Ask HN: How soon do founders usually realize that startup failed

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1758714

by kia • 16 years ago

9 4 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Of course it depends. PG even wrote that founders on early stages usually have a false impression that their startup failed. But if the idea is not working (no market, etc) how soon do founders usually understand this? How soon do they realize that there is no point trying to save the company?

coryl• 16 years ago

Usually as soon as they've hit the market and haven't made the sales, revenue or numbers they expected to make.

At this point a decision to pivot may be made, along with minor tweaking. It all relates to the metric being measured, which is usually $$$ or userbase. No traction = no future.

taphangum• 16 years ago

The day we wake up dreading what we're about to do

carlos• 16 years ago

It's inversely proportional to the money received by a VC. That's why it's a must to have your startup as small as possible.

kineticac• 16 years ago

it will fail when you realize you aren't 100% passionate about what you're doing.

we fail every day, maybe every hour. If you realize you're failing, that actually translates to you being aware enough to know what's going wrong.

By knowing what's wrong, you can fix it. If you're totally dedicated and obsessed, failure is just part of the process.

Failure also happens often, there's just one massive failure at the end which is basically representative of an individual who has finally found an excuse to quit something they're not totally in love with.

Startups end as a failure because the founders choose to see it that way. There's no other concrete reason why.

Ask HN: How soon do founders usually realize that startup failed

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