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Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

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Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#41

Post by armchairhacker »

Not several years, but I have developed side-projects which burned out after a few months. The longest was 2 years. I put a lot of effort into these projects, and some of them I don't even really have demos.

But, I learned a lot of skills from developing them. Skills which directly saved me time later on. For example, I learned a lot of concepts which were later covered in college classes, so I was able to study less and do homework faster.

When I look back, I don't see anything I could've done in that time to help my future self more (except maybe a successful project? Or maybe investing in Bitcoin? ... but realistically, nothing else) I don't regret those "failed" projects at all: in fact, I wish I could motivate myself to do more of them.

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#42

Post by makeee »

Spent a couple years working on a Patreon competitor that did some cool things with the Instagram and Twitter APIs to unlock premium content (you pay then auto-follow their secondary private account with premium content). API changes screwed me over. Should have bailed then, but I kept trying as an undifferentiated Patreon competitor for another year without much luck. Lesson: If you have a unique twist stop trying if that twist doesn't pan out. Also beware of social network APIs.

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#43

Post by herbst »

Yes, when I was a total programming noob and had no idea about business I had these projects.

Today I scale everything down so I can build it in a realistic time frame. A project I can't release after half a year is likely not going to be ever released. If it turns out to generate interest I instantly have 5 times the motivation to improve it, if it doesn't I at least haven't wasted to much time. If I start loosing interest before a release is near I just throw it away too, no point in forcing it

Edit:// sure I learned a lot with the going nowhere projects too. And the most important thing to learn was my personal way to build any projects faster in future

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#44

Post by herbst »

amozoss wrote: post #5

Mine is https://pushback.io/ . It wasn't for 5 years more like 3 and wasn't consistently 15+ hours/week but definitely got up there when the passion was burning bright. I've failed to implement a winning conversion plan (need to iterate my pricing, just never got around to it) and do marketing. I've since moved on to another side project, but my passion certainly calls me back to Pushback from time to time.

You are in my backlog of services to implement in my current project :)

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#45

Post by herbst »

makeee wrote: post #42

Spent a couple years working on a Patreon competitor that did some cool things with the Instagram and Twitter APIs to unlock premium content (you pay then auto-follow their secondary private account with premium content). API changes screwed me over. Should have bailed then, but I kept trying as an undifferentiated Patreon competitor for another year without much luck. Lesson: If you have a unique twist stop trying i…

> Also beware of social network APIs.

Can't repeat this enough. Burned me multiple times.

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#46

Post by dgeiser13 »

HackerNewAddict wrote: post #15

This is mine https://appointmenthelper.net . My dream sauce (SaaS ;)) was this application which I consistently worked about 2 hours every day for one year and when everything was ready, the guy refused to use it. Though I still keep it hosted even though no one uses it :-)

Is that your pricing? Or the guy you built it for?

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#48

Post by HackerNewAddict »

dgeiser13 wrote: post #46
HackerNewAddict wrote: post #15

This is mine https://appointmenthelper.net . My dream sauce (SaaS ;)) was this application which I consistently worked about 2 hours every day for one year and when everything was ready, the guy refused to use it. Though I still keep it hosted even though no one uses it :-)

Is that your pricing? Or the guy you built it for?

That was my pricing. The guy was a dentist. He wasn't a technical person. He was a relative of my friend, when their relationship got sour he turned it down.

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#49

Post by softwaredoug »

What is failure?

I personally am happy when I know I build something others treasure. It could be a handful of people, or many. Or it could be that I’m the only customer.

I can’t feasibly imagine working on something that long that _nobody_ cares about using, including me. I suppose it happens, but it really boggles my imagination.

Financially? A startup? Yes there’s absolutely survivorship bias. Supposedly 9/10 fail[1]. From mid stage startup I’ve seen/worked at there’s only the consistent theme of luck, access to capital, and persistence..

1 - says this if cited article, which seems low TBH https://fortune.com/2014/09/25/why-startups-fail-according-t...

Re: Ask HN: Failed project you spent 15 hours/week for 5 years on?

#50

Post by MarcelOlsz »

mtnGoat wrote: post #35
MarcelOlsz wrote: post #2

I've spent the last decade doing this. Building up my savings, draining them on an idea. I put in 40+ per week for a couple years on my last startup in the real estate space. Poached some top level VP's from the biggest firm in our country, but we ran through our capital too quickly due to too many pivots and licensing costs, I could only do no salary for so long, tough when your rent is $2.5k/mo. Now I am back at my…

devils advocate... regret is a double edged sword. by sticking to one path that you have decided is the best, and turning your back to all others, you might ignore a great opportunity. what is to say you cant work hard on something for someone else and be equally fulfilled? all the most lucrative and fulfilling projects i have worked on, i was drafted into by others, not the other way around.

I find what I do enjoyable and I've had a lot of fun roles, but if I woke up with time and money on my hands I wouldn't be writing productivity software / web apps, I'd love to work on race related software but I have no math background. My main passions are piano and racing.

You're right I may miss a great opportunity and probably have, but landing a job that satisfies me is a much more accessible option than being able to dedicate all of my time to an idea at the drop of a hat. As I get older and my life gears more towards family I will have less time and steam to do what I'm doing now. I'm sort of stuck for the time anyways so there couldn't be a better time to keep taking on risk and sacrificing a couple opportunities. If nothing pans out then no worries, at least I tried and will happily go back to working and still probably try something when I'm older anyways.

There is also the added benefit that what I am doing now will directly benefit my future career, so even if I fail, not all is lost.

>what is to say you cant work hard on something for someone else and be equally fulfilled?

I can and I have, I've worked for a lot of great people. I'm just not dying to go back to the career route, I'd rather keep doing my own thing while I still can and take on a contract here and there.

>all the most lucrative and fulfilling projects i have worked on, i was drafted into by others, not the other way around.

Someone had to draft you though right? ;)

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