On Shutting Down

#1

Post by craigcannon » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:30 PM UTC

Re: On Shutting Down

#2

Post by shshhdhs » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

Oh man, for a few seconds when I saw "Shutting Down (ycombinator.com)" on my aggregator, I thought HN was shutting down! And then I was like, "Oh, April Fools.. wait, it is December". Man, that scare woke me up more than this coffee sitting next to me would.

Re: On Shutting Down

#3

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:56 PM UTC

shshhdhs wrote: post #2

Oh man, for a few seconds when I saw "Shutting Down (ycombinator.com)" on my aggregator, I thought HN was shutting down! And then I was like, "Oh, April Fools.. wait, it is December". Man, that scare woke me up more than this coffee sitting next to me would.

[deleted]

Re: On Shutting Down

#4

Post by artur_makly » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

this is the best shutdown i've seen to-date: http://vmashup.com/BDMLAWn6

Re: On Shutting Down

#5

Post by craftyguy » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:58 PM UTC

To be clear, since now ycombinator is in the business of clickbaiting titles, this is a blog about shutting down a company, not a blog about ycombinator or HN shutting down.

Edit: the original title was 'Shutting Down'

Re: On Shutting Down

#6

Post by apl002 » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:04 PM UTC

craftyguy wrote: post #5

To be clear, since now ycombinator is in the business of clickbaiting titles, this is a blog about shutting down a company, not a blog about ycombinator or HN shutting down. Edit: the original title was 'Shutting Down'

Yeah definitely thought ycombinator was shutting down at first

Re: On Shutting Down

#7

Post by dooglius » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:04 PM UTC

I think that "On Shutting Down" may have been a better choice of title here

Re: On Shutting Down

#8

Post by philip1209 » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:11 PM UTC

YC has talked about how startups die of suicide, not homicide. Shutting down is a hard decision, and there always seems to be pressure to do it. Raising money looks like success to others - so it's tough to declare later that you have made nothing of value and will close shop.

Here were my shutdown articles after I closed Staffjoy:

https://blog.staffjoy.com/staffjoy-is-shutting-down-39f7b5d6...

https://blog.staffjoy.com/denouement-abe7d26f2de0

Re: On Shutting Down

#9

Post by clarkevans » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:14 PM UTC

What to do when a company has found a market, reached sustainability with regard to its employees and customers, yet probably will not be providing the anticipated return for its investors? I'd like to hear about ways this has been bridged. Have there been any SV "exits" to a ESOP? Unfortunately, an ESOP requires at a minimum 30+ people to be legitimate exit option and quite a bit of administrative attention and expense. It seems an unlikely path for a technology startup.

Re: On Shutting Down

#10

Post by djschnei » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:15 PM UTC

Top 10 reasons people will start HATING your blog. They're hard to believe!