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Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

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Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#31

Post by keithwhor »

aerovistae wrote: post #25

Hey man, Elon Musk's rocket blew up today. Even the best of us don't succeed every time. Just think carefully about your possible courses of action and try planning out different routes in your head ("If I worked in city X for a year doing Y, I could save Z, and then in my free time I could...", "If I went straight on to this startup then I could...", "If I went to work at this cool startup I know in a field I'm inte…

"Hey man, Elon Musk's rocket blew up today. Even the best of us don't succeed every time."

This is a fantastic quote. A (literal) moonshot failed, and that's not stopping anybody. Cheers for the perspective. I think it's easy to get trapped in our own little bubbles and forget the bigger picture.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#32

Post by ryanteo »

Just some suggestions through the tough times:

  - Talk to friends and family who understand
  - See if there are ways that the work done can be absorbed into another company
  - Drop a note to mentors/ advisors when you are professionally ready
  - Do some small projects for companies in your network who can pay on time, and hopefully also let you slowly ease into a different team and environment
  - Cut down on expenses
  - Plan your project portfolio and resume
  - Try to do at least some light exercise regularly (e.g. 3 times weekly)
  - Try to see how you close the loose ends (tough, but take as much time as you need and take into account your mental state)
  - Don't force yourself to go all out socially
  - Write down thoughts about why you think the startup failed, organize it later when you can look at it calmly
  - Don't try to over-analyse the situation
  - May want to explore meditation
  - May want to explore religion as a way of thinking about life's meaning and putting things in perspective

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#34

Post by geoffw8 »

Contracted for a bit. When I had enough cash in the bank after a month or two I took a few months off and did some travel.

I couldn't even bear the thought of another startup (while it was always a long term goal) until I took a break. Now I'm back in the grind.

Shit happens unfortunately, its how you pick yourself up and dust yourself up that separates us. Best of luck.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#35

Post by AdrianRossouw »

I highly recommend taking some time for yourself first, just to reconnect to your loved ones and find some kind of stasis in your life. You're going to need the space to rebuild your confidence levels to be able to show the moxie needed to land the right position.

I have found that taking consulting work is a good way to buffer your income for a while, until you find the position that is right for you.

I don't know if e-lance is the correct way to go about it tho, because there is an element of social branding and networking related to all of this.

You could start blogging, or do some presentations at local user groups of various techs. Writing about experiences like what you have been through can actually be very freeing.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#36

Post by AdrianRossouw »

Maro wrote: post #15

I did my startup for almost 4 years. It was this: https://github.com/scalien/scaliendb After the startup, I was "unemployed" for about 1-2 month. Then I took a chance and went to work for Prezi as an engineer. It was a really good choice. During the startup it was 2 of us coding along, not much social interaction. At Prezi there's tons of people, diversity, it was a nice break. Also, good challenges, lots of learning…

did you end move to budapest?

Last time I spoke to people there, they were only hiring people who were local/willing to move.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#37

Post by Animats »

blinduck wrote: post #21
ChuckMcM wrote: post #13

> My motivation levels are also pretty low after so many > repeated failures. Several startups? Or failures in a single startup? Have you sat down and spent some time evaluating the failure? What did you not know that you would have liked to have known? What skills worked? Which didn't? Etc. Many people I've known have gone to work for a larger, more stable, company to build up a reserve before putting their hat back…

3 failed products across 2 different startups, over a period of about 3 years. I definitely feel I've learnt a great deal over the last few years. I've grown as a developer, but also learnt about things like management and marketing. I think this is good advice. I've never worked in a corporate environment, and I might get a job just to see what that's like. I'm definitely going to compile and reflect on all the mist…

The success rate for VC-funded startups is historically about 10%. About 20% fail outright. The rest often end up in zombie mode, able to cover their expenses at some reduced level of activity but unable to pay back their investors.

In some ways it's better to fail. You have to stop and go do something else, rather than being on a death march to nowhere.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#38

Post by soroso »

I do not know details, but it seems the biggest mistake was not failing before cash ended. I had two startups that were successes, but I had other few which were failures. The trick, back then, was to set a certain threshold in which we could call success or failure, and move on.

If you happen to have spared some cash before the actual declaration of failure, consider to take a 3 months break (I did). 3 months break does not mean not working, but actually removing from your life entirely any concerns for future plans or making another business.

It is a sort of short and strong detox, that will allow you to regroup and think better what's come next. But keep doing business... Those who felt the taste of startup never really let that go. For some reason, I can't explain, it is addictive.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#39

Post by h_o »

I got a corporate job after my most recent failure.

I am working on another idea on the side now - but it took me a good few months to recover before even wanting to work on something in my own time.

That was my first real total failure. We had €50k funding received with no notion of what to do with it - and I left before the money was even drawn down.

My advice is to relax. Take some time, play some video games, drink some beers with friends, and read some books.

If it's in your blood, you will bounce back.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has failed. What comes next?

#40

Post by Kaizyn »

blinduck wrote: post #24
shortsightedsid wrote: post #18

Our startup failed early this year. We didn't make any money and while we did have a few interested clients, to keep going we needed funding that didn't come. End of the day, it was the wrong product. Period. So - lesson learned. I did try odesk/elance for a while but you can't make any money from it. My work is more embedded, and systems programming and the jobs on places like odesk are suited for very low end webde…

Thank you for the advice on odesk/elance. I was wondering whether I could pick up freelance jobs related to data processing/data analysis. I do agree that the journey really has been worth it, although I haven't actually got anything to show for it.

Don't underestimate the value of experience. While failing must certainly have hurt, you have actually learned more than if everything had worked out. Whatever you do, be sure to take a bit of time to regroup before you jump into another high intensity activity like your next startup or someone else's software project with a ridiculous timeline. That way you will recover quicker.
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