[allworknoplay]

Oh man, I wish I'd seen this earlier -- everyone's already said it, but you definitely haven't lost at life. Go get a job right away, and you'll be back in the game before you know it.

I was in the same spot at 25 -- worked at a startup for about a year, had a decent number of users but almost no revenue and nowhere near enough growth. I had almost finished a super useful lightweight offshoot product that was going to have way better reach, but suddenly realized one day there was no possible way I was going to be able to pay my rent in another month. I cried a lot; it was a horrible feeling, understanding that something I'd centered my life around -- that I felt defined my identity -- was a failure, and feeling that I was a failure, too. But I got a job, got busy, got better at my craft, and just realized I'd have to do it again when the time was right.

It happened again a little over a year ago -- the company is still there, but us founders were forced out by investor cronyism after years of building. I was more miserable than the first time, and I just drank a lot for months afterwards (in some ways getting severance out of such a deal is worse than having to go get a job right away). Again, it had been my entire life for (this time) almost three years; plus unlike the first time I'd decided it would be ok to borrow some extra money from friends and family, and now that money was gone.

But it always works out once you go get a job, find something else to do with yourself, and realize you can get back to it -- or not -- when you're ready and the time is right.