My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
gabrielweinberg.com
My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
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Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#2This is very interesting. I think that the more failure you had in the past, the more likely you will have success in the future. I also had some previous side-projects experiences which did not work but I learnt so many things from these projects!
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#3Yep, pretty interesting. And although at first I didn't, I have to agree that a list of failed projects is not a bad indicator for success. At least it shows that you keep trying.
As for mine:
1. Mefeedia.com Built it out for 2 years, then sold it because it wasn't going where I wanted it to go.
2. Poorbuthappy.com Lots of traffic for travel forums, but the community got out of hand so I had to close it.
Those where the 2 main projects where there was an expectation of it possibly becoming something big-ish.
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#4I wonder how many were done while holding down a regular job? From his linked in profile, it looks like he's being doing startups for a while.
Pretty cool.
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#5It would be very interesting to add information about when you were working with advisors/mentors and when you were purely working on your own.
I haven't had nearly as many at-bats as you have, but enough to know that I personally can't get very far on my own without an experienced voice guiding me past a lot of dumb ideas.
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#6Are there links for the two episodes of "Twenty Questions"?
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#7As a builder of digital things, the 3 things I have the most trouble communicating to non-builders are:
- how hard it is
- how much time it takes
- how long it takes to become successful
So instead of trying to explain it, I may just send them to this blog post, which shows all 3. Thank you, Gabriel!
(Now if only you would remove that Mojo Badge business from blocking your great content.)
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#8I wonder how many were done while holding down a regular job? From his linked in profile, it looks like he's being doing startups for a while. Pretty cool.
Been doing startups right out of college. Only had a "regular job" for one year, Aug 2001-Aug 2002. From 2001-2005 I also did consulting to pay the bills, but would try hard to keep it to 4hr a day max. From 2005-2006 I was also in a graduate program, which I treated as secondary to my startup (but still did it)--sort of equivalent to the consulting.
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#9"Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly." - Godin from http://the99percent.com/tips/6249/seth-godin-the-truth-about...
Re: My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups
#10Would be even more interesting to know the details of why Gabriel failed to stick with some of the ideas. A Posterous-type service in 2001 sounds like it could have been a bigger success than the Names Database.
Nth clubs sounds like it could work with a bit of incentive for club pros to recommend it...