Ask HN: What do founders of failed startups do next? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do founders of failed startups do next?

5 pointsfoobar2k6 comments

I was wondering if any founders of now defunct startups could share what happened next?

Was it easy to get back onto the startup wagon, or did you realise it wasn't for you and move onto something different?

I was one of the founders of Abacus Concepts, a pre-internet Macintosh startup. For thirteen years we were in start-up mode as all of our competitors were much larger than us. After I sold, I was truly burnt out and took some time to see the world and start a family. The money was holding out good until the crash of dot-com and a property purchase I made -- then I had to start looking for a job again.

For me, it was difficult because the advent of the internet changed everything, and my resume was filled with dinosaur skills. I knew it would be mistake to jump into the internet with my skills as they were, so I was able to find a job doing java. Nothing exciting, but I'm getting my hands dirty with Linux and net stuff.

Working for people sucks. The regular money is nice, but it's a pittance and the tasks are boring. I spend my spare evenings diving into python and django to build my own site. I'm getting kinda old for the crazy hours, with kids and all, but if you want real financial security you either have to put in forty years with the government and get a nice pension, or do your own thing.

I thought about a career change, but I love programming too much. Your on the edge of a revolution they will be talking about for a thousand years, and the money's good. Besides, what other careers can you have where you can drop out for nine years and then jump back in again?

In the case of YC startups, a lot of them get picked up by other YC startups. This was one of many unanticipated advantages of funding startups on a large scale.

After I resigned from my startup early last summer, I spent about two weeks moping in the evenings/on weekends (I had a dayjob by then), then came up with another idea that I started to work on.

this is too situation-based to answer, really. they do what they want or need to do. maybe that's start another, or maybe its work at a more normal job.

It would be great if (ex)founders could share a little bit of their situation too, for context.

well, i'm currently working on something that i do after my 9-5. if it goes under, its not much of a loss -- i'll probably do another. however, if i was working on it AS my 9-5 and it went other, i imagine i could be in a bad financial situation and need to get a solid job.

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