Ask HN: Should I stay at my default dead startup or go and do something else?

Hi everyone,

As you can probably tell from the title, I'm one of the cofounders of a VC backed startup. I've been working on this startup for about three and a half years, but we've pivoted a couple of times and have been working on this particular iteration for about two of those years.

In that time we've raised about $10m, have about $7m left in the bank, and are a team of about 15. We are making basically zero revenue (a rounding error amount), and almost for the whole of the three years that has been the case. I find my cofounder very hard to work with at this point - for a variety of reasons.

I feel very tired, and it has been a huge slog to get this latest version of the product out and I have little confidence it will meaningfully impact the metrics that matter i.e. revenue and retention.

But at the same time, I know that I want to build another startup.

Does anyone have any good mental models for how I should think about whether or not to stay at this startup any longer? I feel a sense of obligation to our team, and obviously we have a reasonable amount of cash in the bank (investors want us to return this), and I feel obviously worried about leaving without a clear plan on what to do next.

Would appreciate any thoughts!

Thanks!

All VC backed startups are default dead. It's terrible phrasing. You're basically asking if you should stay at your default dead startup or be at another default dead startup.

Another irrelevant data point is how long you have failed to make revenue. We see patterns of startups building things for 4 years, then hit product-market fit 2 years after launch. You have the runway for that, and you've already put in the time. However, there are startups that start from scratch, launch a thing in 4 months then get to PMF 2 months later. You rarely see data where someone launches something 4 months and sees PMF 4 years later. Starting from scratch isn't bad.

It sounds like the problem is with your cofounder and the processes that led you to this point. So based on the given data, I'd say do something else.

If you don't enjoy what you're working on and have little confidence in it, then move on.

I have not raised VC yet in my life but if I worked on a business for 3.5 years, burnt over $3,000,000 and have almost 0 revenue with multiple pivots, I would fold it, return the remaining cash back to investors, thank them for the support and take a couple of months off to clear my brain.

The problem is you still have no traction or considerable revenue to show after 3.5 years. That right there to me says that it's time to end this misery.

Hope it helps.

I'm not suggesting you stay. Rather that you might be experiencing one of the hard times that often comes with running a business.

If you have no clear direction, why do you have 15 people? Cutting staff is one of the hard times of running a business. Cutting staff increases runway. That's just gravity.

Some other remarks:

+ If the investors are asking for their money back, then your investors are a poor fit to your business's needs.

+ The difficulty of working with your cofounder are in part because you are experiencing a hard time in the life-cycle of a business. They are also because your cofounder is experiencing a hard time in the life-cycle of a business. All the petty baggage that's built up over the years is bubbling to the top in both of you.

My best advice is to try to do the right by people. The only way to know what that actually is is to ask. Asking and trying to do right by others is also doing right by yourself.

Maybe it works out. Maybe it doesn't.

This is probably not your only rodeo.

Good luck.