Startup Winter: Hacker News Lost Its Faith \ stacker news ~tech

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Startup Winter: Hacker News Lost Its Faith www.vincentschmalbach.com/startup-winter-hacker-news-lost-its-faith/

114 sats \ 7 comments \ @hn 21 Jan tech bot

This link was posted by vincent_s 1 hour ago on HN. It received 156 points and 62 comments.

63 sats \ 5 replies \ @south_korea_ln 21 Jan

In 2013, a failing founder posted their story on Hacker News (link). The responses were overwhelmingly supportive: "Failure is just an event, not who you are." "Get back up and try again!" "This is valuable experience for next time."

Fast forward to 2025. Another founder shares their journey of six failed attempts (link). The sentiment in the comments is strikingly different: "Would have been better to work at BigTech." "The rat race isn't worth it." "Most interesting stories remain buried while we're presented with a somewhat skewed reality."

This shift isn't isolated to these two posts. The same forum that championed "fail fast, fail often" now regularly questions whether the startup path makes sense at all.

[...]

I believe we're entering what might be called a "Startup Winter" - not because startups have stopped being created, but because the mythology around them has frozen over.

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @SimpleStacker 21 Jan

Thanks for the summary.

I believe we're entering what might be called a "Startup Winter" - not because startups have stopped being created, but because the mythology around them has frozen over.

Any comments about simply the money drying up?

30 sats \ 3 replies \ @south_korea_ln 21 Jan

I think the 4 points raised in the article sound quite plausible.

But I guess money plays a huge role too, and as the low-hanging fruits have all been captured by VC money, the latter don't find useful projects to fund anymore.

And from what I gather from the Web3 hype, seems like what matters for VCs is how they can quickly get an ROI, even though (I hope) they realize they are just funding scams... good money may be drying up, but stupid money still seems to be plenty and about. As long as we're in the bull-market, that is.

But this is really just spit-balling. Don't know much about all this.

148 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 21 Jan

This makes sense though. Rising interest rates usually mean investors want ROI now and are less willing to accept money which is uncertainly promised in the future.

Many of us here on SN identify unproductive companies sustained for years by low interest rates as ZIRPs (zero interest rate phenomena): #296154

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln 21 Jan

That's interesting. Never heard of ZIRPs. So did most of the predictions from that 2023 thread come true? Or are they all still around?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 21 Jan

Looking back on the thread, it seems like it was more focused on practices than specific companies. But yeah, I've also heard ZIRP used to reference companies that are unprofitable for a long time, sustained only because interest rates are so low and capital was so easily available.

I can't remember if it was Warren Buffet or someone else who said it, but they compared rising interest rates like the tide going out, and then you get to see "who's naked" under the water

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Longtermwizard 21 Jan