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Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

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Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#11

Post by savorypiano »

I made a confidential salary survey app that is for employers and their candidates to check if salary expectations are within ballpark before interviewing. The idea is that it would save everyone time upfront without affecting negotiation leverage.

Many people have had experiences where interviewing was a waste of time due to the pay range, and this kind of app was mentioned before on HN as something nice to have.

Well, I made one and posted it, and have gotten zero response.

https://payscope.io/

https://payscope.io/blog/employers

I'm not sure what I've learned yet, except maybe PG was right about building for a small number of users who really want your product, rather for many who take some convincing.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#12

Post by jhunter1016 »

Failure is part of learning. The failure of my project Graphite Docs (https://graphitedocs.com) crushed me too. I had built something new and exciting for a niche community, but I had failed to leverage the community that already loved it. Instead, I tried going after the “bigger” fish. The ever-elusive enterprise clients. That, in my opinion, is ultimately what did me in.

I did an interview on Failory that goes into a lot more detail: https://www.failory.com/interview/graphite-docs

But the biggest lesson I learned is how and when to validate things. Validation doesn’t stop once you’ve launched. And validation should also not be so intense that you never launch. It’s a delicate balance that I feel much more equipped to manage now.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#13

Post by meowsnow »

savorypiano wrote: post #11

I made a confidential salary survey app that is for employers and their candidates to check if salary expectations are within ballpark before interviewing. The idea is that it would save everyone time upfront without affecting negotiation leverage. Many people have had experiences where interviewing was a waste of time due to the pay range, and this kind of app was mentioned before on HN as something nice to have. We…

I wish, as someone who has been job searching, that I could use something like this...Have you reached out directly to employers or did you just post about it to hackernews?

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#14

Post by meowsnow »

meowsnow wrote: post #13
savorypiano wrote: post #11

I made a confidential salary survey app that is for employers and their candidates to check if salary expectations are within ballpark before interviewing. The idea is that it would save everyone time upfront without affecting negotiation leverage. Many people have had experiences where interviewing was a waste of time due to the pay range, and this kind of app was mentioned before on HN as something nice to have. We…

I wish, as someone who has been job searching, that I could use something like this...Have you reached out directly to employers or did you just post about it to hackernews?

Also note that the costs of flying someone in right now is mitigated by the fact that all on-sites are virtual right now. And unemployed people in 2020/2021 may not have the luxury of being picky about a higher salary. You tried launching this in a weird year.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#15

Post by tracer4201 »

Made an offer on a house. This was going to be my dream home. It required stretching the budget but was doable.

I had panic attacks for a week and ultimately backed out of the deal. I didn’t lose any money other than realize that I got into something without thinking it through, was paralyzed by fear and anxiety, and then had to back out. It was a GREAT deal. There’s literally nothing in the same market that even close.

This was supposed to be my first home purchase. And I got lucky at the deal I was getting, but I just couldn’t go through with it.

My spouse isn’t saying anything, but I know I’ve disappointed them. I really did want that house but I think the right decision was to hold off for another year... but then I think about it and I feel we really need the larger space and now is the right time.

I realized how indecisive and immature was on something so important. Complete lack of backbone on my part.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#17

Post by vypr007 »

I got an MBA admit at a prestigious school and left my family and my home country to pursue my dream. I finished my degree and landed a job at an amazing tech company. It was all awesome - and then I started running into issues focussing at work. My boss was horrendous (my point of view) and the place was insane to work for. I was eventually fired.

Introspecting on these events, I realised I had ADHD and I was just never diagnosed as a child. If I'd only known this before, I'd make the most of my job opportunity with the knowledge that I had ADHD. The cost of not knowing was close to 2 years of mental trauma for myself, and my family. It was being forced to let go of approx 1/3 of the value of my mortgage in stocks. And it is living with the PTSD of having been fired from a prestigious position for performance issues. Well, onwards.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#18

Post by ramtatatam »

A startup which I joined years ago, I bootstrapped it from technology point of view and then hired people to help me push it further. After two years founder decided he needs to hire a project manager. The person he hired had very bad habit of badmouthing people behind their back and collecting everyone's failures so he could use that later as ammo. After another two years founder was kicked off by that manager. I was loyal to the founder so I was next on the list of people to go. This startup still operates on simple premise of finding yet another investment wave to slide on, almost if finding next investor was sole purpose of this startup.

But outside of this drama story that startup was a failure from day one simply because we was following the founder dream, not the market (I learned this over years, I was way too inexperienced when I was joining). Founder was deciding what features we need based on his "expert" knowledge. The problem was that at first glance all potential customers was saying how good the product was, but when it came to actually make use of it they could not really see the benefit.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#19

Post by ck425 »

vypr007 wrote: post #17

I got an MBA admit at a prestigious school and left my family and my home country to pursue my dream. I finished my degree and landed a job at an amazing tech company. It was all awesome - and then I started running into issues focussing at work. My boss was horrendous (my point of view) and the place was insane to work for. I was eventually fired. Introspecting on these events, I realised I had ADHD and I was just n…

Out of curiosity what made you realise you had ADHD? I've previously suspected I have inattentive type ADHD but was never sure if it was just an excuse I told myself or not. Due to that I've never pursued a diagnosis.

Re: Ask HN: I'm crushed, share with me your failure story

#20

Post by savorypiano »

meowsnow wrote: post #13
savorypiano wrote: post #11

I made a confidential salary survey app that is for employers and their candidates to check if salary expectations are within ballpark before interviewing. The idea is that it would save everyone time upfront without affecting negotiation leverage. Many people have had experiences where interviewing was a waste of time due to the pay range, and this kind of app was mentioned before on HN as something nice to have. We…

I wish, as someone who has been job searching, that I could use something like this...Have you reached out directly to employers or did you just post about it to hackernews?

I certainly can do more "things that don't scale" but so far the response has been limited, so that I'm not even sure if it's a matter of reaching more people or it's just not something employers want.
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