Shutting down my side project of two years

You need a team.<p>I have the same problem doing things myself. I see the overlapping demographics too, I see the nebulous potential use cases too, I see the end products too, I finish them and then get saddened by the lack of polish or details I could put into it to match competitors.<p>After spending some time at big corps I came away with a realization: I needed a team to back me up.<p>Those guys that work at the fancy office parks with the free lunches and bus shuttles to everywhere, they don't work that hard! It's because they have the right amount of people to do the right amount of work on the right amount of things.<p>I also think of it as a fireteam from my Marine Corps training. When we engage in a firefight we utilize tactics of a lead, advance, backup with fire, lead, advance, backup with fire again, repeat.<p>You need backup.<p>The process you've established is correct, you just have to keep using that process to find the right product fit. Then you need to make a go at it, delegating work, polish, market, and sell.

Ironic that you make the HN front page when you're shutting it down.<p>It takes a lot of humility and courage to write such a candid post on something that was obviously the foundation of your hopes for two years. I have great respect for that.<p>Was it a complete failure? Absolutely not. You've picked up a great amount of technical expertise in the process. More importantly after all this is in the past you'll be able to reflect on it objectively and realise your mistakes and shortcomings - and you'll know, unemotionally, that they were to do on the marketing side.<p>Rob Walling said something once that stuck with me ever since. If you're looking to build something, approach it in order of "market, marketing, aesthetics, functionality." Not to paint with a broad brush, but it will at least help you realign your focus next time you jump into something like this.<p>Because you will jump into something like this again.

After reading your article and looking at the site, I think you might be pulling the plug too early. I have been in the same boat before. You spend all the time to build something, you believe it's got legs and then....radio silence. Then you get some interest but it never really takes off.<p>I would bet that if you really talked, like physically talked (phone, Skype) with your users, especially those who haven't been active for a while, you might start to learn more about what you need to do to gain more traction and develop the product further.

Without knowing more details my takeaway is that "build it and they will come" is not an effective user acquisition strategy.<p>1) What was the feedback from your friends who were using it?<p>2) Did you try to talk to customers to see why they left? What did they say?<p>3) Sticking around for a month is pretty significant. Do you know what kept people were sticking around for that long?

I haven't found the Flippa community to be overly drawn to custom tech (i.e. not wordpress, etc.) unless there is already a large audience for the site. I think the HN crowd needs a Flippa equivalent for abandoned projects.<p>I am happy to donate the domain startuptrader.com to the effort :)

I think you are making the correct choice. What you built is an app. And it seems that it is a good one. But building the business behind this app is a challenge that you do not want to pursue. So don't do it. Don't listen to those who say "get a co-founder". That wont fix anything. Your focus is not it. Sell it, move on.<p>I'm not even sure it is a viable business itself. Aside from advertising, it has very few options as it stands. You would need to modify the platform in order to introduce other profit channels. But you already said you don't want any more of it.

I agree with alaskamiller - you need at least a co-founder. Having somebody to bounce ideas off of and ask questions to is invaluable.<p>More importantly though, forget about the technology. After reading your post, it sounds like you're frustrated because you spent a ton of time implementing super hip technology and yet still nobody is coming.<p>People don't care about technology. They care about what your site does for them. You also didn't appear to talk to too many users to find out what it is they needed.<p>My advice is to follow the data. If your data shows that nobody needs your site, then shut it down. But don't shut it down because you built it and hoped they'd come without trying any marketing or customer research.

Your story, down to the timeframe mirrors mine. I created a Pingdom competitor (<a href="https://www.pingbrigade.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.pingbrigade.com</a>) that was cheaper to operate and cheaper for the users, while being easier to use and supported IPv6. After I launched it I got several hundred sign ups over the two years, but nobody seemed interested in the paid accounts (they let you monitor more than one thing). I did not realize just how attached I would get to this project and how the fact that it never became profitable would weigh on me. Last month I decided to pull the plug on it and sent out an announcement to the users. I got a few responses of "Noooooo!!!! Why???!!" I know for a fact that business development and marketing were not there and that is why it never took off, but it was my flagship project and it is hard to let it go.<p>Good luck to you on your next project. Hope it does better.

I think what a lot of people are missing in this post (and maybe this is my fault for not making it quite clear) is that I do know marketing is the missing ingredient. I'm entirely aware that you can't build something and just hope that people will come and use it. Even if I didn't want to think about this initially.<p>The problem with saying "you're almost there, you need marketing" is that I am done. I don't have the effort for marketing. I started the site for fun, to scratch an itch, and that has passed. Maybe I'm close, but in all likelihood I could've done everything right and still got nowhere. I need to draw a line in the sand, and this is it.<p>However, it's nice to have people acknowledge that the problem is most likely marketing oriented, rather than a fault with the site.<p>It is a pretty nice site.

I wonder what would happen if you spend as much time on marketing as you spent on development. I am not sure which would be the best: perhaps blog posts, facebook activity, small ads, or guest posts on different sites.<p>Or, what if you spent as much time on 'biz dev' as you spent on development. Perhaps talking to some music communities online and having them link to you guys in exchange for highlighting their music or providing some service to them.<p>I am not saying that the above would work. I likely would have had similar biases as you. But as I grow up as an entrepreneur I am beginning to realize all the hats that I need to wear (and that when I get lucky one of these hats makes a huge difference).

This is why I'm scared to invest too much time into something that isn't directly for my benefit.

"I checked in weekly to post a track, but no longer considered it in active development."<p>If you check the site only once a week, why should other users bother?<p>The site infrastructure is I believe valuable. One can pivot into a different idea using the same infrastructure and simply move on, re-using the code base.

Have you thought about creating it as a Spotify app. Also have you thought of FB integration to add friends easily. Additionally once they have FB auth'd you could add in FB stories. There is always a careful balance with sharing, you don't want to be one of those auto follow sites or push to many spammy stories. It is amazing what people will share given the option. I like the site!

I can't vouch for the service but consider a campaign on <a href="https://www.bountysource.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.bountysource.com</a><p>Maybe you can get enough money from people who want feature improvements to keep the site up for a little longer. If you have some consistent users you must be doing something right, and it definitely looks like a well made website.

I think you are pulling the plug too early. You just finished the development part. Now is time for marketing. Believe it or not, just posting on hackers news have gotten you a few new users. (maybe it was your plan all along ) But still now that you have refined the code focus on the users listen to their needs. And focus on acquiring more. The game only begins. 49webzone.com was started by a friend of mine and it took off only after 13 years.<p>I just deployed my first big project last week and my plan is to spend 80% of my time on marketing and the rest on fixing bugs. Maybe it will fail but I will make sure I do what most of us developers try to avoid like a disease.... Marketing!

Eat your own dog food. I believe developers should use their application before others. If you feel good about what you built, of course users feel good also.

Is it possible to decouple the dependency on Last.fm, in case they shutdown their API? If it is possible I will consider making a bid.[1] Can you also upload your analytics? How many 'core users' are left?<p>[1] Probably just going to let it sit there if I do get to buy it. I buy abandoned side projects because I feel sad seeing web services becoming unavailable.

It is strange that all the new ideas seem to stem only from you instead of your users. I don't think that you would have found a better product interating only with yourself. For example, in the land page, it would be better to see a discussion of a very well-know music, and invite to see other songs that I like.

This looks awesome, what a shame you're closing it. You've made front page of HN - for the wrong reasons - you've had positive comments and people are interested.<p>You need to focus on marketing the product you've made so well. Try it. I've signed up to this too.

I'm wondering if you just need to spend time on marketing? What are your thoughts of 4 Steps to Epiphany by Steve Blank?

Maybe you could team up with <a href="http://www.thisismyjam.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thisismyjam.com/</a>

Were/are you using the site yourself?