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Is it just me or is there an inordinate amount of failed startup post mortems in the last two months? Is this a sign that the VC market is pulling back and the

by kjackson2012 13y ago

Is it just me or is there an inordinate amount of failed startup post mortems in the last two months? Is this a sign that the VC market is pulling back and the startup bubble is at least deflating a bit? Another thing, I appreciate the author's honesty but will admitting that he quit on the company/investors hurt his chances of getting any sort of consideration in the future and a founder of another startup?

thomaspun 13y ago
To be honest, I don't know if my honesty will hurt me later on. I didn't want to sugar coat the reason. Startups don't die until founders quit. You always have a way to make it work if you want. We had founder issues early on and we parted ways after we shut down the first product. I then led the company to ship second and third products as a solo founder. I could have quitted then but stuck on for another two years. I wasn't ashamed telling people the truth because I know I have given my best.
- RyJones 13y ago
  The lack of sugar coating is exactly what made this interesting reading.
e12e 13y ago
> Is it just me or is there an inordinate amount of failed startup post mortems in the last two months? Is this a sign that the VC market is pulling back and the startup bubble is at least deflating a bit? Maybe it's a January (new year and all that) thing?
pbiggar 13y ago
> Another thing, I appreciate the author's honesty but will admitting that he quit on the company/investors hurt his chances of getting any sort of consideration in the future and a founder of another startup? It won't hurt his chances at all. Startups fail, VCs know this. As an example, I was in YC W10 with Thomas' batch, and failed/quit my startup over 3 years ago. I found no problem raising money again: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/25/circleci-raises-1-5m-from-eric-ries-and-heroku-founders-for-platform-to-test-web-apps http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/25/circleci-raises-1-5m-from-e.... I suspect it will be easier for Thomas since he has more personal relationships with investors than I did when I started to raise 18 months ago.

thomaspun 13y ago

To be honest, I don't know if my honesty will hurt me later on. I didn't want to sugar coat the reason. Startups don't die until founders quit. You always have a way to make it work if you want. We had founder issues early on and we parted ways after we shut down the first product. I then led the company to ship second and third products as a solo founder. I could have quitted then but stuck on for another two years. I wasn't ashamed telling people the truth because I know I have given my best.

RyJones 13y ago
The lack of sugar coating is exactly what made this interesting reading.

e12e 13y ago

> Is it just me or is there an inordinate amount of failed startup post mortems in the last two months? Is this a sign that the VC market is pulling back and the startup bubble is at least deflating a bit? Maybe it's a January (new year and all that) thing?

pbiggar 13y ago

> Another thing, I appreciate the author's honesty but will admitting that he quit on the company/investors hurt his chances of getting any sort of consideration in the future and a founder of another startup? It won't hurt his chances at all. Startups fail, VCs know this. As an example, I was in YC W10 with Thomas' batch, and failed/quit my startup over 3 years ago. I found no problem raising money again: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/25/circleci-raises-1-5m-from-eric-ries-and-heroku-founders-for-platform-to-test-web-apps http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/25/circleci-raises-1-5m-from-e.... I suspect it will be easier for Thomas since he has more personal relationships with investors than I did when I started to raise 18 months ago.