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12 Comments

How to close down a project?

I have a "ghost startup" from a few years back which I long since stopped working on. I'm pretty sure I still have the domain though. It was a flights website so I don't have any chance of selling it now.

Has anyone got experience of ending a project? It feels very much like I'm abandoning a child :/ I also feel weird about someone in the future using the name potentially.

  1. 6

    You have to think of it as a skill or superhuman ability to let go. Also, the project never dies. The experience of it will live on through what you learned and the experience of it all.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_au5RCor55M

    1. 3

      omg, i love that video! what a great share!

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        Thanks. It's what I think about when I have to abandon something. Helps me think I'm some kind of wise monk or something rather than a failure. I've got to keep my confidence propped up by some sort of delusions of self-grandeur after all. :D

        1. 2

          great things start really, really small. let's start there. one step at a time.

  2. 6

    Does it spark joy? 🤣

  3. 4

    I think skill of killing unsuccessful projects is a necessity for IHers. I wish I had this skill earlier than just 4 months ago, when I stopped maintaining my previous project.
    At first it was pity to end it, but now I'm wondering why I didn't that before.
    My mind freed and I became more productive. Don't miss previous project at all.
    So I'd like to say you: don't worry and just stop it. Probably this step will lead you to something new.

  4. 4

    I killed a project last summer. Not a single peep came of it. I don't even have the domain anymore and as of the time of writing this it's still available. It almost felt good forgetting about the project.

  5. 3

    omg. i've built and then put to bed so many different projects.

    here's something to think about...

    one way that's made a lot of the process easy for me is the fact that i've been building in the open during the project's life.

    meaning, i've been sharing the progress... the birth and its "first steps" and into puberty and then beyond... all the while i document the process.

    so, when it's time for it to come to an end... it doesn't actually feel that big of a deal. because, no one is really shocked or surprised... even me. i've been preparing for the end the moment i started.

    something to think about i guess.

    the project is already dead — you're just working through the natural process of grief. i think i'll do some writing on this topic and come back if I can remember!

    what a wonderful idea! 💡

  6. 1

    to follow up, it's not been taking up much headspace it's just been something unresolved.

    So I'll try and sell the domain on sedo but otherwise not give it any mind.

  7. 4

    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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