Most ideas people have are rubbish so won't generate any revenue. When you're not generating any revenue then that should tell you that your widget is no good. Don't take that as an insult but the reality. So many startups are filled with folk who have wishful ideas but business is brutal and a no-good idea is just that. Do some market research to find out what is a useful widget. Few startups get lucky like Facebook and Google who happen to fall into their big area of revenue generation. That's pure luck and they have a graveyard of failed startup ideas. 99% of startups are rubbish that deserve to fail and are a waste of time.
Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
31–40 of 94 posts
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "my business isn't producing revenue because I'm not full-time focused on it." I've fallen into this trap and learned the hard way that full-time focus was not the issue. What was/were the issue/s if you don't mind me asking?
It’s always product market fit. If the product is right it will find users.
Nah, that's not the right answer. It puts focus on the product rather than the founders. You do NOT need PMF to get 1-5 sales. If you can't even get there, it's bigger problems. PMF is needed to turn 2k MRR into 50k MRR.
In my case, it heavily stemmed from our inability to do sales (at all). We had feedback early about how this was an $XXXXX product (and we were in sales process for that) and it put blinders on us. We should've been okay with $XXX and grabbed 5-10 customers early.
Why we couldn't do sales is something I'm not going to put on the internet because it affects people other than me. (I have no issue talking about my shortcomings.)
I left that company and started another with a proven sales/marketing type within 2 months. The story is much different than my first. It's because he can sell.
Funny enough, I have a license to use my old product w/o selling it, so we do. We've gotten at least 10 customers asking to buy it. And they're fairly emphatic about it.
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#33Kind of sad to think that a company just went bankrupt, while their employees were working on their own companies instead. No blame for OP. But what should managers do in challenging situations to prevent their team from losing focus?
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Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#34Everyone wants to not work for someone else and be the decision maker and lead a team. Entrepreneurship starts with being a builder.
Eh… most of the people I know are much happier not dealing with the overhead of running a business.
We work 9-5 so we can have money to live.
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#35You haven’t really said much about your personal situation and in this scenario it’s very important. - Do you have a family or other dependents? - How much do you have in savings? - Could you fall back on e.g. moving in with parents in the very short term if things go horribly wrong? Entrepreneurship is a wonderful adventure but at a very base level you need to be able to put a roof over your head and eat. As long as…
This advice is so important. You can't look only at the income side of things. If you are a single person renting, you have a completely different risk profile than if you are the sole income earner with 6 dependents with a mortgage.
So any other advice in this thread is useless without more context, IMO.
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#36Why did the fintech fail? Was it poor market fit, failure to execute, or insufficient capital?
Can you approach your previous customers and ask them what they want? Maybe you can collect some other previous employees and start a new firm in the same space (but do it right)?
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#37Do you have a family? A mortgage? Other responsibilities?
If you don't have any of those things, move to a country with extremely low cost of living.
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#38This is not a personal advice as I'm also in that badlands of struggles. However, today, I read a nice comment from an acquittance from my prior world of the web and awards and stuffs (I was a regular judge for an event he runs). Here is me trying to remember and paraphrasing it (not verbatim - I need to look around).
Entrepreneurs don’t go around calling themselves out as “entrepreneurs.” It’s not something to focus on and something that needs a “system.” Follow your passion while treating your customers like you want to be treated yourself.
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#39You haven’t really said much about your personal situation and in this scenario it’s very important. - Do you have a family or other dependents? - How much do you have in savings? - Could you fall back on e.g. moving in with parents in the very short term if things go horribly wrong? Entrepreneurship is a wonderful adventure but at a very base level you need to be able to put a roof over your head and eat. As long as…
> Do you have a family or other dependents?
And, if you are in the US: Does your spouse have health insurance and a salary that can help support the family? Do you have kids in high school getting ready to start college (runs about $30k-80k per year living on campus)?
Family finances aside: If the product has true potential - meaning customers not only say they like it, but they are ready to pay on the spot - then look for ways to keep it going.
FT job or consulting are potential solutions to the income problem. No shame in doing either, despite what VC crowd might say.
Re: Ask HN: My company went bankrupt today and I have 2 options
#40There's a dangerous line of thinking around "my business isn't producing revenue because I'm not full-time focused on it." I've fallen into this trap and learned the hard way that full-time focus was not the issue. You have a team for in-house mobile apps, but you don't have any revenue. Why is that? How will you fix it?
Very true. Focus is overrated.
Most "mobile app" ideas can be validated fairly easily, with a few weekends' worth of time at most. Put your MVP out there. Spend a few more weekends fixing problems and responding to user behavior. If it doesn't generate any revenue, throw it away. Try something new. Rinse and repeat. If you finally stumble on something that sticks, then you can allow yourself to focus on it full-time.