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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

#151

Post by dopamean »

vijayboyapati wrote: post #138

I was in the same YC batch as Nikki. The thing I remember most about her was her enthusiasm. I also remember that her presentation on Demo Day got the loudest applause and most interest. Sad to hear 99dresses didn't make it, but I'm sure Nikki will have a bright future. Few young women her age will have gained the experience and insight that comes from founding a company and seeing it fail. As Michael Jordan said "I'…

What I like most about that MJ quote is that all the stats link up. If he has made those 26 game winning shots he would have had not lost "almost 300 games" and he would have missed fewer than the "more than 9000" shots that he missed. Man, he was awesome.

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

#152

Post by ryanobjc »

nikkidurkin wrote: post #117
ixmatus wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced a co-founder split not too long ago and I can definitely tell you from my personal introspection that you may need to look deeper than "it was my fault for not seeing the warning signs". It always takes two to tango and you're right to not bitch about them but then saying you were stabbed in the back is silly. Being a founder is tough, having co-founder problems is tougher, clearly understanding what yo…

Just a few points: 1. Even though I'd already spent 2 years on the startup, the first co-founder I bought on had the same equity as me. He wanted it, and I wanted someone fully committed. 2. I was off fundraising for 2 months, and my mistake was not communicating that really well with them. I wasn't a great leader at that time. However, I did notice something was off but I just thought it was post-yc depression (whic…

Such an excellent write up, thanks for this.

In progress on a startup now, and I have realized the most important thing is trust between the cofounders. There is a lot of people who want to be 'cofounders' but don't understand what it means, the real consequences and also what real company control means.

I also think YC might not be helping here - since being a YC founder is such a cachet resume item, the value of growing a company is discounted. This results in real problems as you have illustrated.

In the end, if you don't trust and know your cofounder as well as your SO, it's going to make the hard things that much harder.

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

#154

Post by spada »

andrewstuart wrote: post #148

Too few female founders around. YC should shepherd this girl straight back into the game and support her.

She hardly comes off as the type of person that wants affirmative action. I'm not being a white knight here but that comment is kinda insulting to her.

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

#156

Post by jfoster »

jakejake wrote: post #42
nikkidurkin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think it's great that you take the high road and don't resort to dragging other people through the mud. You definitely seem to place the responsibility all on yourself, which I imagine is not always the full truth. Not providing any reason at all, actually makes it sound as if the two co-founders just randomly and completely bailed on you. (Which may be exactly the truth) I was trying to imagine a logical scenario,…

Perhaps a good approach in this type of circumstance is to explicitly leave it unanswered. (eg. "both left for reasons that are not the point of this post")

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

#157

Post by andrewstuart »

spada wrote: post #154
andrewstuart wrote: post #148

Too few female founders around. YC should shepherd this girl straight back into the game and support her.

She hardly comes off as the type of person that wants affirmative action. I'm not being a white knight here but that comment is kinda insulting to her.

Not in the slightest insulting. All I see in this girl is that she is following the fairly normal path that non-Zuckerbergian founders go through. She's smart and motivated and getting some good experience under her belt early. If she is not supported to rapidly pick herself up and dust herseld off then she might not be back in the game for years. A failed venture can take years to recover from financially etc. The lack of women co founders is a constant issue now in the industry so when we find good ones then they deserve some extra help.

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

#159

Post by trevmckendrick »

austenallred wrote: post #139
nostromo wrote: post #137

Sometimes I wonder how non-technical founders can sleep at night with all the stress. It elevates cofounder risk to a single point of failure for the entire company. Seeing through "developer bullshitting" is a dark art that is hard to master without spending a bit of time as a developer.

Indeed. As a former non-technical founder (now semi-technical), the worst part of the fear of failure is that your "job" is keeping companies alive. If your company dies, not only is your company a failure, but your only "skill set" is called into question. Knowing that fact and simultaneously being unable to contribute directly to the product, wondering how hard you can push your technical co-founder/team (or how fa…

A thousand times this.

The worse case scenario is much, much worse for non-technical cofounders.

They often don't have a deep, specialized skill that is easily used by other companies.

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

#160

Post by matwood »

dopamean wrote: post #151
vijayboyapati wrote: post #138

I was in the same YC batch as Nikki. The thing I remember most about her was her enthusiasm. I also remember that her presentation on Demo Day got the loudest applause and most interest. Sad to hear 99dresses didn't make it, but I'm sure Nikki will have a bright future. Few young women her age will have gained the experience and insight that comes from founding a company and seeing it fail. As Michael Jordan said "I'…

What I like most about that MJ quote is that all the stats link up. If he has made those 26 game winning shots he would have had not lost "almost 300 games" and he would have missed fewer than the "more than 9000" shots that he missed. Man, he was awesome.

Also interesting is that he knew those stats in order to make the quote. He was known for remembering every little slight, stat, etc... in order to use as motivation. I picture a little piece of paper with 25 written on it, and him thinking he does not want to write 26.
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