Cause of death: A software business I bought and worked on with the co-founder for two years. It only ever ran internally on our own startups; it never shipped publicly.
WHAT WORKEDThe software ran, and building it taught us the internal tooling and the co-founder working relationship.
WHAT FAILEDIt never left our own startups. We kept building for a customer we never went out and found.
WHAT IT DOESN'T PROVEIt does not prove nobody would have paid. It proves we never reduced it to a test small enough to put in front of a buyer.
“Two years of building for a customer we never went and found.”
WHAT THIS TEACHES THE PRACTICEShrink an idea until it can meet a real customer inside the cap. Two years of building is what happens when you skip that step.
Cause of death: A done-for-you hiring service for cleaning companies. Three months in, the economics didn't clear the bar, so we shut it down.
WHAT WORKEDDemand was real. Cleaning companies wanted the hiring done for them, and they said so with money.
WHAT FAILEDThe economics and the operating burden. The margin did not survive the work it took to deliver.
WHAT IT DOESN'T PROVEIt does not prove the niche is wrong. It proves this version of the offer could not carry its own delivery cost.
“Right niche, wrong offer. Shut it down before it killed the calendar.”
WHAT THIS TEACHES THE PRACTICEA real market is necessary but not sufficient. The offer has to be shaped so the margin survives fulfilment, not just the sale.
What day 30 tests
Every experiment faces the same five questions. Break the profit clock and it's a capital offence.
Under $1KTotal spend stays under the $1,000 cap. No experiment gets to buy its way to looking alive.
HoursIt stays inside its share of the twenty-hour week. Time is the scarcest capital here.
Profit clockIt made a real dollar from a real customer by day 30. Zero revenue is a capital offence.
FunDread is data. If the fun score keeps sliding, that's a reason to fold it, not to push harder.
$10k pathThere's a believable path to $10k/mo, which requires a believable path to $1 first.