Exit Interview: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain

<p><pre><code> 1. Didn't build something people would pay for 2. Beaten by the competition 3. Didn't build something people would pay for 4. Didn't build something people would pay for 5. ? 6. Didn't know their users and build the product with them in mind 7. Didn't build something people would pay for </code></pre> Notice a pattern?

This is a good read, particularly for HN. As naturally optimistic people, we all believe that the "9 out of 10 startups fail" statistics apply to everyone else. This is a good read as perhaps it reminds us that 9 out of 10 means us, not just those other silly people with their terrible ideas and poor commercialization strategies. These companies all had super-smart people, worked really hard, were funded and had as much chance of succeeding as the rest of us plugging away.

I love how they emphasize that doing a feature well takes a long time. I think this is somrething you can only understand by starting a company. It's really hard to do a feature such that it will workin all the cases in the real world.