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Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

blog.jazzychad.net

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Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#41

Post by bambax »

ajcronk wrote: post #4

I read the title as a basketball metaphor, not baseball, and it still worked. The power of sports metaphors.

> The power of sports metaphors

If you understand the games it's about. I have no idea what the rules of baseball are, how you win, how you lose, etc. (I'm French) and found the whole baseball paragraph hard to understand.

In the end it seems to mean that you can lose trying, or lose not even trying -- but if one's not trying why are they even in the field?

IMHO such posts should be more informative: what was the original plan to make money, what was tried, what failed and why; who were supposed to be the paying customers: users, carriers, phone makers, app developers or...?

And what were the operating costs? Wouldn't it have been possible to keep it running "on the side"?

As such it's a sad story that makes us sad; but we'd like to learn more.

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#42

Post by roneil »

thevivekpandey wrote: post #37
jazzychad wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I did. I'm debating whether or not to write much detail about this in a separate post... but the gist is that the big companies were not interested in acquiring a one-person team, literally destroying any chance of a talent acquisition. Another strike against single-founders.

I would request you to write about this in a separate post.

I'd love to hear more about the single founder experience too, could you tell us more about that or write up a post about that?

Edit: I just found a post about your experience on your blog, thanks for writing about it already. For others who are curious about this, see here: http://blog.jazzychad.net/2011/08/31/applying-to-yc-as-a-sin...

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#43

Post by [deleted] »

thevivekpandey wrote: post #37
jazzychad wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I did. I'm debating whether or not to write much detail about this in a separate post... but the gist is that the big companies were not interested in acquiring a one-person team, literally destroying any chance of a talent acquisition. Another strike against single-founders.

I would request you to write about this in a separate post.

[deleted]

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#44

Post by rdl »

cperciva wrote: post #26
jazzychad wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I did. I'm debating whether or not to write much detail about this in a separate post... but the gist is that the big companies were not interested in acquiring a one-person team, literally destroying any chance of a talent acquisition. Another strike against single-founders.

That may be a strike against being a single founder, but it seems like a strike in favour of single-founder startups: Because they don't have "talent acquisition" as an exit option, they're more likely to avoid dying.

More likely to run to $0 and shut down entirely, vs. a talent acquisition (which always looks better than a shut down, and has a chance of returning a tiny bit of capital to angels who invested early)?

Sounds like another point in favor of multi-founder startups. I wouldn't consider even a talent acquisition to be "dying" if the founders end up happy about it.

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#45

Post by robgough »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #36
huhtenberg wrote: post #19

Oh, damn. I honestly thought that Notifo would hit it big. FWIW and if it's of any consolation, Chad, you are not the only one who spent a lot of time on something that did not work out in the end. Been through that and killing a project as hard and unpleasant as it is, it made me feel liberated at some point shortly after. And as they say - what doesn't break you makes you stronger. So there is an upside. The idea (…

I, for one, never understood what Notifo did. I tried hard, but I promise I have no idea what it did. I knew it notified people, but not how to make use of it. That being said, I am a bit sad (really, I am) to see someone quit his startup to join an upstart. I would rather see him go through YC again and surprise us with his next idea. I am sure this Jazzy Chad has a couple of more ideas, but maybe he is a bit burned…

Well, as an example - every time someone reply's to a comment I made on Hacker News I get a notification on my Phone thanks to Notifo.

Same with mentions on IRC.

So yeah, I'm a bit disappointed that it's going away - I liked the app, and was always surprised I didn't know more people using it. I wish Chad all the best for the future, and thanks for your hard work.

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#47

Post by fbnt »

bootload wrote: post #32

"... My startup is dead. ..." When I read posts like this, the full acceptance of failure by US entrepreneurs, startups & business, I lament this positive trait isn't acknowledged in my country.

Same here. He's rightfully going to be treated as an experienced individual, whereas in my country you'd have an "I'm a failure" sign tattooed on your forehead by now, with nobody willing to do business with you again. This is what makes SV great.

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#48

Post by corin_ »

jazzychad wrote: post #7
ajcronk wrote: post #4

I read the title as a basketball metaphor, not baseball, and it still worked. The power of sports metaphors.

Funny, I hadn't thought of the basketball metaphor. Maybe that's what my friend meant, and I didn't know it! Just shows my bias toward baseball.

The baseball metaphor actually struck me as a little odd, why a foul out not a fly out?

And, given you haven't had a recorded out but instead just failed to find the success needed to get on base, perhaps you just kept fouling the ball off until you got tired and decided to retire :)

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#49

Post by spa942 »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #36
huhtenberg wrote: post #19

Oh, damn. I honestly thought that Notifo would hit it big. FWIW and if it's of any consolation, Chad, you are not the only one who spent a lot of time on something that did not work out in the end. Been through that and killing a project as hard and unpleasant as it is, it made me feel liberated at some point shortly after. And as they say - what doesn't break you makes you stronger. So there is an upside. The idea (…

I, for one, never understood what Notifo did. I tried hard, but I promise I have no idea what it did. I knew it notified people, but not how to make use of it. That being said, I am a bit sad (really, I am) to see someone quit his startup to join an upstart. I would rather see him go through YC again and surprise us with his next idea. I am sure this Jazzy Chad has a couple of more ideas, but maybe he is a bit burned…

Another example, letting the office PBX send a notification for missed calls through notifo. I always figured it was a niche product, but it should have been big enough to succeed.

Re: Fouling Out and Moving On (re: Notifo Shutdown)

#50

Post by drdaeman »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #36
huhtenberg wrote: post #19

Oh, damn. I honestly thought that Notifo would hit it big. FWIW and if it's of any consolation, Chad, you are not the only one who spent a lot of time on something that did not work out in the end. Been through that and killing a project as hard and unpleasant as it is, it made me feel liberated at some point shortly after. And as they say - what doesn't break you makes you stronger. So there is an upside. The idea (…

I, for one, never understood what Notifo did. I tried hard, but I promise I have no idea what it did. I knew it notified people, but not how to make use of it. That being said, I am a bit sad (really, I am) to see someone quit his startup to join an upstart. I would rather see him go through YC again and surprise us with his next idea. I am sure this Jazzy Chad has a couple of more ideas, but maybe he is a bit burned…

It was a notification system. An event happens somewhere (like someone mentions you on Twitter, or replies on HN), and you get a near-instant notification on your phone, tablet and/or desktop. Felt somehow better that old good email.
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