I have been working on the side with my partner on an app since more than a year ago. I work a day job to pay off my student loans and lately, have been losing hope on the startup. At this point, I’m only in it because 1) of my co-founder and 2) I have already given it a year of my life. Everyday is a struggle to work on it. I joined my co-founder because I believed in the idea and thought it could be a hit.
Several iterations and several “pivots” later, we have still not launched the app. Pivoting too often and too much was a mistake. Even the current set of features of the app aren’t really good enough.
My personal life has taken a hit, I’m not able to give my 100% to my day job. My personal relationships have suffered tremendously, and there’s also a lot of “tech-debt” that has accumulated because of subpar quality of code by the freelancers. I’m just constantly fixing one bug after another and I have lost the energy because it hasnt been rewarding at all for me. I can’t even sell my positions and exit.
I’m trying to gain different perspectives here and trying to find out what people have done when they found themselves in a situation similar to mine
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We took 4 years part time before finding PMF. During that time the laughs with cofounders were the only thing keeping us going. If you’re enjoying it and making progress press on, if not might be time find something else.
You have pivoted several times and you haven’t launched yet? I’m a bit confused. Usually you pivot because of the market response, but it sounds like you havent even tested the waters. If that’s the case, I would at least launch and see the response before giving up. But then again, it the startup lifestyle is not for you then that’s okay to call it quit.
If it’s no longer just a grind but has become a burden, it’s probably time to move on.
If sounds like you guys are still in the ideation phase, figuring out if three’s a “there there”.
I wouldn’t say this is a business failure per se if you move on, since you haven’t actually launched anything. Idk if that changes how you feel about it.
The sunk cost fallacy is real. Don’t let yourself feel trapped by it.
I would personally say table it for a little, get your personal life in order and let your brain process the startup process, then re-evaluate in a couple months. You sound like you’re spread too thin.