Ask HN: I think my startup is going to fail, what should I do?

Why do you need funding?

Since they want to abandon it, get them to agree in writing that they are walking away and leaving you everything. Make sure you write the agreement, and get all parties to sign it. If you can afford it, and if you think they deserve or will want it, offer them some money. If they accept money, get a receipt. I believe having money in exchange makes future disputes less likely. You made an offer, they accepted, they got money, you got the rights.

While you are doing this, get a few opinions from people who have never seen it before. People here on HN are usually pretty straight and pretty honest.

Target limited alpha launch (not just a couple of people dropping in) for two weeks from now. Target beta launch two weeks after that. Don't move those deadlines, just make sure you hit them. If you can bring them closer, do it.

Launch, and listen to the feedback.

A comment about the failures: Each one you mention, the failure is that you have not taken control. You are doing the work, but you are not driving things through. If you are ever going to succeed in these sorts of things you must see what needs to be done, and get it done.

Finally, you can contact me directly if you want. There are two ways. Firstly, find a real email address for me. It's not that hard, others have done it.

Alternatively, read this page:

http (colon) //www (dot) penzba.co.uk (slash) DHMW_Challenge.txt

I'd prefer not yet to have a direct link. On there you can find instructions on creating a public-key message for me which you can either post or, preferrably, put in your profile. It's probably secure enough for what you want.

If you want to do this but have trouble, reply to this comment.

On the other hand you can give up and walk away, but from what you say, you've already done most of the work. Be methodical, make a plan, then work through it.

One guy's job is to handle funding, of which he has yet to acquire any, and the other guy's is to handle marketing and getting users. This really sounds like the duties of one dedicate individual with a background in business and/or marketing - not sure what your friend's backgrounds are.

I've been in this situation before and it comes down to a simple decision: do you want them around any more?

If so, sit them down and tell them they need to start pulling their weight. Maybe they lack direction and need you to provide that for them (which is worrisome, since one of these guys is supposed to be fulfilling the CEO role at this point).

If you want them gone, draft up some paperwork stating that they are bowing out, they want nothing to do with the company, and you don't owe them anything for ever and ever amen.

Just reading your situation here, it sounds as if the latter is your best option. You are basically doing all of the work yourself it seems and dragging 2 friends along with you. Add another hour to your schedule each night for a week and you could complete all of the work they've done the past 8 months or hire people freelance to take care of some of that for you.

Very respectfully, you strike me as the kind of person who is easily discouraged.

Let me tell you a story about discouragement (or the absence of). When I was in high school my parents told me the didn't have anything saved for me and I'd have to pay for college. I spent my entire junior and senior years applying for scholarships. There was one really big $20k scholarship in particular though that I thought I was a shoe-in for.

Well, the notification date passed and I hadn't heard anything. So I called and called, trying to find out what was going on. The obvious answer was someone else had won all of the 5 scholarships they awarded. But I wouldn't stop until I knew for sure. Finally, I found out that they had all been given out, but that 3 students had declined (they were school-specific). These 3 were going to go back into the budget for next year. I pleaded my case with one of the administrators, and within 24 hours, one of those awards was mine. $20k just like that. And there were 2 more just sitting there if anyone else would have done as I had.

When a magazine ignores your article, it's up to you to make it impossible to ignore.

Anyway, back to your question... ask your partners to hand over the company. If that doesn't work, buy them out. How much? Well, how long would it take you to start over, and how much is your time worth? (i.e. (time to recreate) * (value of your time) * (their ownership of the company) = buyout at this point, because you don't have any realistic valuation criteria beyond that)

It might be a good idea to start something new. And don't let things happen to you, make them happen.