How much time and/or money did you put into building a startup that ultimately failed?
I've just walked away from my first startup. It was a subscription service that sent you a cool tech gadget each month. It ultimately failed for numerous reasons but mainly because the people who like tech gadgets (according to customer feedback) wanted to be in charge of seeking out their own gadgets and liked the process of doing that. Essentially we weren't offering a service for a problem that existed.
Total time spent on my startup = 426 hours
Total money spent = £9,000+ GBP
I'll be honest, I was pretty depressed when I realized it wasn't going to be a successful business. I didn't validate the idea enough, just thought it was cool and dove right in - clearly a big mistake. But now I've had a few weeks to get my head around it I feel okay.
The money was actually inheritance money and a bit of my own savings so I actually don't feel too bad about the money lost, as I enjoyed the process of trying to build my own business.
As for the time - again, I don't feel it was a waste because I learned so much.
Yes, I wish my startup had succeeded but overall it wouldn't put me off doing it again. Next time, I wouldn't start a business where I needed to put that much or any money into it upfront, so then I don't lose any money if it does fail. Timewise, I wouldn't change anything. I enjoyed the process even if I wasn't super productive at times.
I'm interested to hear how much time/money other founders put into their failed startup(s) because I don't think this is spoken about enough. I read a lot of 'lessons learned' stories but no one really wants to talk about time/money.
Appreciate the honesty here.
The £9,000 and 426 hours weren't really lost if they taught you the lesson that many founders learn much later: a cool idea isn't the same as a painful problem.
What stands out is that you were able to identify why customers weren't buying. That's valuable insight, not failure.
We've seen similar stories while helping founders validate ideas at https://foundersbar.com/market-validation-for-startups. The biggest risk usually isn't building the wrong product, it's building before understanding whether the problem is important enough for people to change their behavior.
Sounds like you've already taken the biggest lesson into your next venture. That's a win most first-time founders never get.
I spent close to $5,000 USD and 6 months to build a SaaS that I thought could help my agency become a tech product. Nope. the market moved, and building as a tool for Instagrammers was a complete waste of time, effort, energy. I had been servicing them but they didn't want a product, they just wanted the results.
So I don't consider it a failure for me because it has lead to other ventures/connections/opportunities/etc. but I spent nearly two years and ~$15,000 building my startup that didn't prove to be a sustainable business.
I was earning just under 10k/mo with it, but was only just barely breaking even each month as the service was a small business discovery subscription box. So not unlike yours!
It was just proving to be difficult with the margins and the time needed to grow it past that point.
Use what you've learned and turn it into your next opportunity!
Wow, thank you for the honest appraisal of how it went for you, especially for digging into the details of how much time and money you spent on it.
I admire that you're looking to get back in the ring—all the best for your next project!
Similar story to yours - I had a book subscription service that I spent about 7k on - don't know how many hours but I'd estimate around 200-300. The money went on stock, marketing, and a website designer. It failed because there wasn't a huge need for it and I was always going to have 'dead stock'. It broke my heart to walk away from it because it was a big passion of mine. Four years later and I don't think I'm over it. I wouldn't do it again. Glad you found reasons to be positive about yours. Best of luck with your next one : )
I'm always building something - apps, extensions etc. but rarely track my time. Haven't spent any money on them, unless you want to get into the time = money debate. I'm the same as you and don't consider it wasted time as I'm always learning. I've sold a few apps but most don't go anywhere for various reasons. I'm hoping one will really take off and earn me a lot of money which is why I keep working on them.