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

[janitha]

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.

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.

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.

Anyone else walked this path? Thoughts? (be brutally honest)

[pg]

It's probably a good idea as long as you know what went wrong the first time.

[janitha → pg]

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

[cgherb911 → pg]

Agreed. My winning example: Family guy got two seasons off then Fox canceled it. Changed the revenue model and kept its fan base. The rest is history (of course i skipped over all the failure, hardships, stress, and sleepless nights ;) )

[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.

[janitha → jeremymims]

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.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[janitha → quellhorst]

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