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.
1,900 solutions
- startupShut down2025
Launch HN: Opusense (YC X25) – AI assistant for construction inspectors on site
Hi HN, we're Roya and Michael, co-founders of Opusense AI ( https://www.opusense.com/ ), a tool to help engineers and consultants automatically generate construction site reports from typed or voice notes, plus photos. Here’s a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Pi1iih1_Y . Before this, I (Roya) worked in human-machine interaction at Huawei, and before that as a construction site inspector for civil engineering firms. I have a PhD in Civil Engineering, and in my experience reporting was by far the most tedious and mind-numbing part of the job. You’d walk around a site all day taking short notes (maybe, often you'd rely on memory) and snapping photos, then go to three more sites before finally making it back to the office and try to remember everything you wanted to write. Sometimes you’d fill in gaps from memory or you’d keep it purposefully
Why it failed: Hi HN, we're Roya and Michael, co-founders of Opusense AI ( https://www.opusense.com/ ), a tool to help engineers and consultants automatically generate construction site reports from typed or voice notes, plus photos. Here’s a video: https://www.you
rcody
- startupShut down2025
Launch HN: Mentat (YC F24) – Controlling LLMs with Runtime Intervention
Hi HN, I’m Cyril from CTGT. Today we’re launching Mentat ( https://docs.ctgt.ai/api-reference/endpoint/chat-completions ), an API that gives developers deterministic control over LLM behavior, steering reasoning and removing bias on the fly, without the compute of fine-tuning or the brittleness of prompt engineering. We use feature-level intervention and graph-based verification to fix hallucinations and enforce policies. This resonates in highly regulated industries or otherwise risky applications of AI where the fallout from incorrect or underperforming output can be significant. In financial services, using GenAI to scan for noncompliant communications can be arduous without an easy way to embed complex policies into the model. Similarly, a media outlet might want to scale AI-generated summaries of their content, but reliability and accuracy is paramount. Thes
Why it failed: Hi HN, I’m Cyril from CTGT. Today we’re launching Mentat ( https://docs.ctgt.ai/api-reference/endpoint/chat-completions ), an API that gives developers deterministic control over LLM behavior, steering reasoning and removing bias on the fly, without the c
cgorlla
- startupShut down2025
Launch HN: Cyberdesk (YC S25) – Automate Windows legacy desktop apps
Hi HN, We’re Mahmoud and Alan, building Cyberdesk ( https://www.cyberdesk.io/ ), a deterministic computer use agent for automating Windows desktop applications. Developers use us to automate repetitive tasks in legacy software in healthcare, accounting, construction, and more, by executing clicks and keystrokes directly into the desktop. Here’s a couple demos of Cyberdesk’s computer use agent: A fast file import automation into a legacy desktop app: https://youtu.be/H_lRzrCCN0E Working on a monster of a Windows monolith called OpenDental (showcases agent learning process as well): https://youtu.be/nXiJDebOJD0 . Filing a W-2 tax form: https://youtu.be/6VNEzHdc8mc Many industries are stuck with legacy Windows desktop applications, with staff plagued by repetitive tasks that are incredibly time consuming. Vendors offering automatio
Why it failed: Hi HN, We’re Mahmoud and Alan, building Cyberdesk ( https://www.cyberdesk.io/ ), a deterministic computer use agent for automating Windows desktop applications. Developers use us to automate repetitive tasks in legacy software in healthcare, accounting, constructio
mahmoud-almadi
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: We started building an AI dev tool but it turned into a Sims-style game
Hi HN! We’re Max and Peyton from The Interface ( https://www.theinterface.com/ ). We started out building an AI agent dev tool, but somewhere along the way it turned into Sims for AI agents. Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRPnX_f2V_c . The original idea was simple: make it easy to create AI agents. We started with Jupyter Notebooks, where each cell could be callable by MCP—so agents could turn them into tools for themselves. It worked well enough that the system became self-improving, churning out content, and acting like a co-pilot that helped you build new agents. But when we stepped back, what we had was these endless walls of text. And even though it worked, honestly, it was just boring. We were also convinced that it would be swallowed up by the next model’s capabilities. We wanted to build something else—something that made AI less of a bl
Why it failed: Hi HN! We’re Max and Peyton from The Interface ( https://www.theinterface.com/ ). We started out building an AI agent dev tool, but somewhere along the way it turned into Sims for AI agents. Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRPnX_f2V_c . T
maxraven
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: Train and deploy your own open-source humanoid in Python
Hi HN, I’m Ben, founder of K-Scale Labs (YC W24). Last year, I wanted to buy a humanoid robot that I could hack on, but the few options for sale were either too expensive, proprietary, or had a limited SDK. We set out to build an affordable humanoid robot using off-the-shelf components that can be built and shipped today, capable of running modern machine learning models, and make it completely open-source for developers like me. Today, we’re releasing our reinforcement learning library and sim2real pipeline for people who want to train policies for humanoid robots. If you have a computer, you can try out this pipeline in less than 5 minutes: https://github.com/kscalelabs/ksim-gym . Or try on Colab: https://colab.research.google.com/github/kscalelabs/ksim-gym... Getting started is as easy as: git clone https://github.com/kscalel
Why it failed: Hi HN, I’m Ben, founder of K-Scale Labs (YC W24). Last year, I wanted to buy a humanoid robot that I could hack on, but the few options for sale were either too expensive, proprietary, or had a limited SDK. We set out to build an affordable humanoid robot using off-the-shelf comp
codekansas
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: See what readers who loved your favorite book/author also loved to read
Hi HN, Every year, we ask thousands of readers (and authors) to share their 3 favorite reads of the year. Now you can enter a book/author you love and see what books readers loved who also loved that book/author. Try it here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025 This goes wide and doesn't try to limit itself to the genre, so you get some interesting results. What do you think? Background: I want better recommendations based on my reading history. I'm incredibly frustrated with what is out there. This system is based on 5,000 readers voting on their 3 favorite reads from 2023 to 2025. So, this covers ~15,000 books and is a high-quality vote. We wanted to keep the dataset small for now while we play with approaches. We are building a full Book DNA app that pulls in your Goodreads history and delivers deeply personalized book recommendations based on people
Why it failed: Hi HN, Every year, we ask thousands of readers (and authors) to share their 3 favorite reads of the year. Now you can enter a book/author you love and see what books readers loved who also loved that book/author. Try it here: https://shepherd.com/bboy
bwb
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: OverType – A Markdown WYSIWYG editor that's just a textarea
Hi HN! I got so frustrated with modern WYSIWYG editors that I started to play around with building my own. The problem I had was simple: I wanted a low-tech way to type styled text, but I didn't want to load a complex 500KB library, especially if I was going to initialize it dozens of times on the same page. Markdown in a plain <textarea> was the best alternative to a full WYSIWYG, but its main drawback is how ugly it looks without any formatting. I can handle it, but my clients certainly can't. I went down the ContentEditable rabbit hole for a few years, but always came to realize others had solved it better than I ever could. I kept coming back to this problem: why can't I have a simple, performant, beautiful markdown editor? The best solution I ever saw was Ghost's split-screen editor: markdown on the left, preview on the right, with synchronized scrolling. T
Why it failed: Hi HN! I got so frustrated with modern WYSIWYG editors that I started to play around with building my own. The problem I had was simple: I wanted a low-tech way to type styled text, but I didn't want to load a complex 500KB library, especially if I was going to initialize it
panphora
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: Pipo360 – Generate production-ready back end APIs in 60 seconds with AI
Hi HN , I got tired of writing the same boilerplate over and over — DB setup, auth, routes, security — every time I built a backend. So I built Pipo360 — an AI-powered tool that generates production-ready backends in under 60 seconds, from just a plain-text description. How it works: Type what you need “Create a task management API with user auth and MongoDB” Hit Generate Get real, exportable code Auth (JWT) Database schema CRUD routes Deployable to Vercel, AWS, etc. No templates. No lock-in. Just code that works. Why it’s different: Built with Gemini AI + human supervision (to ensure real prod-quality output) Exports to MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite Secure by default (JWT, RBAC, etc.) Supports no-login backend previews Try it live (No signup needed): https://pipo360.xyz Would love feedback: What backend would you try first? What would make it better for your workflow? Wou
Why it failed: Hi HN , I got tired of writing the same boilerplate over and over — DB setup, auth, routes, security — every time I built a backend. So I built Pipo360 — an AI-powered tool that generates production-ready backends in under 60 seconds, from just a plain-text description. How it wo
the_plug
- startupShut down2025
Claude Code weekly rate limits
Hi there, Next month, we're introducing new weekly rate limits for Claude subscribers, affecting less than 5% of users based on current usage patterns. Claude Code, especially as part of our subscription bundle, has seen unprecedented growth. At the same time, we’ve identified policy violations like account sharing and reselling access—and advanced usage patterns like running Claude 24/7 in the background—that are impacting system capacity for all. Our new rate limits address these issues and provide a more equitable experience for all users. What’s changing: Starting August 28, we're introducing weekly usage limits alongside our existing 5-hour limits: Current: Usage limit that resets every 5 hours (no change) New: Overall weekly limit that resets every 7 days New: Claude Opus 4 weekly limit that resets every 7 days As we learn more about how developers use Claude Code, w
Why it failed: Hi there, Next month, we're introducing new weekly rate limits for Claude subscribers, affecting less than 5% of users based on current usage patterns. Claude Code, especially as part of our subscription bundle, has seen unprecedented growth. At the same time, we’ve identifi
thebestmoshe
- startupShut down2025
Claude Code new limits – Important updates to your Max account usage limits
Hi there, Next month, we're introducing new weekly rate limits for Claude subscribers, affecting less than 5% of users based on current usage patterns. Claude Code, especially as part of our subscription bundle, has seen unprecedented growth. At the same time, we’ve identified policy violations like account sharing and reselling access—and advanced usage patterns like running Claude 24/7 in the background—that are impacting system capacity for all. Our new rate limits address these issues and provide a more equitable experience for all users. What’s changing: Starting August 28, we're introducing weekly usage limits alongside our existing 5-hour limits: Current: Usage limit that resets every 5 hours (no change) New: Overall weekly limit that resets every 7 days New: Claude Opus 4 weekly limit that resets every 7 days As we learn more about how developers use Claude Code, w
Why it failed: Hi there, Next month, we're introducing new weekly rate limits for Claude subscribers, affecting less than 5% of users based on current usage patterns. Claude Code, especially as part of our subscription bundle, has seen unprecedented growth. At the same time, we’ve identifi
ivanvas
- startupShut down2025
A change of address led to our Wise accounts being shut down
https://web.archive.org/web/20251030232647/https://shaun.nz/...
Why it failed: https://web.archive.org/web/20251030232647/https://shaun.nz/...
jemmyw
- startupShut down2025
Hemp ban hidden inside government shutdown bill
https://web.archive.org/web/20251113164403/https://hightimes...
Why it failed: https://web.archive.org/web/20251113164403/https://hightimes...
bilsbie
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: If I am so smart, why I am not rich?
I grew up very modestly, borderline poverty. None of my extended family/friend went to college, I was the first one to graduate from college later in life. I was always a good student A- since it didn't come easy but I was eager and motivated to put the time and work to achieve. When I was 18 with a few buddies we started a "fun" business and it was mildly successful. When I tried to start another business everyone told me that I needed an education (college). Fast forward a couple of decades I have my BS and MBA,with a decent career in high tech (operations). Through the years I have started a few projects and they all failed (my bad), at the same time I have been working for entrepreneurs who are able to make a pretty good living with mediocre ideas and bad management. I am now at a point in my career where I have the time and some funds to start something, but I am
Why it failed: I grew up very modestly, borderline poverty. None of my extended family/friend went to college, I was the first one to graduate from college later in life. I was always a good student A- since it didn't come easy but I was eager and motivated to put the time and work to
LeoDTO
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: Decided I no longer want to be a SWE – what next?
I recently spent the past six months working on a startup. We had a fair bit of momentum coming out of a well known accelerator and an idea with traction, but unfortunately the money just didn't quite show up for the seed. At 30, doing this without pay (and expenses covered) seemed like an ok idea, at least for a few months. But at this point I'm kind of done. Co-founder didn't understand why I wasn't interested working without salary anymore... there were other signs the relationship had broken down etc. Planning on letting him know I'm out near the end of this week. I started interviewing when these feelings started to get to me and... the VC from the accelerator ratted to my co-founder that they'd "heard from recruiters". This was effectively the most unprofessional breach of privacy I've ever experienced and as a result I think I'm do
Why it failed: I recently spent the past six months working on a startup. We had a fair bit of momentum coming out of a well known accelerator and an idea with traction, but unfortunately the money just didn't quite show up for the seed. At 30, doing this without pay (and expenses covered)
leeroihe
- startupShut down2025
Tell HN: Wise makes all user phone email and name data discoverable by default
I recently received an email from Wise advising me that their privacy notice had changed. Of particular concern was this: > Account discoverability: Our account discoverability feature allows other Wise users to send you money by just entering your phone number, email address or Wisetag. This feature is described in section 4.9 of our updated Privacy Notice. Clicking through to the article linked in the email [0]: > If someone finds you as a result of a successful WiseTag, email or phone search we’ll show them your full name and profile picture. > For customers in the EEA or UK: You need to opt in to receive money via phone number or email, if you haven't done so already. You can check if you're discoverable and change this this in your Privacy settings. > For customers outside the EEA and UK: You’re discoverable via phone number or email by default, but you can opt
Why it failed: I recently received an email from Wise advising me that their privacy notice had changed. Of particular concern was this: > Account discoverability: Our account discoverability feature allows other Wise users to send you money by just entering your phone number, email address
wise-throwaway
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: Did anyone else notice that the OpenAI Labs website was completely gone?
I was sad to discover today that all of my Dall-E image generations are gone, along with the entire https://labs.openai.com/ site. Apparently, some users received emails earlier in the year when it was about to be taken down, but I didn't. There were quite a few images in my history that I would have liked to have saved. Maybe worse is how much this lowers my trust in OpenAI even further than it already had been. Dall-E was not a small platform; it was a cultural phenomenon accessed by hundreds of millions of users. It's bewildering that OpenAI would so silently "take it behind the shed." I'm searching, and it doesn't seem as if there was even an HN post about the shutdown. So, it didn't even hit this place's radar. How many of you are hearing this for the first time? I don't understand how a company like OpenAI could be so reck
Why it failed: I was sad to discover today that all of my Dall-E image generations are gone, along with the entire https://labs.openai.com/ site. Apparently, some users received emails earlier in the year when it was about to be taken down, but I didn't. There were quite a f
underlipton
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: To LinkedIn am I just collateral damage of a barely functioning system
I have been on linked in for almost as long as I have been in tech. My current account has been in use since at least 2017. On Sunday, shortly after creating a new ad campaign, using the free ads credit provided by LinkedIn, I was refreshing the browser to see how the ads was progressing. Suddenly, I was logged out of my account, to verify my identity. I have taken a live picture, as instructed by the app, and also uploaded a scanned copy of my original national ID card. I have used my ID card for every form of verification I have encountered and never had a single problem. My ID is valid and my picture is what's on my LinkedIn profile. Despite all this, the LinkedIn identity verification page kept telling me "Couldn't verify photos". I have contacted the LinkedIn support team. There has literally been 14 messages back and forth, and all I have gotten every single tim
Why it failed: I have been on linked in for almost as long as I have been in tech. My current account has been in use since at least 2017. On Sunday, shortly after creating a new ad campaign, using the free ads credit provided by LinkedIn, I was refreshing the browser to see how the ads was pro
qbqetell
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: Workout.cool – Open-source fitness coaching platform
I was the main contributor to workout.lol, an open-source fitness app to easily build a workout routine. The project had traction (1.4k GitHub stars, 95 forks, ~20K visits/month), but was eventually sold due to video licensing hurdles. The new owner stopped maintaining it, and the repo went abandoned. Over the next 9 months, I sent 15 emails to try to save it : no replies. Feature requests & issues were ignored. The community was left with a "broken" tool let's say. I couldn't just let it die So I built the new version from scratch with the same open-source spirit, but a better architecture long-term vision, more features and no license problems. It's called : Workout.cool ( https://workout.cool ). What it offers: 100% open-source, MIT-licensed - 1200+ exercises (with videos, attributes, translations) - Progress tracking - Multilingual-ready -
Why it failed: I was the main contributor to workout.lol, an open-source fitness app to easily build a workout routine. The project had traction (1.4k GitHub stars, 95 forks, ~20K visits/month), but was eventually sold due to video licensing hurdles. The new owner stopped maintaining it, a
surgomat
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: How will the OSA affect small Mastodon instances?
I am not currently a user of Mastodon, but I have some interest in the project. I was looking at some stuff that seemed to indicate to me that the OSA could make it difficult to self host Mastodon without providing age verification. I was then reading the provisions and realsised that it didn't really affect you unless you have at least 3 million monthly users, so in theory would not affect self hosters with only a few users. But then I thought that if you are federated with a very large instance then your users could potentially be able to interact with enough users to fall under the provisions. This could potentially be a grey area that could expose self hosters to considerable risk if they are not careful. I wonder if there any UK based Mastodon hosters out there who are considering this. Are you considering shutting down to prevent any liability? Could this be the "death&qu
Why it failed: I am not currently a user of Mastodon, but I have some interest in the project. I was looking at some stuff that seemed to indicate to me that the OSA could make it difficult to self host Mastodon without providing age verification. I was then reading the provisions and realsised
Digit-Al
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: Not treated respectfully by colleague – advice?
I work with a competent jerk: https://www.pickardlaws.com/myleadership/myfiles/rtdocs/hbr/... Backstory -- I joined my current team a year ago. It was falling apart. The team members hated each other and were trying to get each other fired. The team lead who’d joined a quarter before had quit to join another team largely due to conflict with one difficult coworker. Then I joined as the lead. I helped to stabilize the team over the last year. It’s grown from four to ten engineers. Three engineers joined specifically to work with me. Yet the entire time I’ve been on that team, that one difficult coworker has been criticizing and fighting almost everything I’ve done. That coworker was relatively inexperienced, yet was told by a previous director that he was meant to be the lead of this platform. Hence the fighting with the other lead from a year ago. And w
Why it failed: I work with a competent jerk: https://www.pickardlaws.com/myleadership/myfiles/rtdocs/hbr/... Backstory -- I joined my current team a year ago. It was falling apart. The team members hated each other and were trying to get each other fired. The
golly_ned
- startupShut down2025
I launched 17 side projects. Result? I'm rich in expired domains
I think I'm officially a side project collector. I've had it all: A SaaS for freelancers... that I never had time to finish because I'm a freelancer. A revolutionary AI tool that I abandoned as soon as GPT-4 came out. And the famous "anti-social media social network" (spoiler: it was just me). I buy a domain name → I code for 3 all-nighters → I lose interest → I start again. My Google Domains look like a graveyard of unfinished dreams. But honestly, I've never learned so much, nor enjoyed it so much. And one day, I might release one that takes off. Or not. But I'll be ready. Any other serial side-projectors here? Share your greatest fails/unlikely successes
Why it failed: I think I'm officially a side project collector. I've had it all: A SaaS for freelancers... that I never had time to finish because I'm a freelancer. A revolutionary AI tool that I abandoned as soon as GPT-4 came out. And the famous "anti-social media social n
cesargstn
- startupShut down2025
Ask HN: Where to Work After 40?
I turned 40 last month and spent the past decade working on my own startup that ultimately failed. I'm now trying to figure out the next step. Someone once said to me, Google is the place you go to retire after 40. I've done my time at various startups, and spent some time at Google. As an engineer the landscape of things is always changing and we've now moved from Cloud to AI pretty rapidly. I'm just curious to know what moves people made after 40 and what worked for them.
Why it failed: I turned 40 last month and spent the past decade working on my own startup that ultimately failed. I'm now trying to figure out the next step. Someone once said to me, Google is the place you go to retire after 40. I've done my time at various startups, and spent some t
asim
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: Core – open source memory graph for LLMs – shareable, user owned
I keep running in the same problem of each AI app “remembers” me in its own silo. ChatGPT knows my project details, Cursor forgets them, Claude starts from zero… so I end up re-explaining myself dozens of times a day across these apps. The deeper problem 1. Not portable – context is vendor-locked; nothing travels across tools. 2. Not relational – most memory systems store only the latest fact (“sticky notes”) with no history or provenance. 3. Not yours – your AI memory is sensitive first-party data, yet you have no control over where it lives or how it’s queried. Demo video: https://youtu.be/iANZ32dnK60 Repo: https://github.com/RedPlanetHQ/core What we built - CORE (Context Oriented Relational Engine): An open source, shareable knowledge graph (your memory vault) that lets any LLM (ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude, SOL, etc.) share and query the same persistent
Why it failed: I keep running in the same problem of each AI app “remembers” me in its own silo. ChatGPT knows my project details, Cursor forgets them, Claude starts from zero… so I end up re-explaining myself dozens of times a day across these apps. The deeper problem 1. Not portable – context
Manik_agg
- startupShut down2025
Show HN: Kimu – Open-Source Video Editor
I wanted a proper non-linear video editor built for the web. It always annoyed me how there are practically zero functioning web video editors. And here we are :) Kimu can: - Work with Video, Audio & Text. - Supports Transitions. - Non-Linear Video Editing with z-axis overlays. - Split/trim - Export - A cute AI agent (coming soon!) I'm in uni and I started this project out of sheer annoyance that there are zero good web video editors. It is open-source here ( https://github.com/robinroy03/videoeditor ). What do y'all think?
Why it failed: I wanted a proper non-linear video editor built for the web. It always annoyed me how there are practically zero functioning web video editors. And here we are :) Kimu can: - Work with Video, Audio & Text. - Supports Transitions. - Non-Linear Video Editing with z-axis overlay
robinroy03