I'm a little burnt out after my business failed after 4 years of hard graft. I'm looking for a new online opportunity but feel as if I've run out of ideas, problems and general creativity.
I'm not sure how to start again. Any advice?
Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#2I wish I took some time off in between startups. I’d suggest taking some time off to clear your mind and rejuvenate. If you have the ability, traveling can help (although this is tough now with the virus outbreak).
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#3What you are experiencing is absolutely normal. You worked on the best idea and you worked it hard. You even delivered revenue from customers and maybe you successfully raised some investor money. However, 4 years later, you're the end of the road. You are hungry for a new idea because you have built up a unique set of entrepreneurial skills that you want to keep using. You're a professional high-energy operator who builds and executes. However, you don't have anything as good as the last business because starting is hard. You know that a startup requires commitment and conviction. However, to get that fire again, for a new business, is a drag. Your startup left you out of commitment and conviction for your industry and with even less fight in your spirit for another run.
My advice: Go back to the scene of the crime and open up an investigation while the trail is still warm and you have some consulting gig to keep cash in your pocket.
Your startup worked for 4 years. I would recommend you go back to your industry and meditate on why you were convicted and why you were committed. Why did you succeed? What did you do better than the competition? Why did you stop succeeding? What about your customers you really loved? Which customers did you really hate? What was the magic of the business that others couldn't repeat as easily as you. In those answers may possibly lie the new startup that you want to launch that will CRUSH the COMPETITION. In a careful poring of the 4 years are the seeds for a new and possibly even more successful company. Take your time because looking at the failure will be painful.
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#4What you are experiencing is absolutely normal. You worked on the best idea and you worked it hard. You even delivered revenue from customers and maybe you successfully raised some investor money. However, 4 years later, you're the end of the road. You are hungry for a new idea because you have built up a unique set of entrepreneurial skills that you want to keep using. You're a professional high-energy operator who…
Thanks. TBH I think the niche was to small, the problem was too hard, the solution was too complex, the audience was too hard to connect with.
The niche can be served but I'm not sure it can be served and make a living from it. There are other competitors (without our USPs) but they're backed by universities so it's not clear if they're "stand alone" viable either. Thanks for your advice!
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#5Go work for a big company. The work is slower and you can take a break.
Big companies also mean big opportunities. And you don’t get to see what these opportunities are unless you’re on the inside. You will find some inspiration there for a great B2B company and you can leverage the connections you make there to make it happen.
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#6I wish I took some time off in between startups. I’d suggest taking some time off to clear your mind and rejuvenate. If you have the ability, traveling can help (although this is tough now with the virus outbreak).
Definitely this. I have lived through two (one major) restarts.
Be gentle to yourself. You probably will need longer to recovery emotionally than financially.
Let the process take its time. If you're unsteady emotionally or under pressure (need to make a business to regain income) it is very difficult to make pragmatic decisions.
Good luck.
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#7Go work for a big company. The work is slower and you can take a break. Big companies also mean big opportunities. And you don’t get to see what these opportunities are unless you’re on the inside. You will find some inspiration there for a great B2B company and you can leverage the connections you make there to make it happen.
All the big companies are freezing hiring. This doesn't seem like practical advice.
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#8I've been through a handful of ventures in the past few years with ultimately no lasting success. Some made money in certain periods, but ultimately they failed, with the thousands of hours and many thousands of dollars invested in these ventures now "down the drain".
The only thing we can keep doing is pushing forward. Failure must be seen as a learning opportunity, not a failure of intellect or similar.
With that said, if you are experiencing emotional side-effects, which are completely normal from my POV (I've certainly had them), I urge you to consider your mental health, nonetheless your overall health. Success and money do not mean a thing if you cannot get out of your bed or house every day, or if you've frayed all relationships (whether familial, friendships, etc.) while working as hard as we're told to as entrepreneurs.
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#9Go work for a big company. The work is slower and you can take a break. Big companies also mean big opportunities. And you don’t get to see what these opportunities are unless you’re on the inside. You will find some inspiration there for a great B2B company and you can leverage the connections you make there to make it happen.
big companies are for simps, real men are independent.
Re: Ask HN: Starting over after business failure
#10I took a job at a small startup for a year. It was healthy for a number of reasons
-stable pay, rebuild savings
-catching up on new tech I had missed while being heads down
-larger teams, more socialization I had missed
-time and space to decompress and process what I have learned