. I'm hesitant to put this on Flippa or eBay or whatever; I just don't think that crowd will appreciate it. I'm looking for suggestions on where to try and sell it (other than HN). The site is Auto Swatch: http://swatch.nick.sg (this is just a demo site for the purpose of selling it. Actual domain is http://autoswatch.com). Discussion of the launch on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2466545 Obviously this is a depressing outcome. The project IMO still has a ton of potential, but I don't have the resources or time to make it successful. I've grown tired of the idea of investors, shlepping myself out just to get some PR, etc. The business side of things sucks. I hope someone can take over and go up against the big guys like
Why it failed: Unfortunately, I have a failed startup that needs to pay off some of its debts. Myself and a few others have over a combined 300 hours of work into this project. I'm hesitant to put this on Flippa or eBay or whatever; I just don't think that crowd will appreciate it. I'm looking
nicksergeant
- startupShut down2012
Tell HN: Frustrated and feeling pretty useless at this point.
When my startup last year did terribly, I felt like crap. While it wasn't really a surprise (I kinda knew it was going to happen), it was a pretty painful experience. Having said that, it's nothing compared to what I feel now. I sincerely, truly believed that my current startup had potential to grow but I lost the one chance I had. After failing our startup last year, we picked up on advice from HN- we started over. We finally found something we truly believed in and created our first iPhone App after 6 months. Given that we didn't have any programming or design experience, we worked like hell to really make up for all the areas we were lacking in. Were barely surviving by (we had left our jobs since the last failed startup) and working nonstop because this was THE idea we believed in. One of the startup advice that I hear most often is to create a product that solves a problem of your o
Why it failed: When my startup last year did terribly, I felt like crap. While it wasn't really a surprise (I kinda knew it was going to happen), it was a pretty painful experience. Having said that, it's nothing compared to what I feel now. I sincerely, truly believed that my current startup h
iamjonlee
- startupShut down2012
Tell HN: RAM Requirements are going through the roof
There have been a few talks about how Moore's law is coming to an end, about how you can now build servers with close to a TB of RAM, how you can now scale clusters of servers and achieve great metrics when it comes to raw data storage or memcaching, how incredible feats in both parallelization and miniaturization will reverse the downhill trend for high-end computing. Then there's the desktop. My desktop PC, for instance. It's a great 6 months old working computer, with 8 cores and 16GB of RAM. "This ought to be enough for all my needs", I thought. The Bill Gates in me was right so far, but unfortunately this won't be enough for long. Yesterday I took a look at my memory usage, out of curiosity: 11.4GB. Woah. I had a look at the breakdown. - Chrome : ~3GB - Firefox : ~1.5GB - Java (eclipse) : ~1.2GB - Rest in tons of various work-related apps. I'm of course responsible for letting this
Why it failed: There have been a few talks about how Moore's law is coming to an end, about how you can now build servers with close to a TB of RAM, how you can now scale clusters of servers and achieve great metrics when it comes to raw data storage or memcaching, how incredible feats in both
babebridou
- startupShut down2012
Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero, a game to teach game development
Today DEVELOP magazine's front page stories were: ZYNGA falls 18%, Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero a game that teaches game development with a code gun, and Tim Schafer raises $2 million on Kickstarter.<p>Well I am the founder of Code Hero in the picture, Alex Peake, and our Kickstarter has blown up today hitting BoingBoing, TechCrunch, ThinkGeek and more blogs than I know what to do with.<p>TLDR: Try Code Hero and let us know what you think! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/primerist/code-hero-a-game-that-teaches-you-to-make-games-he<p>We've accelerated steadily every day since Tim Schafer raised his million in a single day, mostly because it lit a fire under us to push push push every way we didn't know we knew how to prove that a totally unknown indie can pull off a proportionate success to that of a legend like Tim. Now we're on track to hit the $1
Why it failed: Today DEVELOP magazine's front page stories were: ZYNGA falls 18%, Unity CEO Backs Kickstarter of Code Hero a game that teaches game development with a code gun, and Tim Schafer raises $2 million on Kickstarter.<p>Well I am the founder of Code Hero in the picture, Alex Pe
lxpk
- startupShut down2012
Ask HN: Laid off, frustrated, looking for advice
This is a combination of venting and looking for advice. It's a different account than my usual Hacker News, would like to be anonymous at this point since I'm looking for work. I live in a large city in the Eastern time zone, 40+ years old, my most recent job was for 12+ years at the same place, 10+ in Java. I got laid off in May. Got my resume together, talked to some recruiters, the usual stuff. I've had a couple of nibbles, couple of interviews, but no offers so far. It seems my problem is that the assignments I was given was just regular Java coding, more back end than front end. Not much J2EE technologies, light on servlets, JSP, JSF. Also, the company didn't use Hibernate or JUnit. Basically, I don't have the fashionable skills. I have no doubt that I could pick them up quickly, but if I don't go in saying that I have actual experience with them then firms don't want to talk to me
Why it failed: This is a combination of venting and looking for advice. It's a different account than my usual Hacker News, would like to be anonymous at this point since I'm looking for work. I live in a large city in the Eastern time zone, 40+ years old, my most recent job was for 12+ years a
layofflayabout
- startupShut down2012
Either support Linux/BSD or don't.
There are three types of software that is irritating me beyond belief coming from major tech companies. Ill address the offenders. 1. partial support OFFENDER: Netflix. ChromeOS support but no other linux support? ORLY? 2. opensource software abuse OFFENDER: Sony, (via playstation mobile SDK.) Aka, building tech that uses mono vm, and monodevelop to make a windows only SDK. Are you kidding me? Sony has become a damn software molester. Is a disgusting abuse of other people's work. I dont want to use Windows, I want to use the open source software on the operating systems they were created to run on in the first place.... 3. Last week's promised "Linux support coming next week." bullshit OFFENDER: Google. Are we getting google drive anytime soon? Like this decade perhaps? My concluding words is this. As somebody who writes open source software for the benefit of all my fellow programmers.
Why it failed: There are three types of software that is irritating me beyond belief coming from major tech companies. Ill address the offenders. 1. partial support OFFENDER: Netflix. ChromeOS support but no other linux support? ORLY? 2. opensource software abuse OFFENDER: Sony, (via playstatio
mortdeus
- startupShut down2011
Show HN: I emailed video game companies about breaking into the industry
A few years ago, I emailed a few prominent video game companies (Valve, Bethesda, Infinity Ward, and another I have lost the name to). I asked about how one gets a job in the video game industry. Although I'm no longer on that path, I figured the emails might be useful for anyone interested. Cheers: ----- Thanks for your interest and support of Valve. What does it take to get in to the gaming industry? I can’t give you a concrete answer, but, after speaking with several of employees, I can offer up these suggestions: 1. Hone your analytical skills. As a mental exercise, break down anything around your in life into its base elements. Try to figure out "If this were a game, what would the goal be? What would be my resources?". You can break anything down into meaningful quanta. School, marriage, cars, getting a job...anything could be turned into a game. It's very important for a game desi
Why it failed: A few years ago, I emailed a few prominent video game companies (Valve, Bethesda, Infinity Ward, and another I have lost the name to). I asked about how one gets a job in the video game industry. Although I'm no longer on that path, I figured the emails might be useful for anyone
keiferski
- startupShut down2011
Social anxiety is crippling my life, what can I do to stop it?
Apologies if this is not the appropriate place to ask this question, I guess I'm hoping that there are other "introverts" on here that have been in similar circumstances and can offer me advice. I turn 21 in a few months and I currently don't have any close friends and it is really starting to get me down. All through my life I've always been "that quiet person" and I have self-diagnosed myself with some form of moderate social anxiety. I had a large group of friends during high school and somewhat of a social life but I mostly just tagged along with the group and never became close friends with anyone. Following the end of high school I slowly lost contact with these people. My anxiety kept me from making any effort to stay in touch even though I wanted to. It's silly, but my brain processed it like this "if they don't invite me to things I guess they are not interested in hanging out w
Why it failed: Apologies if this is not the appropriate place to ask this question, I guess I'm hoping that there are other "introverts" on here that have been in similar circumstances and can offer me advice. I turn 21 in a few months and I currently don't have any close friends and it is real
anxiousThrowawy
- startupShut down2011
An Update on my Ask HN - 2223764
A few weeks ago I posted an Ask HN about what to do as my 3 next steps on a startup concept, and now I wanted to provide you with a quick update. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2223764 Based on some of the advice and information I received I decided that imperfect action was better than no action at all, so I went to my local San Diego Ruby meetup. I had some lengthy discussions with some of the folks that I met and concluded that as non-programmer attempting to manage full time hires was not practical and that subcontracting vs. full time was an appropriate next steps. I then asked for recommendations, and along with a trusted and experienced PHP programming friend did some interviewing of the local talent. With the average cost estimates, timelines projections and learning curves - I figured it was time to expand my search rather than risk it with the two person companies that I w
Why it failed: A few weeks ago I posted an Ask HN about what to do as my 3 next steps on a startup concept, and now I wanted to provide you with a quick update. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2223764 Based on some of the advice and information I received I decided that imperfect action was
bks
- startupShut down2011
Airpush are quite happy to support developers who want to deceive their users.
(Airpush are a controversial company that creates ad software that pushes ads to the Android notification bar usually used for new email and message notifications. Often users don't know which app they have to uninstall to get rid of them) Live Chat Transcript: Me: What are your guidelines for notifying end-users about notification area ads? You are now speaking with Lisa of Sales. Lisa: Hello Me: Hi Lisa: Welcome to Airpush Lisa: Are you a developer or advertiser? Me: developer Lisa: Great Lisa: Regarding your question, you can which users will receive your ad and that too how often Lisa: adjust* Me: How does a user know which app is sending the ads? Lisa: It will be reflecting your developer's dashboard once you start listing your apps Me: i.e. User X updates a dozen apps and suddenly starts getting notification ads. How do they know which app is creating them? Me: I'm talking about en
Why it failed: (Airpush are a controversial company that creates ad software that pushes ads to the Android notification bar usually used for new email and message notifications. Often users don't know which app they have to uninstall to get rid of them) Live Chat Transcript: Me: What are your
andybak
- startupShut down2011
What the Internet has done for me...
10 weeks ago I took on the challenge of running the entire London Underground for Harry Moseley's charity Help Harry Help Others (HelpHarryHelpOthers.com). I wanted to run 406 miles, travel through all 272 tube stops and complete every single tube line. Most importantly though I wanted to raise £10,000 for Harry's charity, I hope I can raise a £100,000. The internet has changed many things - how we communicate, how we gather information and how we interact. It has also changed the face of charity. Like many of you, I am on Twitter. One year ago it was recommended to me that I follow an 11 year old called Harry Moseley. Twitter comes in for a lot of criticism, some of it is deserved but had it not been for Twitter I would never have learned of Harry Moseley and his story. His story, that was unfolding on Twitter, read like this... Four years ago a 7 year old boy named Harry Moseley compla
Why it failed: 10 weeks ago I took on the challenge of running the entire London Underground for Harry Moseley's charity Help Harry Help Others (HelpHarryHelpOthers.com). I wanted to run 406 miles, travel through all 272 tube stops and complete every single tube line. Most importantly though I
sw1205
- startupShut down2011
Tell HN: How to get back at your start-up husband
“in order for any tech startup to succeed — there must be a strong spouse who is picking up the slack at home, being the emotional rock and feeling the high’s and low’s so deeply that they too are a de facto stakeholder” ~ Jonathon Sposato Wow, I can relate to that quote! Being a startup-spouse for the past 5 years was no walk in the park. After much hard work, blood, sweat and tears my husband sold his start-up business. It seems unreal still, but hey, it was on Techcrunch last week so it must be true! When I look back now, there were quite a few ups and a lot of tough downs, right to the end. The lessons learned though, are more valuable then anything. I’d love to share one of them, from my perspective as an involved spectator. When you’re in a start-up, the perimeters of what is good or bad in business are very vague, because what makes for doing well is very relative. Obvious reasoni
Why it failed: “in order for any tech startup to succeed — there must be a strong spouse who is picking up the slack at home, being the emotional rock and feeling the high’s and low’s so deeply that they too are a de facto stakeholder” ~ Jonathon Sposato Wow, I can relate to that quote! Being a
christeen
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Where do deadpool founders go?
Background: Fresh out of college, I cofounded a social media startup with another friend. We've been plugging away at it for the last 2 years making all the conceivable mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make. What finally broke the camel's back was actually not money but my realisation one day that we were not capable of executing the plan. There were many reasons for this but to name a few: 1) We were not end users of our product. Dog fooding felt like a chore 2) We caught on to the lean startup/4 steps schools of thought too late and could have saved ourselves a ton of mistakes by just reading the 4 steps 3) Inexperience all through the board from product management to marketing. Bad mentors giving bad advice exacerbated matters So the question is for me is really what next? The context for this question is that I definitely definitely definitely want to be involved in another startup
Why it failed: Background: Fresh out of college, I cofounded a social media startup with another friend. We've been plugging away at it for the last 2 years making all the conceivable mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make. What finally broke the camel's back was actually not money but my reali
Heisenbergg
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Help, my $150,000 student debt is ruining my life, and my future
Dear enlightened HN community, I am earnestly seeking as many helpful advice as I can get, pertaining to the painful state of existence I reside in due to ignorant & impulsive college decisions I made about a decade ago. Due to excessive math & science training in high school, I impulsively decided to go to an expensive East Coast Art school to study Art & Design, paid for on entirely borrowed student debt average 40k a year, for 4 years straight. I was extremely financial ignorant at that age, not at all understanding the actual income of those who chooses career in the creative fields. Straight out of school, I got an entry level marketing job offer. At that point, the job offer was so low, that it would leave me starving after my basic necessities, such as apartment & student debts are paid. I chose instead, to do something riskier, and more entrepreneurial straight ou
Why it failed: Dear enlightened HN community, I am earnestly seeking as many helpful advice as I can get, pertaining to the painful state of existence I reside in due to ignorant & impulsive college decisions I made about a decade ago. Due to excessive math & science training in high sc
heavilyindebt
- startupShut down2011
A remarkable email exchange with a developer who cares
EDIT: I realise the below isn't exactly readable so I posted a formatted version here: http://andrewsplastic.tumblr.com/ I recently installed a Chrome extension that didn't do exactly what I wanted. I uninstalled it and promptly forgot about it until the following email exchange happened: FROM BEN COE, THE CO-FOUNDER OF THE EXTENSION ATTACHMENTS.ME: Hey Andrew, Ben here. I'm one of the cofounders of Attachments.me: I've been reaching out to some of the people who signup for our service, I'd love to know how things are going for you. Any feedback you can provide about how the service is working for you so far, would be awesome. Also, I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for the product. Thanks for taking the time to try us out :) Cheers, Ben Coe MY REPLY: Hey Ben, Thanks for getting in touch. I uninstalled it. All I really needed was my attachments to appear on the right of the email
Why it failed: EDIT: I realise the below isn't exactly readable so I posted a formatted version here: http://andrewsplastic.tumblr.com/ I recently installed a Chrome extension that didn't do exactly what I wanted. I uninstalled it and promptly forgot about it until the following email exchange
andrewfelix
- startupShut down2011
Warn HN: Lots of Launches Coming
Every cycle we warn startups not to wait till 2 weeks before Demo Day to launch if they can avoid it, because there's always a glut of startups launching then. Every cycle they do anyway. It's now 2 weeks before Demo Day, so there are going to be a lot of new startups launching in the coming week. Please be nice to them. For you their launch may be "yet another YC startup," but for each individual startup this is their big moment.
Why it failed: Every cycle we warn startups not to wait till 2 weeks before Demo Day to launch if they can avoid it, because there's always a glut of startups launching then. Every cycle they do anyway. It's now 2 weeks before Demo Day, so there are going to be a lot of new startups launching i
pg
- startupShut down2011
I'm a cargo cult programmer, help me
Hello HN I come to you for help. I went to college and got an Information systems degree, it was a crappy college so the most programming we had was dabbling with arrays and pointers in C, not much Algorithsms & Data Structures, no unix, no Operating Systems and no compilers, and most importantly no problem solving. Half way through college my father died so I had to find a job to make ends meet, somehow i got sucked into the java "enterprise" world where I've been for the past 5 years, glueing API's and frameworks together, with some Javascript and SQL on the side, however on the verge of my 30's, I now have found that I lack the fundamentals of Computer Science, the things every programmer should know: Algo's, Data Structures, Operating Systems an understanding of compilers and being profficient with linux. Eventually I plan on going back to a real University and getting a CS degre
Why it failed: Hello HN I come to you for help. I went to college and got an Information systems degree, it was a crappy college so the most programming we had was dabbling with arrays and pointers in C, not much Algorithsms & Data Structures, no unix, no Operating Systems and no compilers,
jrookie