Shutting down a side project, my experience

#1

Post by bmle » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 6:48 PM UTC

Shutting down a side project, my experience
bachle.me

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#2

Post by scorpioxy » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 8:32 PM UTC

These articles are great. Sad, but great. They somehow feel more real than the "I made X in a weekend and sold it for a billion dollars" type of stories.

I can relate to this story and would combine points 1 and 3. We often do it to scratch an itch or to engineer a beautiful a solution to a non-technical problem.

In my last job in IT-healthcare, i learned not to rush to automate any process because the problem is probably a people problem and not a technical problem. And you can't fix a people problem with a computer.

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#3

Post by bmle » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 8:48 PM UTC

scorpioxy wrote: post #2

These articles are great. Sad, but great. They somehow feel more real than the "I made X in a weekend and sold it for a billion dollars" type of stories. I can relate to this story and would combine points 1 and 3. We often do it to scratch an itch or to engineer a beautiful a solution to a non-technical problem. In my last job in IT-healthcare, i learned not to rush to automate any process because the problem is pro…

I think there should be more of these stories. Many people starting companies learn much from success stories through books and blogs but I think there may be more lessons to learn about how not to fail from people that have.

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#4

Post by snomad » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 8:55 PM UTC

I like your observations, especially #1. May I recommend this book before you give it another shot? http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abou...

Related to the pivot idea, I can's seem to find an asset manager that will work for my organization. They are either tied to business processes (e.g. selling products), don't allow custom attributes, etc. I work for a non-profit tied to govt/education and we have incredibly strict rules for managing inventory. Sadly, it is all being done by Excel and is a brutal mistake prone system.

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#5

Post by johnnyg » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 9:07 PM UTC

Do you have a version of akumulate.com floating around. We are a small business with an asset tracking problem. Just got burned by ManageEngine's AssetTracker and would like something more in depth than SpiceWorks offers. Perhaps I can tour and buy the code base for modest amount for internal use?

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#6

Post by bmle » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 9:12 PM UTC

johnnyg wrote: post #5

Do you have a version of akumulate.com floating around. We are a small business with an asset tracking problem. Just got burned by ManageEngine's AssetTracker and would like something more in depth than SpiceWorks offers. Perhaps I can tour and buy the code base for modest amount for internal use?

We actually never modified the codebase to handle business assets. We were in the discovery phase to find out if we can repurpose the code. When we shut it down, it was still a product for managing personal assets.

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#7

Post by will_brown » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 9:14 PM UTC

>We were creating a solution for which there was no problem.

As a lawyer I have always had a similar idea in mind for a '"mint" for assets."

I know you tried to pivot and already made the always difficult decision to shut down, but your UI looks great and please consider the following:

Let me just sell you on the market first, there are about 40 million US citizens 65+, 2.5 million US citizens die every year, and 55% die intestate (without a will). I could not find any specific number, but as a practicing attorney I can tell you it is not uncommon for those that do have a will to have multiple versions and people (typically family) fight over assets, and it can be an expensive fight.

At this point you should know where I am going, a "mint" for assets would be an unbelievably useful tool for probate lawyers and estate planners. In terms of the business just quick ideas: 1. license the software to probate attorneys, 2. cut out lawyers and be your own non-legal entity providing these estate planning services (similar to legalzoom but you have a niche on estate planning).

Feel free to email me, I am non-technical, but this is a unique occasion on HN where I might have a little knowledge to offer.

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#8

Post by icn2 » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 9:31 PM UTC

Great story. Thanks for sharing. I like the No3. "Working on a problem that people don’t have probably means that people won’t be willing to pay for that product."

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#9

Post by taproot » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 10:03 PM UTC

Almost crapped myself reading this, working on something very similar... I wonder if it will meet the same fate.

Re: Shutting down a side project, my experience

#10

Post by taproot » Sun, Mar 03, 2013, 10:12 PM UTC

bmle wrote: post #6

johnnyg wrote: post #5

Do you have a version of akumulate.com floating around. We are a small business with an asset tracking problem. Just got burned by ManageEngine's AssetTracker and would like something more in depth than SpiceWorks offers. Perhaps I can tour and buy the code base for modest amount for internal use?

We actually never modified the codebase to handle business assets. We were in the discovery phase to find out if we can repurpose the code. When we shut it down, it was still a product for managing personal assets.

Can you give us a rundown of the codebase / language / db / size / documentation? I can likely repurpose this for my own use as well.