Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

Not sure if this fits your context, but could you get the conference to use your app for check in or something? Then they start out with it.

Edit: or find something else that benefits the visitors?

I raised $10M and it wasn’t going to work. We had spent 20%. Board wanted to change course, I said let’s give the money back. I said you’ll have to fire me if you want to keep raising money and change course and they did.

4 years later after they raised another $60M they sold the company for $15M.

Sometimes you don’t win.

Sometimes it’s better to back out and start anew.

Give it all you can but there’s no honor in dying trying for something that won’t work.

There’s a song lyric by Matt Johnson of TheThe:

If you can't change the world. Change yourself. If you can't change the world. Change yourself. And if you can't change yourself....change the world.

If you can change the world I will work with you.

Good advice, but it's not that OP has 'zero confidence' in the product. He/she says how it failed the most important test.

>... in my understanding we've failed at the most important thing: finding product/market fit

First of all: honor to your for the courage of founding and running a startup. Being a founder myself, I know how hard it is compared to many other alternatives.

Second: I doubt you "have failed to learn anything valuable". If you sit down, take pen and paper, and try to list things you've learned since the beginning, I bet you that you'll come with several items in just half an hour.

But, to your point: you want to shut down and return ~half the money to investors. That's very responsible. Others would like to continue pushing, possibly to get to a point where you can raise a larger round.

I have to say, it's hard to find PMF (Product-Market Fit) just by spending $120k in a few months. The fact that you haven't found it yet does not mean you're not on the right path.

You have been vague (I guess you don't want to give away too much about the company identity), so it becomes hard for people like me (and I guess others) to try to help you in a meaningful way.

The only real piece of advice that I want to give you is this: when you have a strong feeling about a decision, when it comes from deep inside you, don't ignore that voice. Somehow, we tend to know what's the right choice even if rationally we think we don't.

Read your OP and all follow up posts in the thread. My advice is take 2 weeks vacation (travel somewhere), and do not work during this time. You need to step back and digest what you’ve learned so far. Don’t feel guilty about taking this time, it’s necessary for making an important decision.

If you come back after 2 weeks and feel the same way, shut it down and return funds to investors. Your investors and advisors are very very naive (how did you raise 220k as a solo founder with no product? How did you spend 120k in 9 months!?) and it would be unethical to take advantage of them by continuing in something you no longer believe in. You’re closer to the business than they are, your judgment about whether it’s time to pull the plug is more accurate than theirs.

On the other hand, if you come back with a fresh perspective and want to keep trying, do so and inform investors appropriately. And try to reduce your absurd burn rate.