Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#11

Post by mlevental » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:17 PM UTC

totoglazer wrote: post #7

Do you think the new cofounder will substantially change your ability to have 5 successful pilots in the next 3 months? Are you excited about the space? Do you think you are uniquely able to contribute? Do you still think the market is there? If your answer are no to all or most of the above, it sounds like maybe you should close up shop. I think returning VC money is dumb. Returning friends & family might be worthwh…

>Do you think the new cofounder will substantially change your ability to have 5 successful pilots in the next 3 months?

substantially? hard to tell. he is hungry, and smart enough (from what i can tell), but he's no magician (who is anyway?).

>Are you excited about the space?

no. we are not building tesla-spacex-oculus. it would be very hard to be excited about b2b tradeshows. i am excited about potentially building a successful business.

>Do you think you are uniquely able to contribute?

not as of yet.

>Do you still think the market is there?

yes.

>I think returning VC money is dumb. Returning friends & family might be worthwhile.

there is no traditional vc money. it is only fff money.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#12

Post by mlevental » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:18 PM UTC

point78 wrote: post #6

Contact me for marketing. It doesn't matter if the product is the best thing since sliced bread, if it's not marketed it will fail.

of course but if the product is terrible spectacular marketing only gets you so far (which honestly exactly where i think we are - after lots of high touch sales we got some pilots despite product deficiencies)

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#13

Post by dchuk » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:20 PM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #9

melvinram wrote: post #3

Have you made progress in trying to understand your customers and their problems? You mentioned that 1 or more customers in the pilot are paid-customers. If someone is paying you, either they are forking out the money in the hope that you're going to solve a problem for them or they are forking over the money for other reasons (ex. as a favor to you or due to past relationship.) Do you understand why the paid pilot c…

the pilots that signed with us signed because the pain point is real and we did a good job pitching them/they are extraordinarily impressionable. the problem is that a key assumption necessary in actually delivering value turned out to be pretty much false (basically we saw almost no adoption amongst users).

Then do something about that! Don’t quit, go talk to the users and figure why they didn’t adopt. The answers are laying right in front of you but you seem deterred by doing the work. B2b is hard, try harder before quitting.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#14

Post by harel » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:21 PM UTC

Failing something is learning. A lot. Take that lesson and turn it around. You still have a runway to take off from.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#15

Post by mlevental » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:22 PM UTC

dchuk wrote: post #13

mlevental wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the pilots that signed with us signed because the pain point is real and we did a good job pitching them/they are extraordinarily impressionable. the problem is that a key assumption necessary in actually delivering value turned out to be pretty much false (basically we saw almost no adoption amongst users).

Then do something about that! Don’t quit, go talk to the users and figure why they didn’t adopt. The answers are laying right in front of you but you seem deterred by doing the work. B2b is hard, try harder before quitting.

>The answers are laying right in front of you but you seem deterred by doing the work

...i've been the sole full-time founder for 9 months. i have worked every single day of those 9 months (doing everything - sales, customer success, investor relations, product). i am not deterred by work - i am deterred by the prospect of burning money chasing a delusion. the users didn't adopt for the same reason every users of every other advertising channel fail to engage: no one likes overt ads.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#16

Post by danieltillett » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #9

melvinram wrote: post #3

Have you made progress in trying to understand your customers and their problems? You mentioned that 1 or more customers in the pilot are paid-customers. If someone is paying you, either they are forking out the money in the hope that you're going to solve a problem for them or they are forking over the money for other reasons (ex. as a favor to you or due to past relationship.) Do you understand why the paid pilot c…

the pilots that signed with us signed because the pain point is real and we did a good job pitching them/they are extraordinarily impressionable. the problem is that a key assumption necessary in actually delivering value turned out to be pretty much false (basically we saw almost no adoption amongst users).

This is probably the key. Do you know why users aren't using the product? Have you asked them? It sounds to me like you have a market where one side has a problem, but the other side doesn't.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#17

Post by codingdave » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

I'd give the somewhat cliched advice of whether you believe you will fail, or believe you can succeed... you are correct.

If you do choose to go forward, the fact that you have failed so far is not relevant. You had pilots. They failed. You know why. Dig deeper into the causes of the failures. Fix them. Get feedback from the customers, and fix the product. Fix the operational issues. And try again.

That is no different than the actions you would have taken from a successful pilot -- to listen to the customers, evaluate what happened, improve on it, and do it again. Iterating on a product is a process that doesn't end. You always take a step forward, no matter where you are today, and you end up in a better place in the future.

Whether or not to walk that path is completely up to you.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#18

Post by danieltillett » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #15

dchuk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then do something about that! Don’t quit, go talk to the users and figure why they didn’t adopt. The answers are laying right in front of you but you seem deterred by doing the work. B2b is hard, try harder before quitting.

>The answers are laying right in front of you but you seem deterred by doing the work ...i've been the sole full-time founder for 9 months. i have worked every single day of those 9 months (doing everything - sales, customer success, investor relations, product). i am not deterred by work - i am deterred by the prospect of burning money chasing a delusion. the users didn't adopt for the same reason every users of eve…

If it makes you feel any better it took me 11 years to make any money with my startup.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#19

Post by mlevental » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

danieltillett wrote: post #16

mlevental wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the pilots that signed with us signed because the pain point is real and we did a good job pitching them/they are extraordinarily impressionable. the problem is that a key assumption necessary in actually delivering value turned out to be pretty much false (basically we saw almost no adoption amongst users).

This is probably the key. Do you know why users aren't using the product? Have you asked them? It sounds to me like you have a market where one side has a problem, but the other side doesn't.

>It sounds to me like you have a market where one side has a problem, but the other side doesn't.

yes that is probably a succinct way to express it

Re: Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?

#20

Post by tom_mellior » Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 10:26 PM UTC

mlevental wrote: post #9

melvinram wrote: post #3

Have you made progress in trying to understand your customers and their problems? You mentioned that 1 or more customers in the pilot are paid-customers. If someone is paying you, either they are forking out the money in the hope that you're going to solve a problem for them or they are forking over the money for other reasons (ex. as a favor to you or due to past relationship.) Do you understand why the paid pilot c…

the pilots that signed with us signed because the pain point is real and we did a good job pitching them/they are extraordinarily impressionable. the problem is that a key assumption necessary in actually delivering value turned out to be pretty much false (basically we saw almost no adoption amongst users).

> a key assumption necessary in actually delivering value turned out to be pretty much false (basically we saw almost no adoption amongst users).

I'm leaning out on a limb here, but if this means what I think it means, you have developed some app that tradeshow visitors are asked to install to reap some benefits that don't interest them. If that's kind of what you are doing, pull the plug now. People don't use that kind of thing.