Ask HN: Who are your most influential failures?
Basically; which now defunct startups have been your biggest inspiration, most influential or their failure was your success?
The project was almost a child to me. You know how engineers can attach themselves to the stuff they create. The train wrecked in the end, engineers lost interest in moving targets and neverending milestones. It would have saved it if we received customer feedback in the early stages.
It wasn't my first job, but first in its kind. It didn't inspire me in the way that successful companies do -- but it certainly constantly reminds me about the path I should be walking.
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My first foray into business ( I was 14): being an Amway distributor. It taught me the value of salesmanship. I lacked it, and made me focus on it for years.
Then it was the idea of selling bottled water at a local political event. It failed because me and my partner arrived there too late! It also taught me about funding, because we borrowed some money for that. Money that we had to pay afterwards. I did, however, drink lots of refreshing water that week.
My first auto repair business. I took out a loan to buy equipment before even having one customer. Taught me the importance of getting customers before buying anything. Lost 5K in that one (at age 21).
My second auto repair business. I focused on doing on-site auto repair (like yourmechanic.com (the Y-combinator funded startup)). It failed because I lacked the marketing resources. Also, that business model has razor thin profit margins.
The shrink wrap business that almost was. It failed when I ordered $2K worth of product for my first client ( a family member, no less), and had to eat the cost (still have the prodcut!). He (his company) backed off, and left me broke. Taught me to put everything in writing and to get deposits.
My first tech startup, which was about selling websites to doctors. I did not believe in the idea and it led me to waste time cold-calling doctors (well, their staff). Taught me to not do anything unless I really believe in the idea.
A mobile carwash service that I had for a couple of months (still have the equipment...). This one was an eye opener. First, it taught me the importance of pricing. I was asking for $5 per car wash and it drove customers away. Second, it was a business I wanted to operate but I did not want to do. I hate washing cars.
I'm missing a few, but all of my failures have led me to really sit back and negatively judge every idea I get. Innovafy was only born after I thought about it for months. Even though it has not launched, most of the focus has been on getting the marketing and customers, and the other on getting the software done. For me, getting the customers are first, then comes the software. Forget the MVP, get me the a bunch of people who will pay to have the MVP developed before even a line of code is written. This is what I cal MOP (Money Oriented Programming). Innovafy is at that stage right now, getting people to pay before they even see the service. How so? Turns out that being an avid student of marketing for more than 20 years has proven itself very worthy.
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I could publish an ebook if the interest is there.
> Taught me to not do anything unless I really believe in the idea.
This can be dangerous. Sometimes you're unsure if your latest and greatest idea will work out, and that's when you should put your critical thinking at play, i.e., weigh the effort vs. the likelihood of success. The "don't launch a startup, launch an experiment" mantra is valuable.
You are pre- minimum viable product by all accounts, and even with experience that's a hard sell.
Good luck this time round though.
I wish you all the very best.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of two for me:
- Color (taught us to lead with your product, not your fundraise or domain name price)
- Eventvue (a TechStars 2007 company that taught me the importance of A/B testing and talking to your customers)
Could be an interesting app for the Google goggles.