

Ask HN: Reattempting Failed Startup/Project for Second Time? - dryicerx

In general, is it a bad idea to reattempt a failed start-up or project? (after learning the mistakes from first round and taking a different approach of course). To be clear, the project failed in it's technical aspect before getting chance to test it's business aspect / launching.<p>In my case, the latest project to die in my hands can be attributed trying to do too much too quickly (the tech stack was way too complex and a few bad technical decisions on my part), on top the team was too fragmented with a wide commitment mismatches.<p>I still believe the the business model and the goal of the project are still very sound (the project was killed before putting the business aspect to the test). Plus at the moment, the problem I was attacking is still fresh on my mind and have a good understanding of the direction to take this time, so things will hopefully be faster and successful this time around.<p>Anyone else walked this path? Thoughts? (be brutally honest)
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pg
It's probably a good idea as long as you know what went wrong the first time.

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dryicerx
Thanks, I was mainly curious to find out if there were any non-obvious reasons
why doing so would be a bad idea.

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jeremymims
Many intelligent people seem to be solving the same sorts of problems over and
over again.

\- Evan Williams created blogger. Then he created Twitter. \- Paul Buchheit
created Gmail. Then he created Friendfeed. \- Mark Zuckerberg created several
unsuccessful social interaction tools before facebook. \- Steve Jobs has tried
at least twice to sell the world a computer shaped like a cube.

If you feel that you bit off more than you could chew the first time around,
you probably need a good plan to simplify and make sure you aren't doing too
much again.

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dryicerx
Very interesting point, never saw it that way.

And yes, my previous problem was trying to chew something too big. I broke
down the problem, now realizing it's enough for three separate projects.

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SwellJoe
On a couple of occasions where I've seen Joe Kraus speak, he had a slide that
said something along the lines of, "Being early feels a lot like being wrong."
And he explained that sometimes you attempt to tackle a market before the
world is ready for that product or idea, and it fails, not because the idea is
unsound or the product isn't cool...but because several other pieces haven't
come together in the market, things don't work out.

Think Apple Newton, for example.

Of course, being wrong also feels a lot like being wrong.

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staunch
The only concern that comes to my mind is anger from the previous co-founders.
You probably want to make sure they can't claim any ownership of your new
attempt, should you succeed. Make sure you don't re-use the name, software,
servers, or anything!

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quellhorst
If you think the idea is still good, or could do better this time, go for it.

You should read The Dip by Seth Godin.

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dryicerx
I'll be reading that, thanks for the recommendation.

