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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

#181

Post by mbesto »

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.

When you start learning the difference between "poor" and "broke" the stress usually goes away.

For anyone that doesn't understand - being poor means you have nothing, being broke means you are still accumulate wealth, it just means you don't have cash, but more intelligence. I suspect Nikki has banked loads of intellectual wealth from her journey.

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

#182

Post by balls187 »

carrotleads wrote: post #169
balls187 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flipside, if she started 99dresses at age 32, would it have failed for the same reasons?

She would not have had teh same idea but if she did, she would have dealt it lot better IMO. The advantages of age( if you are still open minded & not set in your ways) is huge but seems discounted in the YC and VC world. from y'day https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930428 from long back https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7455757

While YC and VC are nice social proof, the best social proof is a healthy business with customers and growth.

I mean, total kudos for being 19 and following her passion. I know at 19 there would be no way I could have been the dominate force I am at 34.

And I wonder what I'll be like at 54.

Probably look back and think, "Man I didn't know anything when I was 34"

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

#183

Post by digita88 »

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…

Similar position, I see start-up memorandums by full or mostly tech founders in which their common concern has been around building the wrong product or not knowing the customer. Yet being a 'non tech founder' or even 'semi tech founder' raises red flags.

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

#184

Post by jqm »

jacquesm wrote: post #116
jkimmel wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What's the benefit of being able to say you're a YC founder? Being able to attach the YC brand to your resume is probably very helpful when seeking investment for a new venture or applying for a job at a BigCo. Although I have no knowledge of the situation beyond this (very well written) post, I don't think it's farfetched that a couple developers would join an existing company just to experience YC and improve thei…

I can see some truth in that if you follow through. Bailing from something with high visibility will hurt your reputation rather than hinder. I assume that the prospective partners of these two people would be able to use google to find out just how substantial their YC foundership was.

Indeed. Being instrumental in loosing money for people by not following through on commitments is hardly a good rep nor resume line.

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

#185

Post by phaed »

crassus wrote: post #77
beachstartup wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'd recommend the author substitute it with "let down", even though it doesn't as accurately describe how she likely feels.

Political correctness is bullshit. They stabbed her in the back at the worst possible moment, its called stabbed in the back because had they not lied to her about their motivations she could have gotten real co-founders and not be left out without a team at the worst possible moment. They are lucky they got the treatment that they did on this post-mortem. They deserve to get outed publicly. If not only as a service to others who would not knowingly do business with those whose word holds no water.

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

#186

Post by bluesix »

danieltillett wrote: post #176
lubos wrote: post #109

So I see another startup failed story. Thinking I'll read it later after getting something done. an hour later, I start reading... Right in the first sentence I see "99dresses". I have to admit, it took me a minute to process what's going on. She has been receiving significant coverage in mainstream Australian media. As someone, who is running startup from Sydney (there aren't so many of us), this felt like someone i…

I am based in Sydney. I am not running what could be called a startup since my tech business has been running since 1999, but I do have a lot of experience with the the whole startup process. Is there a meetup of startup founders in Sydney?

Almost daily. All over the place. Meetup.com is flooded with them.

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

#187

Post by bluesix »

nish1500 wrote: post #146

Your story is mostly about you not getting a VISA, getting back-stabbed by people, spending 2 months fund-raising, media coverage, personal issues, your age, your gender. There is hardly anything about why the startup failed. But maybe the article isn't about the startup - it's about the emotional ride. Maybe that's why a lot of startups fail - they get so involved with other things, it's not about the startup anymor…

All the issues she mentioned are HUGE parts of building a successful business that absolutely everyone will go through.

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

#188

Post by graeme »

Thank you for writing this. I've bootstrapped my business. For the first 2.5 years, cashflow was tight. You've described the fears I had of seeing it all crumble, not necessarily because the idea was bad, but because the friction was too great.

I hadn't heard of your startup before this post. But from reading the comments here, you and your startup are very well regarded.

I doubt it feels that way right now, but I think you have a bright future ahead of you. Take some time to process and relax. Good luck!

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

#190

Post by coffeemug »

birken wrote: post #26

Well written. One thing I always find funny about the startup world is the idea that hardship is good. Hardship isn't good. Hardship sucks. Sometimes hardship is something you need to survive to accomplish your goals, but not always. While there are a lot of successful startups that went through a lot of hardship, there are a lot of them that didn't. It seems that based on a lot of factors that were outside of your c…

Or as Lefty Gomez artfully pointed out, "I'd rather be lucky than good." The more time I spend working on my startup, the more I appreciate the wisdom of this quote.
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