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.
1,395 solutions
- startupShut down2010
Tell HN: I got screwed by my employer
Premise: this story is in part my fault too, but I will leave it here to warn other people on this subject: bootstrapping a startup while employed. I worked in a consulting company in my country of origin and I was bootstrapping a startup in the meanwhile. A few weeks ago I moved to another job in another country. Now I have to close my startup because my employer does not allow it. There are posts like this one http://blog.asmartbear.com/working-startup.html that tell you that usually things go well in this regard. While I don't doubt it, it wasn't my case. If you want to start a startup while employed, be very careful on this matter. Actually everything seemed ok with this at first. I was hired in my current position because of my startup (I have an iPhone developer position here and the only iPhone development I ever made was in my startup) and during the interview I was asked if I wa
Why it failed: Premise: this story is in part my fault too, but I will leave it here to warn other people on this subject: bootstrapping a startup while employed. I worked in a consulting company in my country of origin and I was bootstrapping a startup in the meanwhile. A few weeks ago I moved
DeusExMachina
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: What is Gravity?
While watching a documentary that mentioned gravity (forgive me the particulars escape me at the moment) my 8yo son reached across my lap and tapped the space-bar pausing the video. He then turned toward me and asked, ‘what is gravity?’ Now, in our house we require explanations for actions because we are becoming, sadly too late in life, convinced that being on purpose is paramount. Because it is our opinion that if you do not understand, even at the most base level (epistemological questions aside), why you are doing something then you will never have any power over what you do. When any of us does something that results in negative consequences we try to be in the habit of either tracing down the root of our reasoning or admitting that we had none. To this end we have made much of the distinction between description and explanation. Briefly; all explanations include description but not
Why it failed: While watching a documentary that mentioned gravity (forgive me the particulars escape me at the moment) my 8yo son reached across my lap and tapped the space-bar pausing the video. He then turned toward me and asked, ‘what is gravity?’ Now, in our house we require explanations f
shawndumas
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Why do I always waste time on the weekends?
There's a way for me to make some money, but it requires that I setup a fairly complicated spreadsheet to monitor several variables. All through last week, I've been printing Excel tutorials and ebooks, telling myself that I'll do the spreadsheet over the weekend, so I can start earning immediately. I want to put the money towards a startup. How did I spend my weekend? Friday Night: Listening to rap and channel surfing. I've got all weekend, right? Saturday: Spend half the day browsing, the other half watching about 4 movies. Still got all day Sunday, right? Sunday: Wake up @ 10. Watch a few World Cup matches, while surfing YouTube. I can do it later right? Now I just got to work, and I'm disgusted with myself. I want to leave this job as soon as possible (one's soul can only be sucked so much), but my constant procrastination isn't helping things. The worst part? This isn't the first ti
Why it failed: There's a way for me to make some money, but it requires that I setup a fairly complicated spreadsheet to monitor several variables. All through last week, I've been printing Excel tutorials and ebooks, telling myself that I'll do the spreadsheet over the weekend, so I can start
oz
- startupShut down2010
Tell HN: Denver Meetup of HN
We're throwing a meetup of HN fans in Denver, Colorado next week, on Thursday October 7th. If anyone is interested, please come join us. Ideally you live in Colorado but if you're just visiting, that's cool too. Very informal, just to say hello, chat, network, maybe enjoy a beer or two. Starts at 6:30pm at the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Denver, off 16th Street. Myself and evo_9 are organizing it. A few of us will have an orange-and-white HN badge on our shirt, or standup card on a table, so you know what group to look for. If you can't make this one, there will be more in the future, at different times and locations so that everybody gets a chance to make it. Please email me if you plan on coming, just so I know what to expect. Email in my HN profile. Thanks, and I think we'll have fun! Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&
Why it failed: We're throwing a meetup of HN fans in Denver, Colorado next week, on Thursday October 7th. If anyone is interested, please come join us. Ideally you live in Colorado but if you're just visiting, that's cool too. Very informal, just to say hello, chat, network, maybe enjoy a beer
mkramlich
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: I think my startup is going to fail, what should I do?
Dear Hacker News: About six months ago, me and two of my friends (we work at the same company) decided to go and start a startup. Since we didn't have funding, we figured we'd keep our day jobs, build the website, get a few users, and then quit and work on the company full time. The initial plan was for me to do the programming/technical stuff, one of my friends to handle getting funding and the other to handle marketing/getting users. I've built a pretty decent site (in my humble opinion), but I think my friends want to abandon the project. They've floated the idea (several times) of just scrapping all my current code and starting over, they don't propose new features anymore, they haven't gotten around to getting the paperwork to form the company since they said they would (in June) and they say now they might never do it, etc., etc. I only put a few months of full-time equivalent work
Why it failed: Dear Hacker News: About six months ago, me and two of my friends (we work at the same company) decided to go and start a startup. Since we didn't have funding, we figured we'd keep our day jobs, build the website, get a few users, and then quit and work on the company full time.
startupguy73
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Graduate early?
Hello, HN. I'm a junior in high school. I have the option of attempting to graduate early. What do you think of that? I don't know whether it should be done. Here's backstory: I'm a junior. By the end of this year, I will have completed Multivariable Calculus, if that matters, and would've taken 7 APs. There are still some interesting classes to take next year in my school, but I'm thinking maybe there would be less crap to deal with in college, and more learning; I'm also not sure of advantages of staying in high school. I'm thinking that life is short, so there's no reason to waste it, and I might as well skip a year. I'd like your take on this. Thanks so much.
Why it failed: Hello, HN. I'm a junior in high school. I have the option of attempting to graduate early. What do you think of that? I don't know whether it should be done. Here's backstory: I'm a junior. By the end of this year, I will have completed Multivariable Calculus, if that matters, an
PieSquared
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Afraid I've dug myself into a hole
Hello guys. This is my first time writing to HN so I'm not sure if I'm stepping out of line here in any way, sorry in advance if I am. I'm a Computer Engineer and right out of college I started working as a SAP Consultant (BW/BI in case you are familiar) and I have been doing that for the last 4 years. Now I want to change the course, I’m no longer satisfied by the work I do and by the SAP environment and would like to try something else, because after all, SAP is all I’ve known since college and I cannot say if that’s what I really want to do for the rest of my life. This is the point where I find that I might have digged myself into a hole because once I started looking around I realized that apparently all the technical skills I gained during this four years are only valuable in a SAP environment and that outside of that I have not gained anything that a non-SAP recruiter might be loo
Why it failed: Hello guys. This is my first time writing to HN so I'm not sure if I'm stepping out of line here in any way, sorry in advance if I am. I'm a Computer Engineer and right out of college I started working as a SAP Consultant (BW/BI in case you are familiar) and I have been doing tha
hitokiri82
- startupShut down2009
Ask YC: My school wants to shut down my app. How should I respond?
Few hours ago, I received this letter from my public uni's CIO: http://www.scribd.com/doc/15099510/i-letter1 The site can be seen at http://www.classhunt.com Full story: I launched ClassHunt about a month ago. The campus newspaper covered and ~500 people are using it so far. Many are totally in love with it("ClassHunt is AWESOME! I give you serious props for creating this site. I've already told a couple of friends about it and one of them has had the same luck that I have. You're going to prevent a lot of headaches with this system! :)"). The technology behind is in python. It queries the uni's server for every department on campus and parses the course data. At first, I was querying every minute, so ~130 requests/minute. Now I am querying every 15minutes. Few days ago I received an email that my server IP had been blocked. The lady from IT dept was very nice and willing to work with me
Why it failed: Few hours ago, I received this letter from my public uni's CIO: http://www.scribd.com/doc/15099510/i-letter1 The site can be seen at http://www.classhunt.com Full story: I launched ClassHunt about a month ago. The campus newspaper covered and ~500 people are using it so far. Many
zaidf
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: If Google is a monopoly, should we be doing anything about it?
Hi all, I read the article "A Brief History of Google Killers" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=616482) and saw these numbers: "[...] show Live Search’s share as fluctuating over the past couple of years, but never exceeding 2.6 percent. Google’s share? Eighty-one percent, up from 75 percent two years ago. [...]" These numbers are indicative of a monopoly situation where for-profit organisations could/(do) shaft the end user. Microsoft is in the news every so often about antitrust cases against them. Why not Google? However, I do not keep abreast of litigation stories and don't want to go through reams of information to get insight into the issue So, I am asking HN: What do you think? Where is it going?
Why it failed: Hi all, I read the article "A Brief History of Google Killers" (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=616482) and saw these numbers: "[...] show Live Search’s share as fluctuating over the past couple of years, but never exceeding 2.6 percent. Google’s share? Eighty-one percent, up
stijnm
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Please Review My Project (JS Game Engine)
Hi Everyone, This is the first time that I've submitted anything here, but I lurk and read HN daily. My partner Joe and I just launched a suite of tools for building 2D web games with pure JavaScript and we'd really love your feedback. http://www.effectgames.com Briefly: we're a web developer and designer who are both very heavily into video games. While trying to avoid any negativity around Flash, we thought standard and open web tech would be a better basis for creating games (plus we're more familiar with JavaScript). We have been working on this off and on for over four years, and now we're ready to release the "Effect Engine" -- a pure JavaScript / DHTML framework for displaying and animating game graphics, playing sounds & music, handling keyboard & mouse, and performing sprite collision detection. It smoothly renders multiple layers of parallax scrolling tiles and sprites
Why it failed: Hi Everyone, This is the first time that I've submitted anything here, but I lurk and read HN daily. My partner Joe and I just launched a suite of tools for building 2D web games with pure JavaScript and we'd really love your feedback. http://www.effectgames.com Briefly: we're a
itsmin
- startupShut down2009
Ask PG: Do you ever fund startups outside of normal Y Comb. funding cycles?
Hey Paul, In the case that someone were to run a startup in the months leading up to Christmas, has there ever been a situation where Y Combinator has provided funding to a startup outside of the "normal" funding cycles? I ask this for two simple reasons: 1. A friend and I are going to be working on our own startup coming this fall, in this case potential funding MAY be needed before the Winter Y Combinator session starts. 2. Neither of us can really relocate to California at this time. It has potential in the future, but not for this coming winter. If PG doesn't have any insight into something like this, does anyone else have information pertaining to something like this? Thanks a lot. EDIT: Since everyone seems to think that we are looking for funding right now, I will clear things up by saying that no, we are not looking for any funding at this point in time.
Why it failed: Hey Paul, In the case that someone were to run a startup in the months leading up to Christmas, has there ever been a situation where Y Combinator has provided funding to a startup outside of the "normal" funding cycles? I ask this for two simple reasons: 1. A friend and I are go
jlgosse
- startupShut down2009
If someone has a perception, even an incorrect one, there's reason for it.
Hi HackerNews. This is an extended version of a response to a complaint about new Linux users suggesting changes to Linux packaging http://ubuntusyndrome.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/johnny-come-lately-linux-heroes/. The point I'm making is not just about Linux though. I thought HN may get a kick out of it... If someone has a perception, there's a reason for it, even if that perception isn't itself correct. In regards to the article above, yes, apt makes things easy when you learn how to use it. The modern day 'App Store' concept is an extension of this concept. But there's a world of difference in the user experience of 'Synaptic Package Manager' versus App Store. End-user apps aren't separated from libraries and development tools, categories are aimed at software developers, descriptions of a package called 'foo' read 'This is a package of foo' or 'This is a graphical interface for libfoo'
Why it failed: Hi HackerNews. This is an extended version of a response to a complaint about new Linux users suggesting changes to Linux packaging http://ubuntusyndrome.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/johnny-come-lately-linux-heroes/. The point I'm making is not just about Linux though. I thought HN m
nailer
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Are we in trouble?
Honestly... does anyone have any idea. I have been hearing people like Donny Deutch coming out and saying 'ignore the noise, it's all hype' and I turn on Bill Maher who says 'it's all gonna hit the fan.' Has anyone seen any economic case studies, predictions, or articles, that can shed some light on what is REALLY going on here.
Why it failed: Honestly... does anyone have any idea. I have been hearing people like Donny Deutch coming out and saying 'ignore the noise, it's all hype' and I turn on Bill Maher who says 'it's all gonna hit the fan.' Has anyone seen any economic case studies, predictions, or articles, that ca
keltecp11
- startupShut down2009
Tell HN: Four (hopefully) unique and useful start-up tips
I've read a lot of posts here on HN about start-up tips and advice. Many are good, but some are too vague to be actionable. Others, while useful, sometimes repeat common themes. I run a start-up that is relatively successful. I am a long time lurker on HN, and wanted to give back to the community. I don’t have a personal blog, and HN is the primary audience I want to share this with, so apologies in advance for the formatting. Although they might sound similar to other posts, hopefully these tips will be unique enough for someone to find useful. I know that they've been worthwhile for me. == 1. Learn to say "no" gracefully == A lot of tips stress the importance of saying "no", turning down projects that you can’t do, and focusing on your core competencies. This is all great advice. However, in my experience, saying no is not always an easy task. Often times, you’ll be saying "no" to an e
Why it failed: I've read a lot of posts here on HN about start-up tips and advice. Many are good, but some are too vague to be actionable. Others, while useful, sometimes repeat common themes. I run a start-up that is relatively successful. I am a long time lurker on HN, and wanted to give back
ackkchoo
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: PhD, Startup, or Career?
I'm nearing the end of my undergraduate Computer Science degree and I've been presented with the opportunity to read/study for a PhD fully funded by my University. The trouble is, I also hold job offers with two of the most prominent software vendors in the world. I'm at a cross roads as to which route to take at this point. To add further confusion to my life, I've also been given a great idea for a startup and have the chance of working with a really cool co-founder. I really don't know which way to go with this one, any ideas? I'll give a short description of the startup just in case you are wondering. My friend did a year long industrial work placement at a finance company while at University. He worked in the anti money laundering division. While he was there he had to use some god awful enterprise software that made use of some pretty bad pattern matching algorithms. Basically, he
Why it failed: I'm nearing the end of my undergraduate Computer Science degree and I've been presented with the opportunity to read/study for a PhD fully funded by my University. The trouble is, I also hold job offers with two of the most prominent software vendors in the world. I'm at a cross
student
- startupShut down2009
Ask YC: Advice on shutting down startup
I and 2 of my friends developed Onista (http://www.onista.com) a while back and we also invested some money (not a whole lot) for hosting and legal bills (like forming corp, patent investigations and all) We launched it, and somehow we never got to do much on marketing the app so it never picked up (or may be it was a wrong idea to begin with) At this moment all 3 of us lost the interest and want to shut down Onista to pursue other ideas independently because our time commitments are not same anymore. What are our options? - Try to sell Onista? Not sure if we can even do that since there is not much traffic. Don;t even know if we can do this. - Just shutdown servers, dissolve corp and move on? Any advice on what is the best way to move on? Thanks in advance
Why it failed: I and 2 of my friends developed Onista (http://www.onista.com) a while back and we also invested some money (not a whole lot) for hosting and legal bills (like forming corp, patent investigations and all) We launched it, and somehow we never got to do much on marketing the app so
prashantdesale
- startupShut down2009
Own up HN: What are your craziest abandoned projects?
I think everyone has at least one of these projects: something that seemed like an awesome idea when you started it, then mid-way through you realize how bad it was for such-and-such reason. Going through my old files this afternoon in an effort to reclaim some HDD space reminded me of some of the crazier ideas I've had. It's always great to follow up your ideas, but it's even better to realize when they're totally crazy! I'm sure that all of you have some great stories, and who knows, maybe our crazy ideas will inspire someone else to write their own crazy, and possibly great, app!
Why it failed: I think everyone has at least one of these projects: something that seemed like an awesome idea when you started it, then mid-way through you realize how bad it was for such-and-such reason. Going through my old files this afternoon in an effort to reclaim some HDD space reminded
aarongough
- startupShut down2009
YC Applicants: Q&A with Abby and Ivan Kirigin of Tipjoy
I have recently exchanged Q&A emails with Ivan Kirigin, the founder of tipjoy.com, about his experiences being in the Y Combinator. I want to really thank Ivan and Abby for replying all these questions with depth. I've promised I would share these Q&A with the community so all YC applicants can have a taste and feel of what's to come and more importantly what the application process is like. I also want to thank Andrew Warner from mixergy.com for helping me and inspiring me to apply for Y Combinator. If you ever need to learn entrepreneurship, his interviews is a great way to learn it from. Here's the Q&A: Q: Did you have to assist the financial risks that were involved with both of you in the same business? Isn't it like putting all your eggs in one basket? The worst case scenario was that we would have to go back to 'regular' jobs. Leaving a job at a big company to start yo
Why it failed: I have recently exchanged Q&A emails with Ivan Kirigin, the founder of tipjoy.com, about his experiences being in the Y Combinator. I want to really thank Ivan and Abby for replying all these questions with depth. I've promised I would share these Q&A with the community s
releasedatez
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: The ideal company for programmers, or giving freedom to your programmers
I find myself often torn between two desires: a) Having the freedom to work on something I'm passionate about. And being able to work on it by my schedule (this doesn't mean I'll be working 4 hrs a day, but it does mean that I can choose to work 4 hrs on a day of low creativity). I usually conclude that I'll need to start my own company if I want to achieve this. b) Building a great product. Working on something like a Google Android, which usually requires a team. I think the crux of the conflict is this: If given the freedom to work according to my creative instinct and my schedule, my output in one week would far exceed the 40 hr output that my company gets out of me right now. My company (and many others that I've seen), unfortunately, do not realize this, or can not risk having a "maverick" on the team. In the end, its a loss for the company, and frustrating for me. Programming jobs
Why it failed: I find myself often torn between two desires: a) Having the freedom to work on something I'm passionate about. And being able to work on it by my schedule (this doesn't mean I'll be working 4 hrs a day, but it does mean that I can choose to work 4 hrs on a day of low creativity).
hackoder
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Don't show points?
I was thinking about group think and how to keep it out of HN. And I ran into a fundamental problem/cause: Psychologically, people naturally follow groupthink. No matter how much you stress not following it, they'll still be inclined to follow the herd. So just saying "try not to follow groupthink" isn't good enough. Instead, why not make it less possible to follow groupthink? So here's my suggestion: stop displaying the points. Maybe still gray out downvoted comments, but I think even that is unnecessary. They'll float down to the bottom of the thread anyway. And I know that when I see a downvoted thread, I read it differently. I don't say "maybe a couple people just didn't like what they said, and it was actually ok" coming into it, I say "what did this person do wrong? What stupid thing did they say?" I come into it biased because of the points it has. Same goes for a comment with a l
Why it failed: I was thinking about group think and how to keep it out of HN. And I ran into a fundamental problem/cause: Psychologically, people naturally follow groupthink. No matter how much you stress not following it, they'll still be inclined to follow the herd. So just saying "try not to
jackowayed
- startupShut down2009
Web Design Job for the Eager
I have a bit of a story to tell here, but their might be a job in it for you, so bear with me. I just spent the last 45 minutes talking to the owner of Tahoe Reno Firewood. I don't know why I did it, but I just started talking and asking questions, and I couldn't stop. The reason I was on the phone was because my girlfriend Anna had gone on his website: http://www.renotahoefirewood.com/index.html to order a cord of wood. As it stands, to do this, she had to download a PDF form and then email it back to him. Even after jumping through these hoops, he emailed us and asked us to call because the form was screwed up. So, Anna had me call the guy, and while I had him on the phone, I decided to ask some questions about his business, and give him some advice on his website. He seems like a really nice guy, and I really like his business - we've discovered that not everyone in the wood business
Why it failed: I have a bit of a story to tell here, but their might be a job in it for you, so bear with me. I just spent the last 45 minutes talking to the owner of Tahoe Reno Firewood. I don't know why I did it, but I just started talking and asking questions, and I couldn't stop. The reason
andrewljohnson
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: What to do after graduation with 100k?
I'm a regular reader and commenter, but for this question wished to remain anonymous. I apologize about the length of this, you can skip to the end for the question if you are short on time, but would really be grateful for any responses as I really value the HN community. Background: I'm 21 and currently approaching the final year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia. I'm a business major at the McIntire school which is fairly respected (http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/index.html) and concentrating in management with a sort of sub-track in a newly launched entrepreneurship program that I'm excited about (co-taught by some entrepreneur alumni). The business program is a two year program and I came out of high school with enough college credits that I've been able to take more or less any classes I've been interested in (mostly Philosophy, Political theor
Why it failed: I'm a regular reader and commenter, but for this question wished to remain anonymous. I apologize about the length of this, you can skip to the end for the question if you are short on time, but would really be grateful for any responses as I really value the HN community. Backgr
graduating
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: I'm looking for a technical co-founder/partner.
I read HackerNews almost daily, and I always enjoy the articles and the discussions about startups, software and code. So, I'm hoping that there might be a similarly minded HN reader out there who is looking for their next big thing. As a preface, I've had a lot of software developed, but I've never worked full-time on software with a co-founder/partner. Much of this is new to me, so I would definitely be open to comments or ideas about the way I'm performing this search from other members of HN, especially about the responsibilities I've listed below. The Offer : In one sentence, I'm looking for someone to work with me to build a Software as a Service business based in Japan. I'm experienced at IT sales, running a business and managing people. I have a large network of contacts in Japan, and Webnet IT has a large 'built-in' active customer base that are interested in software that provi
Why it failed: I read HackerNews almost daily, and I always enjoy the articles and the discussions about startups, software and code. So, I'm hoping that there might be a similarly minded HN reader out there who is looking for their next big thing. As a preface, I've had a lot of software devel
jason_tko
- startupShut down2009
Ask HN: Seeking advice from programmers for non-programmers
In light of your experience working on startups, what advice would programmers share with non-programmers? I'm a "business/marketing/sales" type who worked with three others (two programmers) to launch an app two years ago. We didn't make millions (or thousands) but I'd never call it a failure. I think the four of us would all say that we learned a lot about working with others, working on a startup, and our individual habits. I'm eager to apply what I learned to another startup - I've never stopped wanting to create things. I'm not a programmer, so when I have an idea, corresponding wireframes, and a sales and marketing strategy, I'm missing the most vital component. I work a full-time job. I've considered taking classes to learn a programming language, but pragmatically, I face an uphill battle to master a very difficult skill. Moreover, it might not be the most efficient strategy. Two
Why it failed: In light of your experience working on startups, what advice would programmers share with non-programmers? I'm a "business/marketing/sales" type who worked with three others (two programmers) to launch an app two years ago. We didn't make millions (or thousands) but I'd never cal
twelvedigits