Ask HN: and now what?

Take a break, go on a vacation, and recharge your batteries. You have the skills to have a well-paid job, and a great life. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth just because you had a failed dream of being a millionaire through some startup. You can still have a great life from your skills, if you just step back and realize how lucky you are.

Come back and kick ass.

Do some side projects, get interested in something. If you've got a lot of interests you'll invariably have a lot of inspiration.

If your inspiration consists of "FUCK I NEED AN IDEA" you'll probably fail miserably.

It's easy to get caught in the echo chamber of the Startup world. The reality is, it is very hard to strike it rich in any industry. That doesn't mean we should stop trying, but just try to enjoy your life along the way by diversifying your time investment portfolio. That means that even if every attempt you make fails, you still enjoy the journey.

So go out there and have some fun. Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities for startups when you return.

The excitement and passion that leads you to create something rarely sticks around when things get tough. You have to press on regardless or quit. It's difficult to press on if you can't see any progress, but its often more refreshing and exciting if you step back and take a totally new angle on things.

I think that all of these problems will be solved by working a good full-time job for a couple years while writing an interesting blog and promoting it. You'll recover your energy and confidence. You'll be working through your thoughts, finding your voice and grappling with ideas every time you write. You'll be connected to people who share your interests, and who will give you strong feedback on/insight into your ways of doing things without your having to build a whole company first. And eventually, you'll intersect a great idea with the right person/people and be ready mentally and physically, and things will seem much different than they were in your last go-around. Hope this helps.

I failed few startups too. Same story, same problems.... Sadness, Depression, Shame...I take a break (2 weeks) Since 3 years, 5 startups, I find my solution a morning right behind my coffee.

LEARN BLACK SEO !

It's just what my new projects run better than other, I learn BLACK SEO for push up.

Don't forget to enjoy your life, mine are not so bad during 2 weeks :)

After the rest, I would suggest that you work on a problem of personal interest to you. Not a problem that you think someone else might have a need for, but a problem that YOU are the person who has a need for it. There are still an uncountable number of problems in the world to solve.

You may think you're desperate, but you're not. Keep reading...

I'm almost 38. Start programming at 10. Spent 7 years in video game industry as programmer, project manager, CTO.

None of that matters. Today is Day 0.

I tried during 5 years to create a "startup".

You don't "create a startup". You supply solutions to other people's problems. When you do that properly, a "startup" is often the byproduct. Focus on their needs, not yours, and allow the "startup" to evolve to what it should become instead of pushing some preconceived notion.

I still have a half time job that pay the bill and give me enough time to create something.

That's great! Fantastic, in fact. You have the best of all world's: enough income, enough time, and enough connections to other things and people to supply yourself with plenty of demands to supply. You're ahead of 95% of others already. So please stop feeling "desperate" and harness the excellent position you're already in.

During these 5 years I created a game, a tool for geeks, a B2B project and lot of more things. I created some projects alone, with CEO partners, CTO partners. Each time, I have no traction, negative feedback, I demotivating and then I stop the project.

a. Focus on what someone else needs. b. Limit the number of others and needs to streamline that focus. c. Work alone as long as you can. You may surprise yourself at how much you can accomplish.

I read too much about pretotyping, MVP, lean startup, marketing.

Then stop reading and start doing. When you reach the point where you don't know how to do something that you must do, then reach for help, reading or otherwise, but not before then. Allow yourself to be pulled by your customer's demands, not pushed by what you think you should be doing.

Now I don't even know what to do.

Find a customer.

All ideas I have seems already made by someone else, and often better than I planned to do them.

That's a good thing! You want other people's great ideas. It's your execution, not their idea, that will be your key to success.

Each partners I meet seems too newbie to work with.

Then work alone and learn what you have do when you need to.

It's horrible because I have time and skills to do lot of things but nothing motivate me anymore.

That's because you're too focused on yourself, and not enough on others. Concentrate on satisfying someone else's needs by supplying something excellent. That's almost always enough motivation. You'll see.

I think all those failures killed me and now I'm lost. What a waste.

They weren't failures, but necessary learning experiences to get where you are now. Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, and Colonel Saunders all "failed" many more times than you have before they succeeded. And each one of them would tell you that those "failures" were necessary but not sufficient for success.

Take a deep breath, get rid of you're stinkin' thinkin', regroup, find a customer, and build something great. We both know you can do it. Best wishes.

Maybe you aim too big to begin. Why not set a much smaller goal, achieve that first so you feel good about yourselves. Then use that positive energy to fuel your journey forward.

Don't give up on your dream. If you do, how many more years do you have to wonder what ifs and swallow your pride working at a job you don't like.

You already pull in enough to pay the bills, so there is no worries. Try again. You can always find a contract to pay the bills again.

Whatever your mind can conceive, you can achieve.

I took about six months of very minimal contract programming work, at the same time as doing a lot of physical work on a "fixer-upper" house my wife and I bought in a cheap area. Then I settled on a project which I hope will turn into a startup, but which I'd be completely happy just working on anyway even if it never turns into a business - I'm just that interested in it. Consulting is still there to pay the bills.

Good luck!

And don't forget even startups created by people with lots and lots of money and huge successes in the past screw up trying to make things too. (Airtime)

Similarly, a project (which could become a startup) "comes out" not from having skills or experience "with Java", but from an urge to change (create or build or just do) something.

Where such inspirations comes from? From closely observing what is around, from becoming aware of "what is".

So, do forget your tools and skills for a moment, and try to find something, which you would like to change or improve, not to create a startup, but in a way of "just do it". Startup, like a form, is second to the content.)

I might be wrong, but nginx or redis or Scheme "came out" this way.

Secondly I would advise a frank and in depth post mortem. Find out really what when wrong and when. Perhaps it was just bad luck but more likely there are mistakes you can learn from.

"Each partners I meet seems too newbie to work with." This phrase stands out. Perhaps its just because your upset right now but generally when someone blames everyone else it means the problem lies with them.

Couple of things:

All ideas I have seems already made by someone else

This is a good thing! This is validation of the market! And there's something new about your idea, right?

Even better - competitors can acquire you!

You want competition. Be scared if there isn't competition.

Each time, I have no traction, negative feedback

No traction - this is the problem. The advice I like is "do things that don't scale" (pg I think?).

Example: blog and submit your posts to HN. Repeat until you get one onto the front page. Don't stop.

Re: negative feedback - you have feedback at all! Someone tried it out! You're ahead of the curve.

Negative feedback is also your customers telling you what to build. This is the good stuff! If the only thing that comes from your idea is advice on what to build next, that's a positive!

Finally, consider the Helsinki Bus Station theory:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/feb/23/change-li...

In a nutshell - all routes start out the same. The first 3 or 5 years on an idea are about getting out of town. It gets interesting after that.

So pick a route, and stay on the fucking bus.

:)

Are you sure? How are you measuring that? How much traction did you need? Need to accomplish what next step? Are you trying to bootstrap from 0 -> profitability without taking funding? Are you looking "just enough traction to get funded", or "other"?

"negative feedback"

What kind of negative feedback, and how did you react to it? There's a difference between "this is a really stupid idea and you suck" and "this could be useful, but not until you add a FR$OZGIBIT interface".

If the feedback helps steer you in the direction of a better product, better product/market fit, etc., then it's actually a good thing.

I demotivating and then I stop the project.

Why did you stop? Did you have a concrete idea, going in, of what goals you were trying to accomplish, what metrics you would measure, and what your "success criteria" would be?

I read too much about pretotyping, MVP, lean startup, marketing

Hmmm... all of those things, in isolation, are potentially very valuable. I'm guessing you mean something like "I read all this stuff and saw conflicting advice" or "I read all this stuff and was drowning in information and couldn't find a cohesive narrative to link it all together" or "I spend too much time reading this stuff instead of actually building my $FOO".

In any case, I can only share what I've found valuable. Read Steve Blank's The Four Steps To The Epiphany and/or The Startup Owner's Manual. Steve's work gives you something closer to a "paint by numbers" approach than anything else out there. The Customer Development approach gives you a process to follow, so - at least - you won't just be drifting around doing random stuff because you read about it on a blog link from HN. Start with CD and then add in other "stuff" as you work through the process.

Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start is also an excellent read.

Now I don't even know what to do.

Well, you could give up, feel sorry for yourself, mentally berate yourself for not accomplishing more, maybe drink a lot, or take up a cocaine / heroin / crystal meth habit, or just spend all your time getting stoned and listening to Pink Floyd.

You could watch Glengarry Glen Ross about 100 times, and take the famous "sales speech" scene way to literally, get really fired up and charge full-bore into a new initiative, planning to kick the world's ass.

You could sit back, take stock of where you are, what resources you have, and what your passions are, think about where you want to go, and meticulously put together a plan to get from "point A" to "point B".

It's really up to you. No options are ever really off the table.

All ideas I have seems already made by someone else, and often better than I planned to do them

One: seems is the key word here. It's probably not literally true that you have no novel ideas at all. Two, it doesn't matter, as even IF you do have a novel idea, it won't stay novel long. There are too many people in the world... what ever idea you thought of, somebody else will have the same idea if they haven't yet. Who cares? Do it anyway, and out execute them.

Bob Parsons (of GoDaddy fame) once said something roughly like "Don't be afraid to enter a crowded market, just be better than everybody else".

Another way of looking at it... if you are working on an idea that nobody else is working on, it's either something really amazingly new that you've invented (congrats!) or it's a really stupid idea. If other people are working on the same thing, however, that is a measure of validation that the idea may, indeed, be sound. Now go out execute those scumbags... they are trying to take your lunch money!

Each partners I meet seems too newbie to work with

Fine, forget partners for now.

I think all those failures killed me and now I'm lost. What a waste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQQcOQsCFnw

1. Take a break if you feel you are burnt out.

2. Shift into a new area. I suggest healthcare. You have seen the entire cycle of the PC/Internet era and understand how companies are built. You can parlay this into the healthcare area where technology is just making inroads (it feels like the mainframe era to be honest). So, if you are into games, B2B or mobile there is something you can do. Best thing is you will now understand the problems (unlike 25 year olds :-). There is a revenue stream already in place. It is about 4-5 times bigger than the advertising stream.

3. The internet model has turned out to be based primarily on advertising. With the general dispersion of internet technologies, the technology risk is very limited. So it is mostly a marketing problem. Most of the power has shifted to Google/Amazon/Facebook and other biggies. So you will compete with young guys with lot of energy following a template (MVP/Lean/Accelerator etc.) but limited perspective on solving problems. Not the best place to be as a 38 year old (esp. if you already don't have a hit). Nothing stopping you, but be realistic that you will be building an advertising based company with minimal technology risk but high emphasis on marketing.

A lot of people think they need to create something new when really what we currently have is just not all that great. Taking a verifiable need and implementing its basic requirements well will always give you a greater chance of success than defining need based on a completely new concept.

You likely have a lot of native code experience, and probably dealt with annoying hardware issues, right (PowerPC, whatever)? Try getting a gig with somebody targeting embedded systems, or take some time off.

Live life for a bit, stop programming, and maybe attend the odd hackathon until you learn to love coding again.

Hit me up on email if you want to vent/chat/whatever.