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If the startup has lost any traction, and you've tried and failed to pivot, and see no other opportunities to make this work for some time... it's probably best to change tracks, get employed or do another startup, and return to the old startup in you mind every now and then to see if it's become viable with new insights, a changing market etc. But as an outsider with limited info, it seems it's 'failed'. I wouldn't attach that word to it myself but you asked. If you're not pursuing the business model, and just doing client-work, you essentially stopped running the startup already. Tech is a tricky field because its history has a number of 'big stories' of 'close to failure, but we had grit, and we succeeded'. The likes of FedEx, who had $5k to pay a $24k fuel bill, the owner went to Las Vegas and gambled the last 5k, miraculously won enough to pay the bills and continue on to create what is now a billion dollar company. But for every 1 of those stories, there are a 1000 who tried and failed anyway, with great consequences (debt, depression, negligence of friends & family etc). So I definitely, personally, wouldn't keep trying 'no matter what'. Grit and perseverance is hugely important, but investing it in a dead idea is not. If you truly see potential and opportunity in your startup idea, the market etc, then you may want to keep trying. But if that were true, you probably would have had some traction, and less doubt. Seems like you should try something else. Good luck whatever you end up doing. As for 'losing at life', I don't feel like explaining but, it's just not true. Don't worry about it, really. I do know what you're feeling but you're not losing at life. At most you could say that you're playing a game you don't want to play. Startup life carries with it the possibility to live on a few hundred bucks a month, while your friends have junior positions and talk about their next promotion. That's not for everyone. But you're not 'losing at life' buddy :) |