Ze Frank's Kickstarter post-mortem
In this postmortem from 2012, @revorad candidly breaks down the dissolution of their startup, examining the fatal assumptions, misallocated resources, and market dynamics that led to its shutdown.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Early signals were often rationalized away instead of prompting an immediate pivot in distribution or pricing.
The psychological toll of running out of capital compounds operational friction in a solo or small team setup.
Key Antidote: Validate paying willingness before committing months to building sophisticated product features.
Community Debate Themes:
Community discussions on HN centered on identifying product-market fit early, avoiding vanity metrics, and the emotional recovery process after shutting down.
CATEGORY Postmortems & Failures →
HISTORICAL ERA Web 2.0 Genesis (2007–2013)
COMMUNITY SCORE 131 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 13 comments
The referrer log about 1/3 of the way down is really interesting. He needed to create most of the demand himself, it didn't happen organically through Kickstarter.
This is a great overview of what it takes to do a successful Kickstarter. Nice catch.
Other than being an awesome exposition of a Kickstarter project, this is an example of incredibly valuable feedback. Now thinking what I can do to stimulate even a fraction of this level of customer feedback in my startup...
I'm not sure about US tax, but wouldn't it make sense to incorporate a company to handle the money?
Interesting to read a thoughtful write-up from him, since so much of his public persona is "I'm doing wacky things... invest in my Kickstarter and I will give you a prize of a plastic shark!"
Can I just say, I'm incredibly excited for the (new) show!