My startup failed, and this is what it feels like (2014)
In this postmortem from 2016, @jeremylevy candidly breaks down the dissolution of their startup, examining the fatal assumptions, misallocated resources, and market dynamics that led to its shutdown.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Early signals were often rationalized away instead of prompting an immediate pivot in distribution or pricing.
The psychological toll of running out of capital compounds operational friction in a solo or small team setup.
Key Antidote: Validate paying willingness before committing months to building sophisticated product features.
Community Debate Themes:
Community discussions on HN centered on identifying product-market fit early, avoiding vanity metrics, and the emotional recovery process after shutting down.
CATEGORY Postmortems & Failures →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 79 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 21 comments
I am glad to see female founders getting a little more attention here these days, but I wish more attention were given to why they fail and how to do it better. Here was my take on this piece:
http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-decade-late-and-millions-short.html
Interesting, but in the first place - why did they move to USA/NYC? Why they couldn't launch the mobile app or website from Australia? Maybe this is related to that solving of chicken and egg problem they mention...
Needs a [2014] in the title. In light of current discussions about a current startup crunch, it'd be nice to make it clear that this one isn't part of it. Good postmortem, though.
Here is the previous discussion:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7933155
Startups don't fail. Founders just stop doing their work. You can't succeed if you give up.