
My startup failed, and this is what it feels like - wbharding
https://medium.com/@nikkidurkin99/my-startup-failed-and-this-is-what-it-feels-like-c5d64b3ae96b
======
GuiA
I met Nikki while I lived at a Hacker House in Mountain View for a few weeks
in January 2012, having recently moved to the Bay Area. I remember being
impressed at the time by her intensity, and by the fact that she actually had
a real product with real users that solved a real problem.

An audible "oh no" came out of my lips when I clicked this link and realized I
was reading about someone I had shared a few dinners with.

It's important for little pieces of history such as this one to be recorded.
For the founders, to whom it gives a sense of closure, and for the community.
So that we don't forget our comrades who didn't make it to the other side, but
still have insightful lessons to share.

The press likes to glorify the AirBnBs, the Googles, the Facebooks - but as
founders, I think it's important for us to be realize that this is only a tiny
visible part of the iceberg, and that at the end of the day, there are so many
factors at play that it would be foolish for us to focus solely on the "how
many millions did they make". Human stories are never boring, and experience
is one of the most precious thing others can share.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write this, Nikki. We're with you.

\---

 _" Investing money, creating new products, and all the other things we do are
wonderful games and can be a lot of fun, but it's important to remember that
it's all just a game. What's most important is that we are good too each
other, and ourselves."_([http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2012/03/eight-years-
today.h...](http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2012/03/eight-years-today.html))

~~~
_pmf_
> "... but it's important to remember that it's all just a game. What's most
> important is that we are good too each other, and ourselves."

These things are easy to say for a very rich guy.

~~~
Omniusaspirer
Your personal health and well being are much more important than your startup
that just failed, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. Nothing will
teach you that faster than losing your health or talking with people who have.

~~~
ryanjshaw
And what if you don't have personal health and well being to begin with? What
if you need money to pay off the medical bills, money that you know an
ordinary job will never suffice for? Making money is not just a game for
everybody, just because it's a game for you.

------
andrewljohnson
It struck me when she glossed over how/why her two co-founders left. There's
got to be a deeper story to why two "co-founders" would leave right when 1.2M
is secured.

She said they _decided to tell me they were leaving the company without even a
hint of warning_ \- my guess is there was no agreement in the first place or a
lot of unnoticed warnings. To conclude she's just too trustful is almost
certainly a flawed conclusion.

I'm sure she learned a lot from this experience, but she seems to write off
the deserters as flaky. I'd be asking myself what I did or what lies I was
telling myself that made me think I had co-founders when I really did not.
That sort of character judgment is as important as product judgment.

~~~
nikkidurkin
Hey Andrew, I actually glossed over that out of respect for the 2 guys. My
purpose was not to bitch about them, and many people who will read this post
in my network will know who I'm talking about. There were mistakes made on
both sides, but in the end I bent over backwards to accomodate them and as
soon as YC was over and they could say they were YC founders they bailed. I'm
not saying its entirely their fault - I should have picked up on the warning
signs but I was off fundraising for 2 months and didn't notice. But I did
consider them my friends, and they didn't care what position I was left in if
they were to leave. Anyway, I'm sure we both learned a lot from the
experience.

~~~
jakejake
I think it's great that you take the high road and don't resort to dragging
other people through the mud. You definitely seem to place the responsibility
all on yourself, which I imagine is not always the full truth. Not providing
any reason at all, actually makes it sound as if the two co-founders just
randomly and completely bailed on you. (Which may be exactly the truth)

I was trying to imagine a logical scenario, for example they had an even
better opportunity. Or perhaps it was better to split before the stakes became
to high. Maybe the salaries were not going to be what was expected, there were
disagreements on responsibilities, etc. I can imagine a lot of scenarios.

Not to diminish your article, which I found extremely interesting. It was just
a point that definitely seems like there was a greater story to be told.

~~~
barce
Well, if you Google around, you get Peter Delahunty. It looks like he's gone
from being a CTO at a few places (including 99dresses) to just working under a
CTO. It looks like his strategy didn't pay off.

~~~
onan_barbarian
Confused that he doesn't list Posse on his LinkedIn page, if he's the guy
you're talking about.

------
vijayboyapati
I was in the same YC batch as Nikki. The thing I remember most about her was
her enthusiasm. I also remember that her presentation on Demo Day got the
loudest applause and most interest. Sad to hear 99dresses didn't make it, but
I'm sure Nikki will have a bright future. Few young women her age will have
gained the experience and insight that comes from founding a company and
seeing it fail. As Michael Jordan said "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my
career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the
game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my
life. And that is why I succeed."

~~~
dopamean
What I like most about that MJ quote is that all the stats link up. If he has
made those 26 game winning shots he would have had not lost "almost 300 games"
and he would have missed fewer than the "more than 9000" shots that he missed.
Man, he was awesome.

~~~
matwood
Also interesting is that he knew those stats in order to make the quote. He
was known for remembering every little slight, stat, etc... in order to use as
motivation. I picture a little piece of paper with 25 written on it, and him
thinking he does not want to write 26.

~~~
wj
I think that quote was from a commercial so he probably had some help
remembering. Good quote though.

------
birken
Well written. One thing I always find funny about the startup world is the
idea that hardship is good. Hardship isn't good. Hardship sucks. Sometimes
hardship is something you need to survive to accomplish your goals, but not
always. While there are a lot of successful startups that went through a lot
of hardship, there are a lot of them that didn't. It seems that based on a lot
of factors that were outside of your control you were playing the startup game
on "hard mode" and you gave it a pretty good run anyways.

Also a pretty good lesson that having a good job and comfortable life maybe
isn't so bad after all (a very un-silicon valley lesson).

~~~
7Figures2Commas
Hardship at a lot of startups is the result of entrepreneurs not respecting
the old adage, "It takes money to make money." A lot of entrepreneurs don't
really know how much money they need, and young ones often start their
companies before they know where it's going to come from.

The good news is that now is a great time to be selling equity in a tech
startup. The bad news is that even if you're successful in trading your
company's equity for capital, there's no guarantee you'll get enough capital,
or that you'll be able to get more of it when you run out.

------
mindcrime
One thing Nikki has going for her is that she's young. At 22 and already
having the experience she's had, she has a great opportunity to learn from
those lessons, tap into the network she's built, and ultimately do something
great.

I love the aggressiveness and the spunk she clearly has. Looking back on my
own life (I'm one of the "older crowd" in HN terms), I _wish_ I'd been that
ambitious at that age. Or, maybe ambitious isn't the word, maybe "focused"
would be better. In either case, I wound up waiting until my late 30's to
found a startup and now I'll be 41 in about a month, and we're still looking
for the mystical, mythical "traction". :-)

The downside is, being this old, I feel a certain sense of "this is my last
shot". If I fail with Fogbeam Labs, I doubt I'll have the energy, passion,
drive, and mojo to try again. So if there's a lesson in my experience, that
I'd try to share with the younger crowd, it would be "Be more like Nikki, and
less like Phil". :-)

~~~
balls187
Flipside, if she started 99dresses at age 32, would it have failed for the
same reasons?

~~~
carrotleads
She would not have had teh same idea but if she did, she would have dealt it
lot better IMO.

The advantages of age( if you are still open minded & not set in your ways) is
huge but seems discounted in the YC and VC world. from y'day
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930428](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930428)

from long back
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7455757](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7455757)

~~~
balls187
While YC and VC are nice social proof, the best social proof is a healthy
business with customers and growth.

I mean, total kudos for being 19 and following her passion. I know at 19 there
would be no way I could have been the dominate force I am at 34.

And I wonder what I'll be like at 54.

Probably look back and think, "Man I didn't know anything when I was 34"

------
lubos
So I see another startup failed story. Thinking I'll read it later after
getting something done. an hour later, I start reading...

Right in the first sentence I see "99dresses". I have to admit, it took me a
minute to process what's going on. She has been receiving significant coverage
in mainstream Australian media. As someone, who is running startup from Sydney
(there aren't so many of us), this felt like someone in your family has passed
away even though I've never even met Nikki.

I'm not even sure what I'm writing here... I just feel sad.

~~~
danieltillett
I am based in Sydney. I am not running what could be called a startup since my
tech business has been running since 1999, but I do have a lot of experience
with the the whole startup process. Is there a meetup of startup founders in
Sydney?

~~~
bluesix
Almost daily. All over the place. Meetup.com is flooded with them.

~~~
danieltillett
I am sure - I should have been more precise are there any good meetups :)

------
boyter
I met Nikki in Sydney while at a start-up camp.

I will admit to being slightly jealous because she did get a lot of attention
due to what I thought was solely being a tall attractive female that dresses
well. However having read this seeing and seeing how this played into her
impostor syndrome has made me re-evaluate my thinking. The attention might be
useful, but I can totally understand questioning if its because its who you
are or what you are doing. Since everything in the start up world is about
what you are doing I can see this attention leaving you with self doubt.

She certainly has done more then I have, and at a far younger age.

Sorry for the bad thoughts Nikki. I had been following 99dresses loosely over
the years and I had hoped you would succeed as there are so few start-up
stories that come out of Sydney. Wishing you the best of luck with whatever
you chose to do in the future.

~~~
nooron
You're a good person for acknowledging this and offering her such kind words.
Everyone's got biases and resentment, but you just discharged yours with
genuine dignity. Please take care.

------
nostromo
Sometimes I wonder how non-technical founders can sleep at night with all the
stress. It elevates cofounder risk to a single point of failure for the entire
company.

Seeing through "developer bullshitting" is a dark art that is hard to master
without spending a bit of time as a developer.

~~~
austenallred
Indeed. As a former non-technical founder (now semi-technical), the worst part
of the fear of failure is that your "job" is keeping companies alive. If your
company dies, not only is your company a failure, but your only "skill set" is
called into question. Knowing that fact and simultaneously being unable to
contribute directly to the product, wondering how hard you can push your
technical co-founder/team (or how far is right?) is enough to drive one
insane.

It was easier (and more beneficial) for me to learn how to program. I'm not
the most technical one on the team, but at least I can pitch in and work
instead of wonder.

~~~
trevmckendrick
A thousand times this.

The worse case scenario is much, much worse for non-technical cofounders.

They often don't have a deep, specialized skill that is easily used by other
companies.

~~~
dennisgorelik
Sales is a skill that is in a high demand by many companies.

------
AndrewWarner
Nikki, I just sent you a request for an interview on Mixergy. This is a
courageous post.

~~~
chong7
is this a joke ? why are you telling others ?

~~~
AndrewWarner
No joke. I've gotten some of my best guests by commenting on Hacker News. The
community here is incredible.

I would usually just leave it at an email, but I imagine her inbox is flooded
after this incredible post. Also, I'm hoping her friends will see this and
help me connect with her.

~~~
andrewstuart
Aren't you meant to be on paternity leave? Still working?

------
jqm
It's sad to read stories like this. But I have to wonder... if the concept is
profitable what keeps it from being executed without 2 million dollars in
investor money? So maybe you stay smaller... who cares? For you, it is about
what you are making, not how big the company is. How much does it really cost
to set up a database driven website? Hmmm?

Now, I realize this doesn't apply if the end game is a high dollar exit, but
if you can make a decent living with your application/web site ("startup" and
"founder" are overused terms in my opinion) who cares?

If you can't make a profit long term, then maybe you your idea doesn't deserve
to live. Simply passing the bomb on to the next set of suckers be they the
public at IPO's, or acquires, or VC investors hardly seems like the right
thing to do (although no doubt it is done all the time... sometimes with
incredible profits).

There is life outside the VC world. If it's a good idea and profitable and you
love it....stick with it. If you are looking for a billion dollar exit...
that's another thing entirely and it's time to move on to the next idea.

~~~
semiel
I generally agree with this perspective, but a two-sided marketplace is one of
the business models that really does need to grow fast. No one would install
the Uber app if it didn't have any drivers, and no one would apply to be a
driver if there were no riders.

~~~
jqm
OK. That's a very valid explanation in this case.

Kind of like all the ebay replacements that never seem to get anywhere in
spite of how awful ebay is.

------
iD3
22 is __so __young.

At 21 I was on a plane headed home from another country. I cried in the
office. I cried on the plane home. We'd Burned almost half a million dollars,
a couple of years of work, let go a team - and had nothing to show for it.
With no degree, no more money and no job I moved back in with parents.

So I suppose this article resonates, and in the most literal sense - I've been
there.

I think the hardest thing for me at that moment in time was I didn't really
have a handle on just how young I was and how much more I had coming. It was
all I'd really done with my life up to that point.

It's taken me quite a few years to gain that perspective, and it's a difficult
thing to communicate. The world is inconceivably vast and expansive and you
have the next half century to build within it. Yourself, your ideas, your
creations.

At that age and on that scale it's only a failure in the moment. Then, as time
passes it becomes just another step along the way. It imparted knowledge upon
you, and opened doors you don't even know about yet. All of the parts that
hurt fade away and you're just left with the experience gained.

The fast-paced echo-chamber of the technology startup world is a particularly
hard environment to step back and get a real sense of perspective in, which
makes it a particularly hard environment to fail in, especially as you'll
always be reading about someone else magically killing it.

I've failed since then, and I've succeeded since then. But as the years roll
by, I've come to realise that the winning and losing don't even matter,
because the journey just keeps on going regardless. If I saw myself now, when
I was on that plane at 21, I'd have thought I was looking at someone who had
mythically 'made it'. But you know what? I haven't. It's exactly the same:
I've got another 40-odd-years of succeeding and failing ahead of me, in both
my personal life and my professional life.

Personally I find that quite cathartic.

~~~
chong7
22 is young. yeah, when kids in other countries can't even get food , walk
10km for glass of water we are wasting money on these so called , self
proclaimed "start up" people and promote such behavior.

~~~
voltagex_
Dude, every single post you've made in this thread is negative.

Yes, hardship is relative. Yes, hardship in a first world country is
relatively easy (compared to your example)

Some of these startups are targetting the developing world - if it takes a few
fashion startups to get there, so be it. You don't know what Nikki's second,
third, fourth or fifth venture will be.

------
rudimental
Thanks for posting this! It sounds like it was incredibly difficult at times.
Hard to imagine, but thanks for making it vivid.

I would love to hear more about the following (not holding my breath):

"After hiring a few people and finding an office in NYC we were ready to
launch. We solved the chicken-and-egg problem using techniques that we
promised never to speak of again because they squarely sat on the grey/black
spectrum of naughtiness. If there was a line, we definitely crossed it. We had
to. These hacks were harmless to others, so I figured it was only a problem if
we got caught."

Edit: ++empathy.

------
nish1500
Your story is mostly about you not getting a VISA, getting back-stabbed by
people, spending 2 months fund-raising, media coverage, personal issues, your
age, your gender. There is hardly anything about why the startup failed.

But maybe the article isn't about the startup - it's about the emotional ride.
Maybe that's why a lot of startups fail - they get so involved with other
things, it's not about the startup anymore.

~~~
bluesix
All the issues she mentioned are HUGE parts of building a successful business
that absolutely everyone will go through.

------
jakejake
I really appreciated this article. I'm on year 5 of my "startup" which has
struggled and kicked and clawed and just barely hit profitability at the end
of last year. I have to admit that it feels totally uncool that we have hung
on all this time instead of just quitting after spending somebody's millions
of dollars in 6 months. (We never had millions to spend, but anyway). There
are so many times when you feel like things are just not going to work.
Working hard and persevering are ideas that don't always jive with the "fail
fast" strategy.

Even after all this time and things beginning to look positive, I still worry
constantly that we will backslide or somebody will come along and take our
marketshare or any number of other things. I wish that 99dresses had a
different outcome, but still it is an encouraging story. No doubt with this
kind of attitude and experience Miss Durkin is going to find success. I think
it is extremely important to know that not every venture has to take off
within six months to be successful. It's a long haul for most of us.

------
UVB-76
Strange as it might sound, I'm rather envious of Nikki.

Although the business didn't work out, to have gained so much life experience
at such a young age is incredible.

------
mmaunder
There's some very old entrepreneurial wisdom that says if your business can
make it past year 4, it has staying power. I thought that was bullshit until I
made it past year 4 and right about that time we discovered efficiencies,
lucrative markets, a kick-ass business model and what we are really good at.

And yeah, not having money is really really awful, especially when it goes on
for years with no certainty that it will ever change. But as entrepreneurs,
that's how we do.

------
dools
This is a "fail story" that stuck with me -- wish I'd been able to suggest it
when you were looking for stories similar to your own!

[http://blog.jazzychad.net/2011/05/02/startups-are-
hard.html](http://blog.jazzychad.net/2011/05/02/startups-are-hard.html)

Also here are some Mixergy.com interviews that I've enjoyed from failed
entrepreneurs:

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/adyin-mirzaee-fluidware-
interv...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/adyin-mirzaee-fluidware-interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/chris-snook-no-limit-
publishin...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/chris-snook-no-limit-publishing-
interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/rene-eric-forecast-
interview/](http://mixergy.com/interviews/rene-eric-forecast-interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/dean-soukeras-
computergiants-i...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/dean-soukeras-
computergiants-interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/mark-bowness-tribewanted-
inter...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/mark-bowness-tribewanted-interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/james-altucher-failseries-
inte...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/james-altucher-failseries-interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/eric-ingram-redtagcrazy-
interv...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/eric-ingram-redtagcrazy-interview/)

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/sebastian-replanski-search-
to-...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/sebastian-replanski-search-to-phone-
interview/)

This is with Chad who's posted I started with:

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/etzel-notifo-
interview/](http://mixergy.com/interviews/etzel-notifo-interview/)

And, finally, if I were leaving New York, I'd listen to this:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t4i7frhNUs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t4i7frhNUs)

Hope you're feeling better and looking forward to seeing you sometime 'round
Fishburners :)

~~~
AndrewWarner
Here's one more.

Hiten Shah used to run a web hosting company.

[http://mixergy.com/interviews/kissmetrics-hiten-shah-
intervi...](http://mixergy.com/interviews/kissmetrics-hiten-shah-interview/)

~~~
dools
Sweet! Hadn't seen that one yet!

------
kevinalexbrown
_I take complete responsibility for this failure. Were other people involved
in 99dresses? Of course. Was any of this their fault? Absolutely not._

I understand what you're going for here (and it's nice), but it's fair to let
your team share responsibility for the defeat. Otherwise it never really feels
like they were part of the successes.

~~~
nikkidurkin
At the end of the day, I am the CEO of the company. It was my leadership that
got us here. Even if something wasn't executed right by one person on the
team, that is still my responsibility. Furthermore, we were killed because we
ran out of money - also my responsibility. That's the point I'm trying to
make.

------
the_watcher
>> You rarely hear the raw stories of startups that persevered but ultimately
failed — the emotional roller coaster of the founders, and why their startups
didn’t work out.

I feel like I've read this sentence, or a version of it, so many times that it
self-refutes. You hear plenty about people who failed. Not as often as the
next big thing (since no one puts in the effort to send out press releases
about how their failure happened - although that actually might be an
interesting strategy for figuring out a next step if the post-mortem is honest
enough), but it feels like once a week or so a post like this hits the front
of HN.

~~~
GuiA
Yes, because you're on HN, where a lot of startup founders hang out.
Statistically, there will be a lot of failed startup founders in HN.

However, you won't hear about those guys in Forbes Magazine, on the evening
news, or in your business school classes.

------
pbreit
Gotta hand it to OP. Sounds like she gave it her all as a very young founder.
I suspect after re-grouping she could have a bright future.

The one thing that made no sense to me was why they didn't stay in Australia
and go after local market. Does the concept not work there?

~~~
nikkidurkin
There are only 23 million people in Australia, and its a small population
spread over a huge area. That means shipping is expensive, which isn't great
for trading low value second hand fast fashion items. An item that can get
shipped for $2.80 in the US would cost $7 at least in Australia.

Also, Australia Post doesn't have any APIs to automate shipping. Girls had to
physically go to the post office to ship items, and there wasn't tracking
either. This meant a lot of customer service headaches.

~~~
Theodores
Hi Nikki

Consider one more roll of the dice, this time in the UK. We speak English and
we have a postal delivery network.

Rather than chase the $$$ consider taking your idea to Oxfam - a British
charity known for selling donated clothes. Your app will enable them to
introduce a younger audience to the work they do. They also have people to
pick up the phone, a marketing budget and that network of stores.

From a customer standpoint they really might be pleased to pay a premium to
Oxfam if their clothes are going to a good home. It is a different 'doing
good' proposition. Things that don't sell might as well go to the Oxfam shop
as a donation - the app takes people half way there.

If not Oxfam then there are plenty of other charities that might be
interested. You might not make money for the VCs of the valley but you will be
able to make the thing work, perhaps to feed a few of those in The Global
South as a spin-off benefit.

As far as acquiring new users, the idea of an 'Oxfam app' definitely has
intrigue, people would do marketing for you by word of mouth. Plus they would
'excuse' themselves to get their next fashion fix.

Just to clarify, I think people should still get some money back, but with
10-25% or so going to Oxfam. Sure there would be postage to pay that might
mean people are making pennies on outfits that cost pounds, but this would be
psychologically okay if money is going to Oxfam.

You could also pimp the app to show the user/customer how many mouths they
have fed through their trades.

This charitable outcome might also work well for those that have put money in
your venture. To them they might not have earned $$$ but they will have done
something for the greater good.

The UK market is small compared to the US but the geography is a lot tighter.
Crack the UK with a partner such as Oxfam and then the other markets will
follow, maybe with different partners. I should also say that charities do pay
a living wage :-)

Regardless of what you do next, well done for giving it a go and I look
forward to hearing about what you do next.

~~~
nikkidurkin
Thanks! Will look into it. I want to sell the assets if I can, but I think I'm
just ready to move on and take a break.

~~~
wellboy
Take a break for half a year or something anyway, and then have a look at the
Oxfam thing, it sounds cool. You can also do that part-time, no need to force
it. Good luck nikki!

------
samstave
Amazing read. And I recall when I first saw 99 dresses how much I recognized
the need, where my wife has literally hundreds of dresses and doesn't wear
much multiple times.

On mobile but will elaborate on this as I think the idea was amazing but could
have also benefitted from something specific...

EDIT:

My wife as a great style sense - and also reasonable with her money. She would
find amazing fashions at Crossroads in San Francisco where she could find
desirable brands like D&G, BCBG and other smaller labels where women sold
their designer clothes at a discount.

She picked up MANY amazing dresses from this place, as well as shoes. She
hardly recycled dresses for events or dates and did it economically.

If 99Dresses had coupled with places like this where they had rental inventory
as well, I am sure this would have been an amazing offering.

You could have had a daily rental price, as well as an option so that if the
owner chose; a sell price.

A place like crossroads was actually pretty good at being discerning, yet well
priced in their garments.

It would also had been an opportunity to provide brick-and-mortar fitting
rooms... as well as local inventory. Connect this with a garment style ID and
a "different sizes available via online at locations X Y and Z.

DISCLAIMER: Did 99Dresses have all this already?

I am amazed it did fail - I LOVED the BM and Idea.

~~~
ma2rten
It looks like they failed, because of a string of bad luck, despite having a
good business idea.

------
mindcrime
As a very wise man once said[1]

 _" It ain't about hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep
moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how
winning is done. Now if you know what you're worth, now go out and get what
you're worth"._

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY)

------
Fede_V
Thanks for being so raw and honest about this - even the less glamorous parts.
It isn't easy to talk honestly about issues like gendered expectations and
approaching VC, black hat marketing, or emotional manipulation for Visa, and a
lot of people would have chosen to gloss over those aspects, but it takes a
lot of guts to be upfront about the darker sides of running your company.

Reading this, it confirmed an important lesson that I learned in a completely
different setting (grad school). It's much, much better to do an impossible
project with an excellent mentor and fantastic coworkers, than an easy project
full of low hanging fruits with colleagues you can't stand.

People who were in the former condition all flourished, even if it meant
pivoting to a completely different project after having invested 2 years in a
dead end idea. People in the latter camp burnt out completely and almost
uniformly dropped out of grad school. The few that stayed were basically
running on spite the entire time.

~~~
ehurrell
> Reading this, it confirmed an important lesson that I learned in a
> completely different setting (grad school). It's much, much better to do an
> impossible project with an excellent mentor and fantastic coworkers, than an
> easy project full of low hanging fruits with colleagues you can't stand.

This really is a vital lesson, but can be difficult to learn. After the first
startup I was in folded I helped found another with some of the same people,
because I believed we were a good team that could go somewhere. Quite soon
after we pivoted from an interesting problem to 'low-hanging fruit', and the
team dynamics began to change rapidly, in a way that prevented progress
(suddenly there was a lot of ego). It quickly became clear that things were
untenable, so I left. Since leaving everything has pointed to it being the
only correct choice. I still made the mistake of trusting them to tie up
financials properly. Things can degrade faster than your loyalties account
for, but you can pick yourself up and learn from it.

------
adventured
"Maybe its because most founders are men, and men generally don’t like talking
about their feelings. Maybe its because failure is embarrassing."

That would be regarded as sexist if it were arranged with such a blanket
statement the other way around.

I've seen countless stories on HN where guy founders talk about the emotional
side of failing and their startup going under. I'm not sure where she gets
this notion. In fact, I see the emotional side written about more often than
anything else. It seems like there's a few new stories every week on HN by
some guy that failed, and he's discussing dealing with the substantial
emotional fallout (how it affected his life, his savings, his family, his
sleep, and how agonizing in general it all is).

------
thomasfromcdnjs
Bad luck. Though, where are all the expenses? Seems to just be an iPhone app
with not much schelps, could your technical partner manage it part time?

~~~
nikkidurkin
I think it was a combination of bad luck, timing, and some bad decisions on my
behalf. I learned a lot from the experience.

Actually, we had a team of 5 working on this. Running operations is really
intense and time consuming. There is lots of customer service, community
management and making sure items arrive at their destination. Then I was there
to work on product and I had 2 developers as well.

I looked at the figures, and although it might be possible to cut out all the
tech/product side and just leave operations, then we would really be in a
zombie state. I thought it was better to cut our losses and move on.

~~~
diziet
Curious -- where did all the money go? How did you manage to spend $700k~ --
you hired 2 developers (full time, why?) and took care of ops over 3 years?
How long did it take, four years?

~~~
nikkidurkin
5 full time staff, an office, flights, marketing expenses - that all ads up.
Apparently we were burning a third of what a startup at our stage normally is
with our team size, and I even thought that was a lot.

~~~
diziet
Was your office in SF (SOMA?). What marketing expenses -- were you paying for
user acquisition on mobile? Were you flying to Australia and back?

Lasting 4 years on 700k with 5 people and no income (or even 2 years) with
some other minor expenses is relatively low burn, though. We budget 100k+~ /
person / year. If your app involved shipping dresses to your office,
unfortunately you need to run the ops for it and handle physical objects :(

~~~
diziet
Curious as to why I was downvoted ~

------
dougabug
The "sky high heels" might invite more attention, but the patronizing comments
part make me wonder whether it was the right kind of attention.

"99dresses was squarely focused on trading cheaper fast fashion (fast fashion
is really hard to re-sell for cash)" I wonder how much demand exists for cheap
secondhand clothes which go out of style quickly. Isn't it the point of this
type of clothing that people can buy it new for not much money, and not worry
that that it often doesn't hold up well? The clothes themselves are probably
mass produced in third world countries for next to nothing. This seems like a
very vertical online thrift store.

Does the world need another online thrift store?

------
fsniper
That is a really good and emotional post mortem. I think we need more of
these. Great lessons are learnt from failures.

------
zeeshanm
M$ was founded in mid 70s and had not made a dent until the 80s. More so their
killer product was launched in the 90s that put them as the definitive leader
on the map. In a way, it took roughly 20 years for M$ "to take over the
world." Not to mention Gates and Allen started off writing software for
traffic systems and I don't recall that was a huge hit. “Innovation” does
happen relatively faster these days. But it's really hard to do one-to-one
comparison of companies that are mega successful (aka they make a lot of
money) and those that relatively bring in lesser revenue. Besides this I
believe one really has to derive the meaning of success on her own. I would
not consider you a failure by any means as you gave your best to the startup.
There is so much you can take away from this experience. For example, you can
write a book about your experiences as you have got a good talent for writing.
You can travel around and give motivational speeches at colleges and
networking events. You have got a good story to tell and I bet many of us out
there would be interested in hearing about it. Don't worry too much that you
could not save up. I don't think this is any way puts you behind anyone your
age. I bet most kids your age have spent lots on crack, booze, food,
superfluous relationships, etc. Whereas you have built a pretty good
reputation that really can take you far.

------
thomaspun
Thank you for sharing your story.

My YC startup failed two years ago and it still has an impact on me. I learned
a lot and wish I knew what I know now back then. My cofounders parted ways
within one year of YC and I became a self made single founder. One of the
biggest mistakes was not taking breaks. I thought I had to work twice as hard
to compensate. It just went into this vicious cycle: depressed & tired -> not
productive -> worked every waking moments -> depressed & tired.

------
tmsh
My uncle used to say that instead of having the handful of successful
entrepreneurs come back to b school to tell their war stories -- they should
sponsor at least one lecture of an entrepreneur who, in their most recent
enterprise, failed. And I would tend to agree.

Very well-written. Makes your readers stronger in novel ways for reading it.
Thanks for sharing.

It's all about knowing how to light up parts of the graph in life though. Now
you know. Second time will go further.

------
XorNot
So I remember hearing about 99dresses in the Australian press, and this write
up does leave me wondering the same thing I was wondering at the time:

Was the product ever successful in Australia?

Fully 20% of Australia's entire population is concentrated in Sydney alone -
what was the expected total market (for a product heavily invested in shipping
physical items) that didn't work here that there was a need to, apparently,
move so quickly and wholly into the US?

------
mathieug
Hey Nikki. Have you thought about learning how to code? It's really never as
hard as it seems to be. If you had a business model and some level of revenues
then you might be able to sustain yourself financially, run everything
yourself and keep it going maybe!?

Probably too late for that kind of advice though. But I believe a start up
dies if you give it up. But you don't have to let it if you don't want to.
Sometimes that's the most reasonable thing to do, but you don't always have
to.

I'm in the same case as you. I had to let go of all my employees, Couldn't pay
them anymore. And I'm now the only one on board doing all the code, design,
marketing and everything. I'm just too stubborn to give up and I still believe
in what we do 100%. (Damn I still say 'we' I mean 'I'. Just a reflex) I do
feel your pain. But my best advice is to try to learn how to code and sketch
things yourself. With all the skills that you accumulated you'll be able to
create prototype rapidly, be less dependable and bounce back rapidly and next
time you'll be fearless. Food for thoughts ;-) I wish you the all the best for
your next adventures.

------
semerda
Nikki, thanks for sharing your story. You definitely experienced alot!

It sounds like you hit 2 of the biggest issues startups can face. Co-founder
disputes and Product issues.

Re Co-founder disputes - once money gets involved and the cap table is in your
favor in the early days, the s __t will hit the fan. Raising money dilutes
everyone and that too has a negative effect of the minority holders and can
create some bad energy.

As you found out working with the right people is super super important. What
I have found that has worked super well for me is working with people I have
worked with before. One, you know they are good (the ones you choose to start
a business with them) and the honeymoon period doesn't exist so its all about
execution. I don't believe in cofounder dating events.

As you found out having a mobile product is a big deal. People are mobile
creates. Even more now then ever. So being able to reach them via the computer
in their pocket is an opportunity not to be missed.

Regarding the Visas, E2 Visa would have gotten you into USA. Or you could have
setup an entity remotely in USA and through the company setup E3/H1B for
yourself and your cofounder. There are some obstacles to jump but possible
with the right legal/immigration team.

Finally, I didn't see in your story mention of an advisory board? I have found
that getting the right people around you can open doors to investors, industry
people, advise on technology, product etc... highly recommended if you can use
them wisely.

Overall I believe the experience you have gained at such a young age will only
set you up for big success in the future. Don't give up and keep on going!
Good luck!

~~~
ecesena
+1 for the E2 visa, as an option to take into account (I'm an Italian in SF
with a 5y E2 visa)

------
jpatte
_" Fail fast, fail early, fail often!” they all chant, trying to put a
positive spin on the most excruciating pain any founder could experience."_

Is it just an impression, or did she get this sentence the wrong way?

The whole point of this saying is to make you realize that failure should
actually _not_ be such a big deal. Failure isn't an dead end, it's a step
forward on the difficult path of entrepreneurship. Therefore, saying things
like _" I couldn’t fail. This was my baby, and if it was going to fail it
would be over my dead body."_ can only lead you, indeed, to excruciating pain
in case of failure.

Resilience is an excellent quality, and I think the only way to give your best
and surpass yourself is by facing real challenges, but please remember that
you cannot in any way resume 4 years of ultra rich/challenging experience with
the two words "I failed". Jeez, just having survived 4 years in her very first
startup experience is already a success.

I sympathize with her pain; I just find it sad that she doesn't seem to
realize the incredible experience and skills she gained from this adventure.
Those years were absolutely not wasted; the chances of success for her next
startup are incomparably higher than for her previous one, and I wish her all
the best for the future.

Edit: A startup is first a human adventure. After it "failed", ask yourself
the right questions: \- Did I learn something? Do I know better? \- Am I a
different person? A better person? \- Did I help some people in any way? \-
Did my social skills improve? Did my network grow? \- What about my
legal/technical/managerial/whatever-ial knowledge?

If you can answer "yes" to any of these questions, than this adventure wasn't
a failure at all. :)

~~~
kevinwang
I think in the article she does acknowledge that rationally, she knows that
she did gain a lot of experience and skills, but she focuses on the
uncontrollable emotions and feelings that she went through over the course of
her last 4 years.

------
harel
I understand the frustration and outright sadness at a startup dying. Its your
baby while its there, and sometimes, you wake one day and its not. But that is
the nature of startups. Like you said - the odds are against you from day
zero. But we do it regardless for that 10% chance of "not dying" and the even
more anorexic chance of "making it big". I think ultimately we're doing it for
the ride. And I think every person going into a startup should be given a
little laminated fact sheet explaining that he's joining an enterprise which
will try to fight this statistic and nothing is guaranteed in this
rollercoaster. Same way the banks have to warn you before you invest in a
portfolio, that your investment might be buggered to hell, people should be
aware the same applies to tech startups. If nothing else, that might cut down
on the disappointment of letting your staff know its over.

Keep at it Nikki. Well done for your first round. Level up now and go at it
again.

------
31reasons
Wow I am kind of jealous of getting an opportunity to fail so spectacularly.
It is obviously very hard but Nikki is very young and decades ahead of her to
try new ventures. I call this great learning experience a success if you
haven't lost your arm or a leg and can still function as a normal human being.
She is definitely a winner, its pretty obvious to me.

------
clarebear
I cringed at the description of "a lady who took an obvious immediate
disliking to me" in the visa office. It made me sad to recall times that a
woman has controlled my destiny and denied me for whatever reason when the men
would have let me in. I'm so sorry that Nikki also knows what that feels and
looks like. I hope my daughter never does.

~~~
groby_b
It's not a gender issue, it's a U.S. bureaucracy issue. They're all little
tinpot dictators who like making up rules on the spot - and U.S. bureaucracy
design takes away many avenues of recourse, so they get away with it.

I've experienced them when immigrating to the U.S., at the DMV, when getting
inspections for contractor work. The little $*(#@ get off on making you feel
helpless.

Who picks on you seems to have to do with what vibe you give off. I did notice
that both my partner and I attract a certain class of them, but thankfully we
don't overlap. So by now, we know who gets to deal with which idiot.

~~~
zo1
"* it's a U.S. bureaucracy issue*" It's an issue everywhere, not just in the
US.

~~~
groby_b
In many other countries, you have the benefit of well-defined rules, and well-
defined escalation paths. Both are notably absent in the U.S.

------
rwhitman
I've worked with a weirdly large number of female-run and female-focused
startups and clients over the years. I could write a long, blunt tirade about
this.

Basically the cards are stacked against these businesses from the day they are
funded.

Male tech folks make a lot of false assumptions about female focused
businesses. For investors it can mean leaving a complicated business model
under-funded. For developers it means blindly taking a “cofounder” title in
exchange for an equity-heavy compensation deal without thinking through what
it means to work on a business you aren’t passionate about, for years, at
reduced pay.

In both cases, if there isn't an early slam-dunk hockey stick marker of
success, guys don’t have the stamina to tolerate a female-focused business for
very long. They bail. The company never gets its next round of funding. The
engineering talent runs for the hills. Its not cool to work on a company for
girls, especially a struggling company for girls. So male talent will just
split as soon as the going gets rough.

Each time the company has a setback, the guys all start to bail. So the
company needs to find new talent and appease many people at every little bump
in the road. This is hugely costly and results in a lot of unnecessary crisis
moments, doubts, and subsequent pivots.

The sad part is that a lot of female founders leave startups for good after
one failure. I have a linkedin network filled with former female founder
superstars who work in humdrum non-tech management roles. Women take the loss
on a much more personal level than men do. So every time a female founder is
stunted, and then abandoned by her male support network, she may be gone for
good.

What’s the solution? I’m not sure, but I think it has a lot to do with adding
more female investors and developers to the world. That and encouraging more
former female founders to come back, mentor and try again

------
dkersten
Just don't let it stop you on whatever your next venture will be! The
experience will stand for you.

I had a startup crash and burn almost a year ago now. We wrote a blog post
about it too: [http://blog.piratedashboard.com/post/69595110761/out-of-
the-...](http://blog.piratedashboard.com/post/69595110761/out-of-the-ashes)
Basically, we made a ton of mistakes that ultimately led to a founder
disagreement that prevented us from closing an investment deal which may have
saved us. So we cut our losses and moved on. My new startup has evolved a lot
from what is mentioned in that blog post and is doing well so far (but not yet
at the stage where I feel secure).

Losing your startup is almost like losing a loved one. After putting so much
into it, when its gone it sucks. Really bad.

But in the end, you just gotta move on and not let one failure stop you.

------
creature
Post-mortems like this are always really enlightening. I'd really like to know
more about some areas the author glossed over, though. What were the
grey/black tactics they used to get past the initial chicken-and-egg problem?
And what change did they introduce that caused a near-revolt of their
userbase?

~~~
Dartanion7
My guess as to the grey / blackhat tactics they used to gain initial traction
were: 1) Fake "sell-side" accounts to provide marketplace liquidity 2)
Manipulating app store chart ranking through bot downloads or download
services to acquire "buy-side" accounts

It sounds like the service basically stopped growing once they had to abandon
the black hat techniques they were using (possibly because they grew large
enough to attract scrutiny from the platform operators). If that's the case,
there was never a business.

~~~
nikkidurkin
No, that's not it. I actually ended up talking about it my mixergy interview

------
greghinch
Quite a roller coaster of experience for 22! I'm sure we'll see great things
from Nikki in coming years.

You kids doing startups in your early 20s have so much going for you! I wish
I'd not waited until my 30s to get on this train, there's a lot more to lose
(and less time to sort something out...)

------
MrGando
Hey there Nikki,

Nice story, I have a similar one myself. I remember that I followed 99dresses
quite closely two years ago, I was the technical co-founder of a Fashion &
Tech startup, and we were trying to do something really similar for a while.
(I'm also foreign, got a lot of local press coverage, traveled to Silicon
Valley to work etc.)

I've been the leaving co-founder of a startup, mostly because I thought (and
told) that my co-founder was incompetent and bringing zero value to the table.
He took it pretty bad, but at least I was honest about that (and right).

You're very young, I'm 28... my biggest advice would be for you to get a
stronger technical background. You can still do it, you are young, and it
would greatly empower you.

If you wanna have a chat shoot me an email or add me on skype 'n_goles'.

Cheers!

------
utkarsh_apoorva
Wow. Amazing story. I have heard of 99 dresses a lot - though women's fashion
is farthest from my interest area. So you did build quite a brand. I am also
pleasantly surprised to see that you probably have set up this blog just to
share this article?

I have been an entrepreneur 5 years now, and I can totally relate with the
part of showing a positive face when you have none - its an occupational
hazard. Good luck for the next set of adventures.

BTW, I am sure the Valley community will be open to welcoming you back. You
are an entrepreneur through and through - so if its not the Valley,
Bangalore's doors are always open :-). Best of Luck.

------
coralreef
Man, just reading the story gave me anxiety.

------
hakcermani
You have achieved so much at such a young age. Your whole life is ahead of
you. I am 50+ and working on my first startup, with hopes that I will make it
someday ! Glad you shared your story. See this link - so many stories here,
some very close to home for you. ([http://www.fastcompany.com/3029883/bottom-
line/11-famous-ent...](http://www.fastcompany.com/3029883/bottom-
line/11-famous-entrepreneurs-share-how-they-overcame-their-biggest-failure)).
Take a break, clear your head, and come up with the next big thing.

------
jacquesm
> I had to fly back to Australia to get a working visa as soon as the funding
> paperwork was signed, and the next day my two “co-founders” decided to tell
> me they were leaving the company without even a hint of warning.

Hindsight and all that. But still, don't just take on anybody as co-founder,
easy come, easy go.

Super tough to read all this, I'm really sorry your hard work did not work out
but you've done all that could be required of you and then some.

I very much recognize your trust issues, but over time even that will fade.

~~~
McDoku
I have to agree. Co-founders suck. Everyone wants to talk and to have people
look up to you. To imagine that one day you will rule the world.

The truth is that creating anything new in this world is a bag of hammers.
Glory comes from the stupid, respect from the learned.

------
graeme
Thank you for writing this. I've bootstrapped my business. For the first 2.5
years, cashflow was tight. You've described the fears I had of seeing it all
crumble, not necessarily because the idea was bad, but because the friction
was too great.

I hadn't heard of your startup before this post. But from reading the comments
here, you and your startup are very well regarded.

I doubt it feels that way right now, but I think you have a bright future
ahead of you. Take some time to process and relax. Good luck!

------
sid_xervmon
You will do well II time around.

~~~
mmaunder
This is true. I don't have some a scientific study that proves this - just
every entrepreneur friend I have that is kicking ass right now as an example
of this being true.

------
api
I had a big failure years ago. It was horrible, and in retrospect there were a
lot of really screwed up things going on from day one. This included a
business partner who turned out to be a delusional sociopath, etc.

Nevertheless I learned a tremendous amount. You learn things by going through
it in the trenches that cannot be taught in school.

Currently working toward attempt two, which is probably much more likely to be
successful.

------
thegeomaster
I like her _so much_! This amount of perseverance and strength is so
overwhelmingly commendable and inspiring.

I wish Nikki all the best in the future!

------
sudhi_xervmon
Come back stronger Nikki. Best wishes and good luck

------
yepyepyep
_You rarely hear the raw stories of startups that persevered but ultimately
failed — the emotional roller coaster of the founders, and why their startups
didn’t work out._

Great post. However, when guys paint the other gender with a similar broad
stroke as here, we go after them. I hope posts like this make it okay to state
our general observations about the other gender.

~~~
crassus
That's because our culture is sick. Generalizations about gender has been the
main stuff of art, literature, and personal correspondence for 500 years -
only now are they offensive.

------
joeljp
Nikki, I know so many people that would give 10 years of their lives to
experience the highs and lows that you just had. There are already enough
cliches on here to keep you going. My hat off to you for giving it a real good
go and I wish you every success in the future. You'll do just fine and will
look back at this with a smile.

------
mVChr
I feel for the author, but in reading this detailed post-mortem it's clear to
see there was a combination of bad luck, poor planning, and a number of
incorrect decisions. Hopefully she learned from them, will correct what she
can and ride out what she can't in her next venture.

------
andrewstuart
Too few female founders around. YC should shepherd this girl straight back
into the game and support her.

~~~
spada
She hardly comes off as the type of person that wants affirmative action. I'm
not being a white knight here but that comment is kinda insulting to her.

~~~
andrewstuart
Not in the slightest insulting. All I see in this girl is that she is
following the fairly normal path that non-Zuckerbergian founders go through.
She's smart and motivated and getting some good experience under her belt
early. If she is not supported to rapidly pick herself up and dust herseld off
then she might not be back in the game for years. A failed venture can take
years to recover from financially etc. The lack of women co founders is a
constant issue now in the industry so when we find good ones then they deserve
some extra help.

------
matheusbn
Well if this is some kind a support I really don't know, but I think she
should be proud, because with only 22 years old and doing all this (trip to
another country, leading a startup). I wish you more luck on your another
attempt.

------
yoanizer
I know failure success. You just have to deal with it. Sometimes it's so hard
that you have lock yourself in your room cry, and curse the world. That's
fine.

That's just something you have to go through on your road to success.

------
zkirill
The author took many, many hits and still kept on going. I have an immense
amount of respect for her and hope that she will embark on a new venture soon
where she can apply everything that she learned.

------
wauter
Just curious: why is there nothing anounced on 99dresses.com about this? Will
the business go on after all? Are we in the final days and will it then just
suddenly out of the blue shut down?

------
ilaksh
The part that I really am not sure of is the difference between failing and
giving up or the difference between failing and pivoting. Or is failing just
when you have to get a full time job?

------
cdelsolar
The site is still up and you have a core group of people who love it. Can't
you just keep it and the app running for now? The costs for the servers can't
be that high.

------
andretti1977
Even if i obviously understand why she felt that way, there is something
really wrong in the way she thinks: she didn't fail. It was the startup that
failed. She felt bad because she impersonified her project. But a person is
not the things she creates or tryies to create. That is a misconception. And
this wrong (even if understandable) way of thinking, may drive people to
depression and other dangerous situations. Please, remember that we live once
and that we are not the things we create: we, as people, are much more
valuable than anything we can do.

------
ulisesrmzroche
Ya'll too soft around here. Truth is all the youth and heart in the world
won't save you if you don't know how to throw a proper jab.

------
pasharayan
Hi Nikki, shame to see 99 dresses go down, wishing you the best post startup
run.

If there were three things you would do differently, what would they be?

------
spion
I don't think I've ever read a story about failure that felt this motivating
and inspiring. Thank you for sharing it.

------
lizzard
I wish you the best of luck in your next venture, whether it's a startup or
not. Lots of people are serial entrepreneurs!

------
blergh123
Oh, the other co-founder was Dan Walker - he's a bit of a flake so this isn't
at all surprising.

------
jenius
> “I just knew I wanted to solve a problem I personally experienced: having a
> closet full of clothes but still nothing to wear.”

These are the kinds problems we are gunning for. These are the kinds of things
investors are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into. This is the scope
of problem our industry is solving right now. This is why I'm often
embarrassed to work in tech.

~~~
herdrick
First, this stuff isn't small potatoes.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharing_economy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharing_economy)

Second, if that kind of thing isn't what you want to work on, fine, don't. No
one is trying to push you into that. Knock off the hating.

------
dicroce
Yeah, you failed... but you put yourself out there... that's what really
living is all about.

------
jasonlgrimes
Literally, the best thing I read today. Well thought out and written. Keep
rocking Nikki!

------
mbesto
_This is what failure feels like. I hope it helps._

It does help. Keep writing. Welcome to the club :)

------
pyfish
Great write up. I look forward to when she is recharged and build the next
great thing.

------
skizm
Maybe I missed it, but how did the author get going with 99dresses as a non-
technical person with no college degree?

EDIT: Nevermind. Found the answers. Turns out to be a pretty cool story
actually: [http://wpcurve.com/y-combinator/](http://wpcurve.com/y-combinator/)

------
kapupetri2
I think your startup was doomed to fail because your business idea just
sucked.

------
dreamweapon
_I just knew I wanted to solve a problem I personally experienced: having a
closet full of clothes but still nothing to wear._

Maybe her real problem was picking a big "problem" to solve that wasn't.

~~~
outworlder
A problem is a problem if enough people think it is. There seems to be a large
amount of people who agree with her.

------
aml183
Great article!

------
crassus
The crazy thing is that people go through this experience and want to do it
again. A failed startup leaves you burned out, emotionally wrecked, and
financially crippled. Why take another ride on that roller coaster? Pride?
Status? Money?

~~~
jggonz
For the same reason you ride a roller coaster: For the thrill of the ride.

You also get to work for something you care about.

And yes, there's the possibility of high financial rewards, but that's
unlikely.

------
inventor
I've developed a survival guide for creative geniuses. It's called Die
Penniless, and people can sign up here for first access:
[http://diepenniless.com](http://diepenniless.com)

------
captainderp
"It got to the point where I had to call the consulate hotline every single
day and split test different types of crying…”

"for some reason a 5'11 woman in 7 inch heels commands more talking time and
attention from investors…”

"As a woman going out in NYC my nights were normally cheap because cute guys
would buy me drinks, but I am not the kind of woman who expects that.”

Why did YC ever bet on such a dud? Like honestly good on you for trying and
all but you sound very immature. I don't mean that in a negative way I mean
that in having read your post that's how you come across. Your cofounders
decided to leave you and you are calling them out - I wouldn't blame them at
all - they made a choice and their equity would not have vested. Cofounder’s
have walked away from much larger startups than yours and its for the reason
that they did not believe in your vision. Seems kind of immature to call them
out. No one wants to be led by someone who responds to their problems by
sobbing.

Its a shame YC bet so big on a non-technical founder because you give non-
technical founders a bad name. They got you in Forbes, Business Insider, The
Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications. The Stripe brothers had
a billion dollar company before even getting half the notoriety you got. For a
two-sided marketplace that's like getting to start a mile race with a
kilometer lead. Any startup that gets such a ridiculous head start (global
publications covering you before you get to 100,000 members) comes down to a
failure to execute.

~~~
frostli
She's being ultra honest here about her feelings and opinions. You can agree
or not but before you judge too hard, think twice how hard is it to tell your
startup story when it fails. We are all young and naive once, hence we learn
and grow.

------
nichochar
Good story. On a completely unrelated note, this girl is very beautiful, so
that's rather positive

------
pravda
"Aussie Nikki joins Silicon Valley millionaire factory"

Y-C = Millionaire factory? Who knew!

------
zenjzen
Is this what HN has become? A fail-blog? :(

~~~
brador
Would you prefer survivor bias?

~~~
zenjzen
I'd prefer to read HN and not get depressed as fuck.

~~~
voltagex_
It's all a matter of perspective. I don't think the article was depressing at
all.

------
aimhb
Stopped reading after the fourth misspelling of "it's".

------
Agathos
My TL;DR: a founder ran into some painful but survivable bumps along the road,
plus one killer.

The latter being there are people in the US government who would rather burn
down the whole economy than share any of it with a dirty immigrant. Even a
white, English-speaking one!

------
BigChiefSmokem
"...I was going to go big or go home"

Ms. Durkin I think you just need to go bigger next time. Don't just solve a
small problem, solve a dire one that we all (man and woman, black or white)
have in common.

Why disrupt a market when you can create a new one while simultaneously
destroying four others? You know, that sort of thing.

Good luck!

~~~
coralreef
Please point me to said markets so that I can become a billionaire!

