This is a heartbreaking story, made harder by the fact that I met one of the principals of this story, Marcin, when I was in New York visiting another startup. I liked Marcin and I liked the concept. Unfortunately, the business model was just not strong enough. Lessons here for everyone.
This is what it feels like when your startup fails
Been through this a few times. It never gets easier.
Startups can be fun, at first.
Right before the turn of the millennium, I worked at a tiny children’s-book publisher that turned out to be little more than a rich woman’s newest hobby. A snazzy, remodeled Chelsea workplace, Aeron chairs, new G3 towers for everyone in the design department. A fabulous art director with expensive taste in furniture and a sinecure managing editor who never read the books he was managing. One day, someone in Florida decided that the NY office needed a dress code, as if we ever had any visitors other than the occasional author.
Our books (and their online teaching supplements) were mostly beautiful, mostly overpriced, and went mostly unsold.