Ask HN: Where do deadpool founders go?
1) We were not end users of our product. Dog fooding felt like a chore
2) We caught on to the lean startup/4 steps schools of thought too late and could have saved ourselves a ton of mistakes by just reading the 4 steps
3) Inexperience all through the board from product management to marketing. Bad mentors giving bad advice exacerbated matters
So the question is for me is really what next?
The context for this question is that I definitely definitely definitely want to be involved in another startup at some point in my life. Call me a masochist but 2 years of microwaveable food and perpetual worry wasn't enough for me. I've been thinking about the question for a while and here's where I'm at:
Door A: Join a marquee name marketing agency and get really good at marketing as I feel this is my primary value add to my future startup. At night, teach myself Python/Django so that I can bust out an MVP and try to use that to get seed funding
Door B: Join an early stage startup that has experienced founders. Learn from them and leech on to the product manager like a bad rash. At night, teach myself to code etc etc
Door C: Do you have another perspective HN?
14 comments
[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 38.0 ms ] threadTake 3 months out (live with parents or whatever to survive (to clear head etc)) then take Door B.
Afterward, go with plan B
This may have affected your motivation. Its easier to stay motivated when you build a product you want to use. You know this already since its your #1 point.
You can learn marketing by reading books on branding, advertising and marketing. Learning Python/Django for an MVP is also great. Combine that with plan B. But you know the situation better than anyone.
Why start from the bottom in hacking when you have a lot to offer someone who's inched up that rope over a few years, which is just what they have to offer you.
I would be more than happy to give my 2 cents if you're interested in listening. Maybe we can bounce ideas off each idea as well.
Is this something you might be interested in?
Just don't feel you owe these guys too much.
BTW, what does your last sentence mean? Owe who?
There are lots of possibilities on where you could go from here, for sure you need to work out in detail why you failed, so nuts and bolts items listed which would translate in to "If we had know this we wouldn't have started this particular project" or "If we had known this our chances of success would have been better". What use is time spent if you don't really absorb and integrate the lessons you might learn from failing.
Then, take some time off to recharge your inspirational batteries, and - and you're going to hate me for this - try again. But this time with a better plan, with a better way to evaluate the people that give you advice, with a product that you yourself will be the first users of, or that you will be able to sell to a paying customer before launching.
Obviously you have skills, now you need to put them to the right use, it's no point trying to use a saw as a hammer or the other way around and it reads to me as though that was what you were trying to do.
Joining an early stage start-up with experienced founders sounds 'easy' but there are not that many 'early stage start-ups with experienced founders' around, most of them are just like the one you yourself ran and you'll end up being the more experienced employee with a bunch of clueless founders if you're unlucky :)
Maybe take on a regular job and use your spare time to get your 'start-up 2.0' off the ground, some fairly dumb day job is an excellent way to keep your head free for the stuff that you want to do while being able to make ends meet. That trick worked wonders for me in the past, I think that it still is applicable today.
Best of luck, whatever path you choose, your other options are not bad but once the start-up virus is in your blood it is very hard to get rid of it ;)