We were butchered by a patent troll in the 90s. Back then they weren't so known or hated.
Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
11–20 of 51 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#12My startup failed because we were too late to ship our minimal viable product. We waited too long to make it perfect and by then a competitor had shipped their imperfect product and captured our market.
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#13My startup failed because we were too late to ship our minimal viable product. We waited too long to make it perfect and by then a competitor had shipped their imperfect product and captured our market.
Funny, so many people say that competitors don't matter. What size was your market?
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#14We were super excited by the technology and didn't focus enough on what customers actually cared about.
Relatedly: we addressed a need all the CIOs we talked to were in their top 3 concerns. But what we forgot was concern #0: not losing their job. Basically: if you use startup S's product and increase sales by 5% you're a hero, but if startup S's product fails you can be fired. While if you stick with your current crummy approach, if it fails, well, it's the industry standard. It's worth costing the company 5% of revenue to make sure you don't lose your job.
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#15Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#16We hired too much too early. We didn't measure the impact of employees on our revenue so we had more people working on the product but we where not growing with it. Then, we took too long to fire those people or find ways to make the structure work.
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#17Oh boy! Which one?
Startup #1: we did not recognize the need to bring in the talent we lacked (graphic design). We had an interesting but ugly product in a space where looks were important - had some traction but not nearly enough.
Startup #2: we did some market research, got some interest from prospective clients, got excited and started building our MVP before fully validating the requirements. Spent a lot of effort on a feature that ended up much more complicated than we expected, that in retrospect did not belong in the MVP. Ran out of money / energy and we gave up (too early, I still think).
...around this point I switched to freelancing and let others take the risks.
Client startup project #1: did not do much/any market validation before starting, and had no clear marketing plan. Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded.
Client startup project #2: did not do much/any market validation before starting, and had no clear marketing plan. Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded.
Client startup project #3: did not do much/any market validation before starting, and had no clear marketing plan. Built and launched, failed to get traction, folded.
I can keep going but it's getting a bit repetitive :)
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#18Apple store changed their terms of service. We were lucky pre-launch and haven't invested too much time. Another startup with 6 people (future competitor?) closed their shop shortly after.
Is this Apple retail store or the App Store?
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#19We were super excited by the technology and didn't focus enough on what customers actually cared about. Relatedly: we addressed a need all the CIOs we talked to were in their top 3 concerns. But what we forgot was concern #0: not losing their job. Basically: if you use startup S's product and increase sales by 5% you're a hero, but if startup S's product fails you can be fired. While if you stick with your current cr…
Oh god this is so similar to an experience I had. Nothing kills an enterprise deal faster than bringing additional risk for marginal improvements.
Re: Ask HN: Why did your startup fail?
#20We were super excited by the technology and didn't focus enough on what customers actually cared about. Relatedly: we addressed a need all the CIOs we talked to were in their top 3 concerns. But what we forgot was concern #0: not losing their job. Basically: if you use startup S's product and increase sales by 5% you're a hero, but if startup S's product fails you can be fired. While if you stick with your current cr…
The "Nobody ever got fired by buying IBM" factor