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 down2011
Ask HN: My first startup offer
Hello Hackers, I'm on the edge of taking the plunge into the startup scene. I've received the deets of the offer, now I have to decide. I'm hoping someone can help me run the numbers and figure out if it's a fair offer... There's 3 co-founders. They're a smashing team of folks but none of which will be technical. One has a technical background (and some successful iPhone apps and such), but they're staying on the business end. Those are the only employees right now. There's no product. This is definitely the 'ground floor'. They're raising 750k on a 7M valuation doing capped convertible notes (at a 7M cap). To that end, they've been running small events and have people that have been attending them. Nothing huge but it's a slight glimmer of some market validation. They're recruiting 3 technical engineers to develop v1 of the product. Myself as a backend developer, a PM + UX developer, an
Why it failed: Hello Hackers, I'm on the edge of taking the plunge into the startup scene. I've received the deets of the offer, now I have to decide. I'm hoping someone can help me run the numbers and figure out if it's a fair offer... There's 3 co-founders. They're a smashing team of folks bu
startup_noob
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Why not fix JavaScript?
Hello Hackers, I have been learning JavaScript and have observed: 1) Most programmers program using javascript libraries(e.g jQuery), whose syntax is not even vaguely similar to pure javascript which often gives so called jQuery programmers a shock when they attempt to do things in Javascript. I would agrue that less than 1% of so called web programmers can do pure javascript programming. 2) Some Popular web frameworks have resorted to choosing altogether different language that "compiles into Javascript". If its not clear I am talking about Ruby on Rails & Coffee-script. In-short, JavaScript does have not-so-good parts and people are using workarounds to get those bad things to behave nicely. so as a new Developer looking to learn JavaScript. I face this dilemma of choosing between a) Pure Js b)JS libraries C) language that "compiles into Javascript". And what I have observed there
Why it failed: Hello Hackers, I have been learning JavaScript and have observed: 1) Most programmers program using javascript libraries(e.g jQuery), whose syntax is not even vaguely similar to pure javascript which often gives so called jQuery programmers a shock when they attempt to do things
gary4gar
- startupShut down2011
How we fed ourselves for a year & sold a startup...with only 300 lines of code
Hello Hacker News, I’ve been reading HN for a long time now and love the way the community shares thoughts with each other. I haven’t done anything extraordinary or extremely successful, but I want to chip in to the community with this experience that I find pretty interesting. A year ago, I moved to San Francisco from rural Missouri hoping to join the start-up world. At the same time, I met a friend, Zac, who also just moved to the bay area around that time but had left his job to pursue something more interesting. We decided to become partners and start hacking stuff together. Since we were new to the city and we didn’t know any one, we decided to build a mobile app that lets people use their phone to read the profiles of others nearby. It was supposed to help people “break the ice” and meet new people. This was our first startup. We coded the product in a week and pushed the product l
Why it failed: Hello Hacker News, I’ve been reading HN for a long time now and love the way the community shares thoughts with each other. I haven’t done anything extraordinary or extremely successful, but I want to chip in to the community with this experience that I find pretty interesting. A
felixchan
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Pharmaceutical BigCo wants to acquire my iPad app. Advice?
Hey HN, throwaway account here. My partner and I created an iPad app and it's been pretty successful (especially considering it was only a 4 week investment). The app is in the top 100 US & China, covered by NYT, ABC, Gizmodo, etc. Now a BigCo Pharmaceutical is asking to buy the app (not the company), code and all. They want to rebrand it and re-release it as one of their products. We are an LLC, but we didn't take any funding, so we don't have any "advisors" as such. We're technicians, not lawyers, and we are more or less clueless on the best way to go about negotiating (and closing) this deal. What advice can you give us on negotiating? Are there any HNers out there that have been through this sort of mini-acquisition before that are willing to reach out to us? (please comment and I'll ping you via my normal account). Have any good links to read? A few details you might want to kno
Why it failed: Hey HN, throwaway account here. My partner and I created an iPad app and it's been pretty successful (especially considering it was only a 4 week investment). The app is in the top 100 US & China, covered by NYT, ABC, Gizmodo, etc. Now a BigCo Pharmaceutical is asking to buy
luckyclueless
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: I just wasted 4 years of my life. Now what?
Hi HN, this is a long one - grab your popcorn. [Removed some background info due to length, but the gist was that I’ve had the entrepreneurial bug for as long as I can remember] I just graduated from the General Engineering program [1] at the University of Illinois in December, and I can tell you that my time spent at UIUC was absolutely horrible. Year after year, I was told things would get better- “These are just weed out classes, don’t worry. Things get better after this.” Year after year, things stayed the same. In four years, I never felt inspired or motivated. I tried switching majors, but was strongly advised against it due to a weak job market in the target field (industrial design). I couldn’t drop out or start over, because upwards of $100,000 was on the table for my education. I was surrounded my classmates who didn’t give a shit about engineering or learning – their priority
Why it failed: Hi HN, this is a long one - grab your popcorn. [Removed some background info due to length, but the gist was that I’ve had the entrepreneurial bug for as long as I can remember] I just graduated from the General Engineering program [1] at the University of Illinois in December, a
guynamedloren
- startupShut down2011
Offer HN: Free in-house mobile ad exchange
Hi HN, Offer: Free in-house-ads for your apps in my mobile apps in exchange for some in-house-ads in your mobile apps. Details: I am starting to release several small ad-supported iPhone apps in which I can run in-house ads to advertise anything I want. So far, I have been using them to cross promote my other apps, and they get a high click-through rate. The problem is, there are not too many, so users end up seeing the same ads over and over. Variety is the spice of life, so I am willing to show in-house ads for your mobile apps in exchange for ads in your apps. Yes, this is like the banner link exchange systems of the wild-west-web. Right now I will only consider apps that are native iOS apps, or mobile web apps optimized for iPhone/iPad browsers. I have no idea what interest in this offer will be like, so I can't promise to accept everyone that wants it, but I will write you an email
Why it failed: Hi HN, Offer: Free in-house-ads for your apps in my mobile apps in exchange for some in-house-ads in your mobile apps. Details: I am starting to release several small ad-supported iPhone apps in which I can run in-house ads to advertise anything I want. So far, I have been using
jazzychad
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Can I help you be more awesome today? (No strings. Inquire within.)
Hi again! I'm back for another "No Strings" session. I like this community a lot and want to see if there's anything I can do to make you a little more successful. There are no strings attached. (Hense, the name.) To give you an idea of what I might be able to help you with, let me tell you a few things I've done to help others... - I've helped consult with non-developers about their idea to help them understand what it'll take to implement, - I'm currently building the control panel (front and back-end) of an embedded (ARM-based) wifi access point, - I'm planning educational workshops for our community to learn (cram) on different technologies and how they can be quickly used for different benefits, - I read approximately 600+ different articles, blog entries, and stories each month about what the tech world is doing. (I'm pretty informed!) - I understand good design from bad design. Ae
Why it failed: Hi again! I'm back for another "No Strings" session. I like this community a lot and want to see if there's anything I can do to make you a little more successful. There are no strings attached. (Hense, the name.) To give you an idea of what I might be able to help you with, let
mikegreenberg
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Review my startup, Beansight.com
Hi Everyone, One of my friend told me that I can get great feedbacks with Ask HN to improve my startups. So let's ask you. I'am working working on a new website where people can share predictions and be rewarded for good ones. On Beansight you can share and record your predictions about what it’s going to happen. You can also read other members predictions and agree or disagree with them. Most important, you can also write comments to argue your position. If members make good predictions, they will earn credibility points and if they earn a lot of them, they will become an expert on Beansight. So they will be able to use their Beansight profile to prove their expertise. We're planning on launching a lot of new features in the coming months, but we've gotten to a point where we'd really appreciate some feedback for improving effect. We are particularly looking for feedback about the UI. T
Why it failed: Hi Everyone, One of my friend told me that I can get great feedbacks with Ask HN to improve my startups. So let's ask you. I'am working working on a new website where people can share predictions and be rewarded for good ones. On Beansight you can share and record your prediction
Oyinko
- startupShut down2011
Tell HN: I've decided to give my software away for free
Hi HN, About 6 weeks ago, I launched a new piece of social networking software named Kwolla. Kwolla lets you create your own social network platform. Sales were initially very good, but they've since dwindled. I'm working on a much newer version of the software and also trying to find a way to monetize it. During that time, I've decided to at least give it away free so hopefully some people can get use out of it. I plan on having a full post-mortem on my blog - http://blog.leftnode.com giving more information about future releases and the results of giving my software away free. If you're interested, head on over to http://kwolla.com and download a copy.
Why it failed: Hi HN, About 6 weeks ago, I launched a new piece of social networking software named Kwolla. Kwolla lets you create your own social network platform. Sales were initially very good, but they've since dwindled. I'm working on a much newer version of the software and also trying to
leftnode
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: I'm considering taking over my family's business and need advice
HN, I need some advice, but first I must give a bit of a back story. Apologies if it is a bit long. I’m also posting this from a throwaway account for privacy reasons, but I am an avid HNer and greatly respect the advice that so many people give freely within the community. If anyone thinks they have particularly good insights into this situation and would be willing to take some time to chat please send me a message at throwaway1445@gmail.com In 1996 my dad sold his shares of a software product and used the money to bootstrap the development of a business software application in a field that barely existed at the time, but has exploded since then. Here are some relevant facts about the business 15 years later: - Enterprise SaaS application - Annual revenue in the mid to high 6 figures. - Five employees counting both of my parents (my mom is the other co-founder of the business) - Locate
Why it failed: HN, I need some advice, but first I must give a bit of a back story. Apologies if it is a bit long. I’m also posting this from a throwaway account for privacy reasons, but I am an avid HNer and greatly respect the advice that so many people give freely within the community. If an
throwaway1445
- startupShut down2011
Show HN: The Final Days of a Failed Startup
http://lookingbackaretrospective.posterous.com I've posted this before while it was still in progress, but the final chapter has been added, and so I wanted to submit it one final time, for people to be able to read the work in it's entirety. This is the true story of one developers life while he worked for a start-up that never got more than a few feet off of the ground before a pitiful crash and burn. It spans nearly 4 years, and focuses mainly on the people and events that helped to define the work. It's very much a personal memoir, and not at all a dive into what kind of role our stack played in things. I would appreciate any questions, comments, or criticism that people may have, and would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this. It was incredibly cathartic to go through the process of writing this all down, and it was great to know that there were people out there enj
Why it failed: http://lookingbackaretrospective.posterous.com I've posted this before while it was still in progress, but the final chapter has been added, and so I wanted to submit it one final time, for people to be able to read the work in it's entirety. This is the true story of one develop
manuscreationis
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: My Startup is Going to Die Because I Messed Up
I'm 24. I started a company 7 months ago, planning to bootstrap it with $5,000 borrowed from family. We started working hard at creating our brand. Logos, webdesign, website copy, flyers, and SEO. We divided our time equally between these tasks and selling the product. We were headed to profitability in short order. I quickly learned my cofounder was over his head in personal debt, and could no longer work full time. Some of our borrowed money went to him to try to keep him around for a couple of extra months ($1,200). It didn't work and he had to get a job. We've been floundering back and forth, spent the majority of our money, I invested another $1,000 to help us make one more sales surge to allow us to dedicate more time. We planned to see if this startup would work, setting a sales and spending goal in under 60 days. Success and we continue, failure and we cut our losses. We planned
Why it failed: I'm 24. I started a company 7 months ago, planning to bootstrap it with $5,000 borrowed from family. We started working hard at creating our brand. Logos, webdesign, website copy, flyers, and SEO. We divided our time equally between these tasks and selling the product. We were he
calebhicks
- startupShut down2011
What should I do with my life?
I'm 20. Never finished high school, did several years of classes at community colleges I took just for fun (mostly art, science, and math). I really just breathed through most of my classes there, and usually would come stoned, just to hangout (and still end up passing classes most of the time). Somehow college seemed like a better alternative to sitting at home watching stupid movies. Worked as a software engineer (Flash/C++) for some time, then was like "fuck it", quit, started freelancing/studying art. Now, I don't know what to do. My lack of degree or specialization makes me feel like I have less of an identity. I don't know what to put in my Facebook profile. I always feel like a drug-addled high-school drop-out, who burned his mind so much he'll end up homeless on the street. Like one of those crazy people who talk about aliens all the time, and such. But then I remember I actually
Why it failed: I'm 20. Never finished high school, did several years of classes at community colleges I took just for fun (mostly art, science, and math). I really just breathed through most of my classes there, and usually would come stoned, just to hangout (and still end up passing classes mo
mannicken
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: What do people do with the code from failed startups?
I see a good amount of failed startup stories come across HN and I always wonder what they do with the code after they have called it quits. I haven't really seen a case of someone open-sourcing their code and uploading on github or something. I know that this is easier said than done, there are probably some legal issues around it. Nonetheless, I am just curious in what people actually do. Do they destroy it? Archive it? Print it out and burn it?
Why it failed: I see a good amount of failed startup stories come across HN and I always wonder what they do with the code after they have called it quits. I haven't really seen a case of someone open-sourcing their code and uploading on github or something. I know that this is easier said than
bobbywilson0
- startupShut down2011
Tell HN: Our VC turned the process of getting acquired into a nightmare
I run a startup I co-founded on the east coast, which is about as specific as I can be right now. The past three months has been some of the worst in my life but also provided some of the most valuable lessons learned. I thought I would use a throwaway account to blow of some steam and hopefully get some valuable feedback. This is the situation: My startup is profitable with a team of 10 or so people and with a very happy and loyal customer base. But after five years in business I have come to accept that it has failed to yield any really high growth. This has forced us to take a step back and look at how we can reframe our business. We need to find a new product/market fit to kick in the next gear and get back on track to higher growth. Three months ago, a favorable acquisition offer comes along. Part cash part equity, favorable terms. Because of our dwindling growth it is lousy timing
Why it failed: I run a startup I co-founded on the east coast, which is about as specific as I can be right now. The past three months has been some of the worst in my life but also provided some of the most valuable lessons learned. I thought I would use a throwaway account to blow of some ste
throwaway5317
- startupShut down2011
Offer HN: I'll help you become a hacker
I want to help people make things, and I want to become a better hacker, teacher, and writer. Teaching people to become hackers over email kills all three birds with one stone. :) So if you are a non-technical HNewser who wants to start hacking, I want to help you. The idea is that we'll figure out what you want to learn, then three times a week we'll correspond via email. And over time, you'll learn technical skills -- and more importantly, I'll help you learn how to learn technical skills. What to expect from me: - Help choosing learning materials - Answers to your questions. - Help coming up with projects (homework!) - Comments on the work you do - Commitment for 30 days, then we'll reevaluate Here are things I can help you with. Server side: - PHP - Ruby on Rails, - MySQL, - Apache administration Client side: - HTML - CSS - JavaScript ( jQuery optional ) - Design - Usability Basics:
Why it failed: I want to help people make things, and I want to become a better hacker, teacher, and writer. Teaching people to become hackers over email kills all three birds with one stone. :) So if you are a non-technical HNewser who wants to start hacking, I want to help you. The idea is th
jpadvo
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: I'm considering leaving a startup to look for big-company jobs (really).
I know this decision may not be popular around here, but I think the quality of advice that I'll get is good, so I'm going to ask for it. I'm a talented programmer who is now considering leaving a startup and moving back into the big-company fold. My savings are near zero-- that rules out another startup-- and a part of me thinks that a big-company job for a while might not be the worst thing in the world. I've decided to leave a startup in which I was a founder, although the partnership was always a bit unequal (I'm the youngest and don't have any contacts to potential customers or VCs) and our CEO often takes the attitude of it being a one-man show (i.e. he tends to get "set" in decisions without appeal, he makes shitty comments if we take a long lunch, and we deal with 2-4 status checks per day). I've been treated enough like an employee that my motivation has crashed and I essentiall
Why it failed: I know this decision may not be popular around here, but I think the quality of advice that I'll get is good, so I'm going to ask for it. I'm a talented programmer who is now considering leaving a startup and moving back into the big-company fold. My savings are near zero-- that
throwaway4921
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: I'm giving away my startup taketake.com for free - who wants it?
I could go in a long explanation of the personal reasons why my co-founder and I have decided to give away our startup, but let's just say in a nutshell that we've burned out. We're looking for at least two people to give it away to. Preferably a team with both tech and UI/UX experience. We're running on our own PHP framework. You'd need to master nginx, redis, resque, Node, MySQL and MongoDB as well. You will get the majority stake after a vesting period. You'd be in charge of everything and it would be your startup to do with as you see fit. My co-founder and I would retain a minority equity stake in the startup and have an advisory role. We thought of shutting down everything, but would rather "give" the startup to another team to take over. We believe in taketake a great deal and have some solid ideas for its business model. We are looking for a team who are ready to fully dedicate t
Why it failed: I could go in a long explanation of the personal reasons why my co-founder and I have decided to give away our startup, but let's just say in a nutshell that we've burned out. We're looking for at least two people to give it away to. Preferably a team with both tech and UI/UX exp
heymatty
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Would you share your story of a failed startup, please?
I am working on a new project. I think it could be of interest for the public. It's a place where you can share your story about your failed startup. It will be a detailed review of the project from its start to its end. There is a good approach to think that there is no bad experience. You are not a loser if you have a startup that didn't pay out with money or success. You with your experience can be a more valuable professional than the one who never faced all the hurdle of developing and promoting a startup. More than that, if there are only fewer than 10% of startups take become successful, why there is so little information on the remaining 90%? Together we can fill in this source providing images, statistics, interviews, images. It can then help new entrepreneurs make their decisions more wisely as well as it will make the whole image of startups life clearer. I have almost done th
Why it failed: I am working on a new project. I think it could be of interest for the public. It's a place where you can share your story about your failed startup. It will be a detailed review of the project from its start to its end. There is a good approach to think that there is no bad expe
cosmorocket
- startupShut down2011
Google's Android Market is crippling small development teams
I've been a long time lurker on Hacker News. I apologize for the somewhat sensationalist title, but it really is rather true. Out of Milk started off as a dedicated Android project as our attempt to create an application for Android phones that absolutely screamed quality. We looked at the apps currently available on Google's Market and realized that there is a lack of quality applications with dedicated developers. We have spent a lot of money and a lot of time trying to prove that Android is a robust and high-quality platform. Unfortunately, Google is making this extremely difficult. I am a developer / co-founder of one the most popular Shopping List and Productivity applications on the Android Market. Our application is called Out of Milk (https://Market.android.com/details?id=com.capigami.outofmilk). As of right now, we are currently nearing 1 million downloads, a gigantic install ba
Why it failed: I've been a long time lurker on Hacker News. I apologize for the somewhat sensationalist title, but it really is rather true. Out of Milk started off as a dedicated Android project as our attempt to create an application for Android phones that absolutely screamed quality. We loo
CCapigami
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: How to overcome strong feelings of worthlesness and inadequacy
I need help HN. I have been stuck in a dead end job for the past few years and I've forgotten what's it like to have a passion for development, I've forgotten what's it like to have the ability to create something. A bit of background first: I have been programming for the past 6 years, mostly I've been doing pretty much the same job for the past six years (1 year repeated 6 times) even though I somewhat enjoyed it I never learned anything besides the typical CRUD apps. Very few times I had to develop something from scratch, my job consisted mostly of fixing bugs and the new feature every now and then, so even though I have 6 years of "programming" experience I feel unable to build stuff, I am far far away from being a truly experienced developer. I graduated with an information technology degree where I was not exposed to a lot of computer science, however I never really saw it as a fla
Why it failed: I need help HN. I have been stuck in a dead end job for the past few years and I've forgotten what's it like to have a passion for development, I've forgotten what's it like to have the ability to create something. A bit of background first: I have been programming for the past 6
dazedconfused
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: How do you stay focused on one idea?
I have been working on one startup or another since I was in my teens. Not one has been super-successful, but that's ok because I expect that as an entrepreneur. I've learned a lot along the way. What I can't seem to do, however, is stay focused on just one idea. I am a developer and an ok designer. I'm good at what I do (in general, as a developer) and am constantly coming up with new ideas. I have a few that I really like, and I've spent serious time on a few of them, but I find myself becoming bored of each idea before too long, and then I am off thinking about or looking into some other new and exciting idea. How do you stay focused on just one idea? It feels like any decent idea could be profitable enough to help me leave my job with enough persistence, but I can't seem to stay focused or excited about just one idea. What I want is independence and to build something that other peop
Why it failed: I have been working on one startup or another since I was in my teens. Not one has been super-successful, but that's ok because I expect that as an entrepreneur. I've learned a lot along the way. What I can't seem to do, however, is stay focused on just one idea. I am a developer
bry
- startupShut down2011
Plea HN: perfectionism is ruining my life
I've been lurking on HN for about two years. I'm posting this here because I'm not sure where else to turn and there are a bunch of smart people here who may be able to help. I'm in my late 20s and I feel stuck. I had a lot of issues growing up and thankfully was able to work through most of them with the help of a very caring school counsellor. I never went to college and spent a few years drifting between dead end jobs. I currently work in (tele) sales. I taught myself to program as a teenager on an old Commodore Amiga. Since then I've learned a number of different languages on a few different platforms. Over the years I've started countless projects - more than I can remember. The thing is - I never finish them. I either spend weeks or months refactoring and rewriting the code or more commonly, I finish writing the code then give up when it comes to designing, documenting and polishin
Why it failed: I've been lurking on HN for about two years. I'm posting this here because I'm not sure where else to turn and there are a bunch of smart people here who may be able to help. I'm in my late 20s and I feel stuck. I had a lot of issues growing up and thankfully was able to work thr
introuble
- startupShut down2011
Ask HN: Why are a majority of companies not-open to hiring remote developers?
I have worked in all types of settings. Fortune 250. 5 person startup. Mid-size companies. I have managed remote teams that have built amazing technology. I have been a part of local teams that can't get their head straight. In speaking with job prospects recently, it seems like very few companies (~ 5%) are open to some type of remote work. Now please understand, I am not looking to work remote b/c I want to live in the French Riviera. I have personal commitments where I am that prevent me from leaving (at least temporarily). As a Ruby developer (from what I hear and see), my skills are in high demand. Take this awesome recruiter email to me: -- start email ---- I am a recruiter here in the Bay Area working with several significant consumer-focused internet tech companies. What's going on in the Bay Area right now (and why I am writing you) is a major shortage of qualified Ruby engineer
Why it failed: I have worked in all types of settings. Fortune 250. 5 person startup. Mid-size companies. I have managed remote teams that have built amazing technology. I have been a part of local teams that can't get their head straight. In speaking with job prospects recently, it seems like
mdink