How I killed my start-up (a post mortem) • Hacker News Board

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#21

Post by intregus » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 9:03 PM UTC

OP here. First off, I see a lot of the comments have a very similar theme. 5 months is too soon to give up. Well, I haven't given up, I've only decided there is no business model without overhauling the concept (which I am not prepared to do for the moment).

I have watched traffic, and the habits of the users. The bounce rate could be lowered by tweaking some things, but there is not enough to bring users back on a weekly, or even monthly basis. I am open to suggestions, and will continue to watch my traffic. I have too many other decent ideas to sink more time into a fun site that has no business model (and don't tell me ad-supported is a valid option).

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#22

Post by apsurd » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 9:11 PM UTC

ironkeith wrote: post #20

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #19

You mean how he killed his project/website? People love to slut the word startup around.

Can you explain the difference? Because I'm not seeing it.

I'll take a shot. In his post there is not one word about revenue, cashflow, plan for monetization , etc. It's the typical "Let's get more users" gauge of success.

Businesses make money.

Just look at exactly what he is saying. He is talking about his lack of user traction as a reason for why his startup fail. i.e. "my startup failed because i don't have enough users".

Businesses fail for one reason and one reason only. They spend more money than they make.

How is this a business?

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#23

Post by ironkeith » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 9:19 PM UTC

apsurd wrote: post #22

ironkeith wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain the difference? Because I'm not seeing it.

I'll take a shot. In his post there is not one word about revenue, cashflow, plan for monetization , etc. It's the typical "Let's get more users" gauge of success. Businesses make money. Just look at exactly what he is saying. He is talking about his lack of user traction as a reason for why his startup fail. i.e. "my startup failed because i don't have enough users". Businesses fail for one reason and one reason onl…

While I can understand your values (and agree with them) your definition would make YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and dozens more "not start-ups". Or businesses.

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#24

Post by laut » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 9:47 PM UTC

apsurd wrote: post #22

ironkeith wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain the difference? Because I'm not seeing it.

I'll take a shot. In his post there is not one word about revenue, cashflow, plan for monetization , etc. It's the typical "Let's get more users" gauge of success. Businesses make money. Just look at exactly what he is saying. He is talking about his lack of user traction as a reason for why his startup fail. i.e. "my startup failed because i don't have enough users". Businesses fail for one reason and one reason onl…

The word "startup" wasn't used by the author of the post.

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#25

Post by trevelyan » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 10:02 PM UTC

MicahWedemeyer wrote: post #14

No hockey stick after 5 months? Yeah, time to quit and move on. Seriously? 5 months? That's it? I would have killed for any media exposure and even 100 signups after 5 months. It took me at least that long just to get some small-time bloggers to take me seriously. Unless you've seriously f-ed up (like emailing your entire userbase telling them "I quit, eat me."), then you've still got a userbase and a decent idea. I…

off-topic, but i love your design on obsidianportal.com.

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#26

Post by jlangenauer » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 10:39 PM UTC

ironkeith wrote: post #23

apsurd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take a shot. In his post there is not one word about revenue, cashflow, plan for monetization , etc. It's the typical "Let's get more users" gauge of success. Businesses make money. Just look at exactly what he is saying. He is talking about his lack of user traction as a reason for why his startup fail. i.e. "my startup failed because i don't have enough users". Businesses fail for one reason and one reason onl…

While I can understand your values (and agree with them) your definition would make YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and dozens more "not start-ups". Or businesses.

That might be closer to the truth than you think - Facebook being the exception, as it's actually pulling in decent revenues at the moment.

Imagine if every business was operated on the same principles as these magic-beans business model start-ups.....

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#27

Post by apsurd » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 11:02 PM UTC

jlangenauer wrote: post #26

ironkeith wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I can understand your values (and agree with them) your definition would make YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and dozens more "not start-ups". Or businesses.

That might be closer to the truth than you think - Facebook being the exception, as it's actually pulling in decent revenues at the moment. Imagine if every business was operated on the same principles as these magic-beans business model start-ups.....

And even in facebook's case: Revenue is one thing, profit is another...

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#28

Post by jimboyoungblood » Tue, Aug 04, 2009, 11:38 PM UTC

intregus wrote: post #21

OP here. First off, I see a lot of the comments have a very similar theme. 5 months is too soon to give up. Well, I haven't given up, I've only decided there is no business model without overhauling the concept (which I am not prepared to do for the moment). I have watched traffic, and the habits of the users. The bounce rate could be lowered by tweaking some things, but there is not enough to bring users back on a w…

fwiw, I think you're doing absolutely the right thing. The opportunity cost of sticking with it is too high when you have better ideas to work on.

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#29

Post by benhoyt » Wed, Aug 05, 2009, 2:22 AM UTC

laut wrote: post #24

apsurd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take a shot. In his post there is not one word about revenue, cashflow, plan for monetization , etc. It's the typical "Let's get more users" gauge of success. Businesses make money. Just look at exactly what he is saying. He is talking about his lack of user traction as a reason for why his startup fail. i.e. "my startup failed because i don't have enough users". Businesses fail for one reason and one reason onl…

The word "startup" wasn't used by the author of the post.

In the blog post he didn't, though it looks like the HN user (intregus) who submitted the link is the author of the post.

Re: How I killed my start-up (a post mortem)

#30

Post by ngsayjoe » Wed, Aug 05, 2009, 3:08 AM UTC

intregus wrote: post #21

OP here. First off, I see a lot of the comments have a very similar theme. 5 months is too soon to give up. Well, I haven't given up, I've only decided there is no business model without overhauling the concept (which I am not prepared to do for the moment). I have watched traffic, and the habits of the users. The bounce rate could be lowered by tweaking some things, but there is not enough to bring users back on a w…

Instead of shutting it down, you should leverage on your existing user-base for your next project. I actually had a similar experience, I created a hobby project as I learn RoR, and the project did take off with substantial traffic generated. However, the idea itself is not monetizable, other than pathetic AdSense. With this huge user base, I have created a second project, but this time with a solid business model before I started a single line of code. I'm channeling lots of traffic from the non-profitable project to the profitable one.