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.
2,800 solutions
- startupShut down2023
Tell HN: Oracle Cloud is shutting down free instances
Oracle is going to reclaim idle instances. What's interesting is there definition of idle is not zero use. It sounds like you can keep using the free tier if you switch to pay-as-you-go.
Why it failed: Oracle is going to reclaim idle instances. What's interesting is there definition of idle is not zero use. It sounds like you can keep using the free tier if you switch to pay-as-you-go.
RyanShook
- startupShut down2023
Tell HN: Teddit has been de facto shut down
It appears that Teddit has been effectively shut down via extreme rate limits by Reddit rendering the app unusable. HTTP Error 429 is now returned nearly 100% of the time.
Why it failed: It appears that Teddit has been effectively shut down via extreme rate limits by Reddit rendering the app unusable. HTTP Error 429 is now returned nearly 100% of the time.
housemusicfan
- startupShut down2023
What SWE job hunting is like right now
I'm a contractor, things were strange during COVID. I worked on project rewrites that got abandoned, and made the mistake of doing test consulting for companies that had never tested before. I will never do that again. It used to take two-weeks max to find a new position. It's now been two months, and I have no leads. I will call out the exact situation I've run into. I have received nearly 20 calls from a dozen different recruiting firms all for the same two back-fill jobs at Charter in St. Louis. I interviewed with them once, and it's not a match. .NET, Knockout, and TSQL... They weren't interested in me either. I'm not exactly offended by that. I get two calls a day about Charter at this point. I've been told, "they just finished a round of interviews, and didn't find anyone." At this point, I have to ask straight away to anyone that c
Why it failed: I'm a contractor, things were strange during COVID. I worked on project rewrites that got abandoned, and made the mistake of doing test consulting for companies that had never tested before. I will never do that again. It used to take two-weeks max to find a new position. It
eglove
- startupShut down2023
Re: Did AT&T leak their email list publicly?
I'm apparently on this list: DONOTUSEPOD1NON@list.att.com Here are some screenshots of the debacle [edit: properly redacted now] https://imgur.com/a/MWV2wmk https://imgur.com/a/yRJCKUn It started out when someone wrote to that mailing list with > This is a test to see if external users can email AT&T's internal email list with the most recent email mishap. followed by other responses like > I guess so… > So far, based on the number of unique domains coming back directly to me (and replying all), it appears to be mostly business customers. I am assuming business because I also used my gmail for my business when I set up an AT&T account. Time will tell of course but there's definitely not an insignificant number of people on this list as far as I can tell. > We’re just lucky there aren’t multiple people with vacatio
Why it failed: I'm apparently on this list: DONOTUSEPOD1NON@list.att.com Here are some screenshots of the debacle [edit: properly redacted now] https://imgur.com/a/MWV2wmk https://imgur.com/a/yRJCKUn It started out when someone wrote to that mailing
patneedham
- startupShut down2023
Show HN: Beta test Execute Program's interactive "Python for Programmers" course
I'm Gary Bernhardt, founder of Execute Program, an interactive platform for learning programming languages and other programming tools. Our "Python for Programmers" course is in a free open beta for the next week or so. We don't normally do open betas, but the infrastructure behind this course is new and very complex, so we want to stress test it. https://www.executeprogram.com/courses/python-for-programmer... Today, "Python for Programmers" contains 581 interactive code examples covering the core language. It's aimed at established programmers, not beginners. We don't explain basic language features like `while`, but we do show them briefly and note anything special about how they work in Python. We pay special attention to foot guns. For example, we have an entire lesson about Python's mutable default argument foot gun. T
Why it failed: I'm Gary Bernhardt, founder of Execute Program, an interactive platform for learning programming languages and other programming tools. Our "Python for Programmers" course is in a free open beta for the next week or so. We don't normally do open betas, but the
gary_bernhardt
- startupShut down2023
What's special about Erlang and Elixir?
I'm intrigued by the claims about them but also don't entirely understand the marketing "Elixir is a dynamic, functional language for building scalable and maintainable applications." OK, there are lots of languages that are either or both dynamic and functional, and they can all used to build scalable and maintainable transactions. "Elixir runs on the Erlang VM, known for creating low-latency, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems." Let's skip over "low-latency", because virtually all programming languages and VMs are "low-latency". "distributed" and "fault-tolerant" are what's most often touted as "special". I'm not sure what "distributed" means here? Any app in most languages can be coded to be "distributed" both on the scale of within a single machine and at the scale
Why it failed: I'm intrigued by the claims about them but also don't entirely understand the marketing "Elixir is a dynamic, functional language for building scalable and maintainable applications." OK, there are lots of languages that are either or both dynamic and function
bedobi
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: WWYD? Built a company valued at $1B and may walk away with nothing
I'm looking for some "What Would You Do?" advice from the founder and investor community. Generally looking for guidance on what I should be negotiating for and what type of downside protection is fair, in any? Financial Overview - At our peak (Series C) we were valued at $1B post money - $187M raised by the company - $250M preference stack (liquidation prefs + debt) - I own ~27% of the business, and so does my co-founder. My co-founder is no longer part of the business day-to-day, he's on the board - We will end the year at $130M in annual revenues and burning ~$925K/month, we are a low gross profit margin business ~15-20% Personal Overview - I live in New York City, it's been ~ 10 years that I have been on this journey, bootstrapped with no salary for about 2.5 years and pretty modest salary for most of the years, up until a couple years ago when I started
Why it failed: I'm looking for some "What Would You Do?" advice from the founder and investor community. Generally looking for guidance on what I should be negotiating for and what type of downside protection is fair, in any? Financial Overview - At our peak (Series C) we were va
susanwise
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: Are you worried your non-AI project might soon be obsolete?
I'm not so worried that AI will become so good at coding that I'll be out of a job. It's not clear it's going to happen any time soon, and if it does, the implications for all sorts of jobs are so vast it's a totally different world. But there's a different concern, that the era of millions apps might be coming to an end, and with it the viability of many of us freelancers and small software companies. Instead we will have a small number of incredibly capable and malleable platforms. And it doesn't have to get all the way to that endgame for the app I work on to become redundant.
Why it failed: I'm not so worried that AI will become so good at coding that I'll be out of a job. It's not clear it's going to happen any time soon, and if it does, the implications for all sorts of jobs are so vast it's a totally different world. But there's a di
tablatom
- startupShut down2023
Jobs for the formerly incarcerated rises again, this time with AI help
I'm the founder and ex-CEO of 70 Million Jobs (1st national, for-profit employment platform for people with criminal records). We helped thousands of deserving men and women land jobs, but when the pandemic hit in force, it destroyed our business. Several months ago I announced with great sadness that I was ceasing operations. Both the HN and Y Comb. (I was in S17) were incredibly supportive. I'll never forget that. But I'm not done with my work. Like most, I'm amazed at the potential of AI. I know that employing it to help people with records land jobs would be enormously effective, so I am planning to launch a new company, SecondChance AI. Most of the people coming out of prison have no clue on how to land a job; how to create a resume and cover letter, where to look, how to apply, etc. And that's assuming they have the most basic of tech skills--which many don
Why it failed: I'm the founder and ex-CEO of 70 Million Jobs (1st national, for-profit employment platform for people with criminal records). We helped thousands of deserving men and women land jobs, but when the pandemic hit in force, it destroyed our business. Several months ago I announ
RBBronson123
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: How does a hobby programmer get hired?
I've been tinkering with code since a young age and I like thinking my way through problems and understanding the way computers work, but I've never had a programming job. For the longest time, I went in other directions even though I enjoy it a lot, because I was told that I shouldn't spend my life in front of a computer. It turns out that I do that anyway, just not being paid for it. Without any programming jobs on my CV, what is a good way to penetrate into the market? I've had job interviews where I did a bunch of coding challenges (and passed), but didn't get accepted because of lack of experience. I considered that maybe I need to do a bootcamp as an initial way to back my skills up.
Why it failed: I've been tinkering with code since a young age and I like thinking my way through problems and understanding the way computers work, but I've never had a programming job. For the longest time, I went in other directions even though I enjoy it a lot, because I was told
_ixdf
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: I'm being pushed out of my job
I’m a backend engineer with ~10 years experience currently working at a fast growing startup with plenty of funding, good market fit and a product that I really believe in. I joined the company before the launch and architected, wrote and implemented all the critical parts of our backend. As an early employee I have a stock options plan. Things have been working almost perfect until a few months ago. In my last one-on-one review with my manager, he was very upset with me. Partly is because of some technical mistakes I had big responsibility (and fixed in record time), but mostly because he’s been hearing bad comments of my work from a co-worker. I came to the conclusion that this person wants my job hence why he’s trash talking to my manager, making the case I am messing things up and I’m not a good engineer. While I’ve done a few mistakes in the codebase, and failed to meet a few deadli
Why it failed: I’m a backend engineer with ~10 years experience currently working at a fast growing startup with plenty of funding, good market fit and a product that I really believe in. I joined the company before the launch and architected, wrote and implemented all the critical parts of our
doomerdeveloper
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: ‘Following’ Other HN Users?
I’m conflicted about even asking this. I do really love that HN is only very lightly curated for me, and I’m evenly exposed to the opinions of a fairly random sample of people on a daily basis. It’s easily the standout feature of this site. But still… It does often feel too ephemeral. I sometimes wish I were able to easily keep track of what some people are posting on here and interact more directly. It’s easy enough to sort of keep up with some of the more prolific accounts because they’re often almost hard to avoid, but that’s about it. As an example, I ran into a few people in a thread once that live nearby (statistically fairly unlikely!) and there was talk of meeting up, but that was the end of it, because how else could we coordinate? I can’t even find that thread now, but I’m still up for some beers, gorge residents! Anyway, sorry, I’m rambling. Really I was just wondering if anyo
Why it failed: I’m conflicted about even asking this. I do really love that HN is only very lightly curated for me, and I’m evenly exposed to the opinions of a fairly random sample of people on a daily basis. It’s easily the standout feature of this site. But still… It does often feel too ephem
fisherjeff
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: How do you give back?
I’m looking for ways to “pay it forward” and make helping other people a bigger part of my life. Curious to hear what other HackerNews people have come up with. For context, I’m a software engineer (mostly front-end) and also have a law degree.
Why it failed: I’m looking for ways to “pay it forward” and make helping other people a bigger part of my life. Curious to hear what other HackerNews people have come up with. For context, I’m a software engineer (mostly front-end) and also have a law degree.
yonibot
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: Why would Google sell Google domains to Squarespace?
I’ve been thinking about this all day and it just doesn’t make sense to me. I was hoping someone here would have a well-informed opinion/answer. Google domains seemed like a natural tool in the GCP and Google ecosystem. It provided one-click access to setup website, Google workspace, provided direct verification in Google Search Console and Google Analytics, and just made sense. Unlike some of the other investments like Stadia, domains is also not capital or resource intensive. They never offered discount on domains, they sold them at standard prices. The team working on domains must be small. It’s also a low risk project. Why would they kill it? What next? They’ll sell Google Fi to T-mobile and abandon Google voice?
Why it failed: I’ve been thinking about this all day and it just doesn’t make sense to me. I was hoping someone here would have a well-informed opinion/answer. Google domains seemed like a natural tool in the GCP and Google ecosystem. It provided one-click access to setup website, Google w
alsodumb
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: Details on 04/2021 DigitalOcean data breach?
In April 2021, DigitalOcean suffered a data breach [1], exposing some billing details. They informed affected customers by mail and offered to answer any further questions via their privacy@digitalocean.com address. Since then, I have regularly asked for updates on how this breach happened and if they would publish a postmortem for this event. They assured me that they would share more information once their investigation is complete. In September of that year, they started ignoring my requests for an update, and I haven't heard back from them since. While this is a relatively minor event in the grand scheme of things, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Did anyone dig deeper into this and got more information on what actually was the cause for this leak? Maybe there's a DigitalOcean employee around who can shed light on this? [1] https://www.securityweek.com/digita
Why it failed: In April 2021, DigitalOcean suffered a data breach [1], exposing some billing details. They informed affected customers by mail and offered to answer any further questions via their privacy@digitalocean.com address. Since then, I have regularly asked for updates on how this breac
s_weber
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
Is anyone else noticing that for several 5 year blocks (pentad) the world just seems to get markedly worse? It's like no body seems to give a shit about anyone except themselves anymore. Whats the cause of this? What's the solution? A bunch of things I've noticed: * Landlords seem extremely greedy and do terrible rent seeking tactics like fees upon fees (250 admin fee to rent here, $75 to apply, $300 non refundable pet deposit, $25 a month pet rent, $12.50 community fee, $15 trash valet, $5 online payment fee, $100 a month community internet (for the $50 a month package), going Month to month after a lease ends is 2x the annual price. And then they use RealPage to collude to make prices higher[1] * People are noisy as fuck and dont seem to give a shit. Seems like every night there's someone with loud as exhaust on "sportish" car ripping around the neihborhoo
Why it failed: Is anyone else noticing that for several 5 year blocks (pentad) the world just seems to get markedly worse? It's like no body seems to give a shit about anyone except themselves anymore. Whats the cause of this? What's the solution? A bunch of things I've noticed:
maerF0x0
- startupShut down2023
Unemployable and Uninvestable
It seems I am unemployed and uninvestable. I'm looking for advice. I have been a senior engineer for about a decade. I feel I have become unemployable because of my experience. Interviewers have repeatedly told me I am over qualified for positions. I know this is a tough time for everyone considering the massive layoffs in our sector, but I have been jobless for a year, and counting. I’m not asking for a handout, but rather advice. I’ve had a few failed startups due to a lack of investment, while I see grifters like SBF raking in billions. I have had my ideas be realized by other companies, years after I attempted, because I lacked capital. I have had my pitch decks dismissed without a second thought. What is the secret sauce here? Is it a matter of who you know, rather than what you know? Every other day I see companies with no clear mission raising capital with little more than ma
Why it failed: It seems I am unemployed and uninvestable. I'm looking for advice. I have been a senior engineer for about a decade. I feel I have become unemployable because of my experience. Interviewers have repeatedly told me I am over qualified for positions. I know this is a tough tim
anyadvicewilldo
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: What is the best postmortem you've seen?
It seems like there are a lot of examples of companies handling a security breach or loss of service poorly. Are there examples when a company handled an incident well, especially with a great postmortem writeup?
Why it failed: It seems like there are a lot of examples of companies handling a security breach or loss of service poorly. Are there examples when a company handled an incident well, especially with a great postmortem writeup?
pbohun
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: Anyone else having bitflips in Azure Network traffic?
It seems we are having bit flips inside of packets coming into Azure (Germany West Central) via our Express Route. Anyone else seeing this?
Why it failed: It seems we are having bit flips inside of packets coming into Azure (Germany West Central) via our Express Route. Anyone else seeing this?
klaas-
- startupShut down2023
Ask HN: Is there a data loss bug lurking in MS365 backup solutions?
It sounds crazy, and maybe I'm just doing something dumb, but I've seen a similar issue in two different MS365 backup products this year. I can't reproduce it reliably, but feel like there could be a serious issue, even though I can't prove it. My issue is specific to OneDrive. When I reconcile a backup set against live data, files are missing. I've had it happen with both Veeam Backup for MS365 and Synology Active Backup for MS365. Neither system reports any issues when backups run. I don't know the cause and I can't reproduce it, but it happens consistently for at least one of my tenants and seems to get worse over time. I've seen the issue on more than one tenant, so I don't think it's anything tenant specific and the only (untenable) solution I've come up with is to restart the backup from scratch. The tenant that has the most is
Why it failed: It sounds crazy, and maybe I'm just doing something dumb, but I've seen a similar issue in two different MS365 backup products this year. I can't reproduce it reliably, but feel like there could be a serious issue, even though I can't prove it. My issue is spe
ryan87
- startupShut down2023
Painful Lesson: Always 'Show and Tell' Your Product Before You Develop It
It's said that amazon asks their product makers to write a press release about the release of the product and work backwards from there. Working backwards has its uses... I recently wanted validation on a product I had already finished developing I thought I needed it so others will too. I put in a lot of time architecting it, designing it with careful UX and UI. When it came time to show and tell through a demo video i couldn't create a simple enough one that explains what it does. So anyway I posted it in some communities and people we just confused and nobody signed up. So I had to abandon the project as there were no takers Cut to about a week back where I had another idea... This time instead of simply developing it further, I jumped straight to see if I can create a explainer video of the product. So with zero expectations about it working I made one without audio or musi
Why it failed: It's said that amazon asks their product makers to write a press release about the release of the product and work backwards from there. Working backwards has its uses... I recently wanted validation on a product I had already finished developing I thought I needed it so oth
anticlickwise
- startupShut down2023
OpenAI to discontinue support for the Codex API
Just received this email, can't find a blog post yet? On March 23rd, we will discontinue support for the Codex API. All customers will have to transition to a different model. Codex was initially introduced as a free limited beta in 2021, and has maintained that status to date. Given the advancements of our newest GPT-3.5 models for coding tasks, we will no longer be supporting Codex and encourage all customers to transition to GPT-3.5-Turbo. About GPT-3.5-Turbo GPT-3.5-Turbo is the most cost effective and performant model in the GPT-3.5 family. It can both do coding tasks while also being complemented with flexible natural language capabilities. You can learn more through: GPT-3.5 model overview Chat completions guide Models affected The following models will be discontinued: code-cushman:001 code-cushman:002 code-davinci:001 code-davinci:002 We understand this transition may be te
Why it failed: Just received this email, can't find a blog post yet? On March 23rd, we will discontinue support for the Codex API. All customers will have to transition to a different model. Codex was initially introduced as a free limited beta in 2021, and has maintained that status to da
thejosh
- startupShut down2023
Ash HN: How can I make my idle CPU time useful to others?
Knowing that my computing resources just sit there unused bothers me. It would be relaxing to know that my idle CPU/bandwidth helps others. Previous/older solutions: - SETI (discontinued, [1]) - Leave BitTorrent open (risky) Are there any current distributed SETI-like projects that I can trust? [1] https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Why it failed: Knowing that my computing resources just sit there unused bothers me. It would be relaxing to know that my idle CPU/bandwidth helps others. Previous/older solutions: - SETI (discontinued, [1]) - Leave BitTorrent open (risky) Are there any current distributed SETI-like p
puttycat
- startupShut down2023
Show HN: Supaglue – open-source unified API
Last month, we open-sourced Supaglue (https://github.com/supaglue-labs/supaglue) as a developer toolkit for building customer-facing Salesforce integrations. Since then, we've been iterating on our approach with users and are re-launching Supaglue as an open source unified API, starting with CRMs. With our re-launched public alpha you can: - Interact with HubSpot and Salesforce through a unified REST API - Sync data from HubSpot and Salesforce into a local Postgres cache and make reads against a normalized CRM schema - Make writes (POST and PATCH) to HubSpot and Salesforce using the unified API - Open source MIT license so anyone can self-host for free Today we support reads, creates, and updates for Accounts, Contacts, Leads, and Opportunities for HubSpot and Salesforce. In the coming weeks, we plan to add more connectors and features like configuring sync frequ
Why it failed: Last month, we open-sourced Supaglue (https://github.com/supaglue-labs/supaglue) as a developer toolkit for building customer-facing Salesforce integrations. Since then, we've been iterating on our approach with users and are re-launching Supaglue as an o
tomkit