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My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

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Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#61

Post by mindcrime »

coralreef wrote: post #52
primigenus wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what YCombinator has to say about that kind of behaviour. Is this a unique case? Has it happened before? How do you prevent it from happening? What's the benefit of being able to say you're a YC founder?

YC already knows the dangers of "co-founders" who don't have a working history beyond getting together for this startup. Technically, it should have filtered her out of the application process.

Technically, it should have filtered her out of the application process

Why do you say so? Surely that's just one signal among many, and not an absolute indicator of anything?

Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#62

Post by the_watcher »

>> You rarely hear the raw stories of startups that persevered but ultimately failed — the emotional roller coaster of the founders, and why their startups didn’t work out.

I feel like I've read this sentence, or a version of it, so many times that it self-refutes. You hear plenty about people who failed. Not as often as the next big thing (since no one puts in the effort to send out press releases about how their failure happened - although that actually might be an interesting strategy for figuring out a next step if the post-mortem is honest enough), but it feels like once a week or so a post like this hits the front of HN.

Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#64

Post by GuiA »

the_watcher wrote: post #62

>> You rarely hear the raw stories of startups that persevered but ultimately failed — the emotional roller coaster of the founders, and why their startups didn’t work out. I feel like I've read this sentence, or a version of it, so many times that it self-refutes. You hear plenty about people who failed. Not as often as the next big thing (since no one puts in the effort to send out press releases about how their fa…

Yes, because you're on HN, where a lot of startup founders hang out. Statistically, there will be a lot of failed startup founders in HN.

However, you won't hear about those guys in Forbes Magazine, on the evening news, or in your business school classes.

Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#66

Post by beachstartup »

nikkidurkin wrote: post #22
andrewljohnson wrote: post #15

It struck me when she glossed over how/why her two co-founders left. There's got to be a deeper story to why two "co-founders" would leave right when 1.2M is secured. She said they decided to tell me they were leaving the company without even a hint of warning - my guess is there was no agreement in the first place or a lot of unnoticed warnings. To conclude she's just too trustful is almost certainly a flawed conclu…

Hey Andrew, I actually glossed over that out of respect for the 2 guys. My purpose was not to bitch about them, and many people who will read this post in my network will know who I'm talking about. There were mistakes made on both sides, but in the end I bent over backwards to accomodate them and as soon as YC was over and they could say they were YC founders they bailed. I'm not saying its entirely their fault - I…

you say in the article you were "stabbed in the back" by your co-founders. that's provocative language and an extremely strong indictment against two people that are not anonymous.

Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#68

Post by coralreef »

mindcrime wrote: post #61
coralreef wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC already knows the dangers of "co-founders" who don't have a working history beyond getting together for this startup. Technically, it should have filtered her out of the application process.

Technically, it should have filtered her out of the application process Why do you say so? Surely that's just one signal among many, and not an absolute indicator of anything?

I didn't mean it absolutely even though I wrote it that way, obviously there are many other factors and exceptions, but this is one factor that would work against a person.

As for indicators, I think that people who have worked together for a shorter amount of time are more likely to break up. This is because fights and disagreements between co-founders are inevitable, and in startups they are more intense compared to regular business working relationships. When you have history with your cofounder, then you've likely survived those fights and are more likely to get through the ones coming.

Of course, this is simply one of many factors.

Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#69

Post by mindcrime »

As a very wise man once said[1]

"It ain't about hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now if you know what you're worth, now go out and get what you're worth".

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY

Re: My startup failed, and this is what it feels like

#70

Post by coralreef »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #43

"...I was going to go big or go home" Ms. Durkin I think you just need to go bigger next time. Don't just solve a small problem, solve a dire one that we all (man and woman, black or white) have in common. Why disrupt a market when you can create a new one while simultaneously destroying four others? You know, that sort of thing. Good luck!

Please point me to said markets so that I can become a billionaire!
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