from Hacker News

Startups weather a dismal year – 543 have declared bankruptcy or shut down

by annabyrd on 12/2/23, 11:53 AM with 49 comments

• by kaashif on 12/2/23, 3:51 PM

  The article doesn't say whether this is higher or lower than usual when compared to the total startup population.

  Saying "this is the highest number ever reported" is like when presidents brag about receiving the most votes in history - the population is just bigger!

• by ilamont on 12/2/23, 4:04 PM

  I caught up with a friend recently who has been involved with startups for years as a founder or engineer. His current position is senior engineer at a blockchain startup, funded a few years ago when VC money was flowing and “blockchain” was hot.

  “Honestly, I don’t even know what we’re building or who will use it,” he admitted.

  People love to talk about the successes and use that to justify the VC startup model, but I suspect many if not most are like this - a pretend company based on a buzzword with no real customers or viable business model.

• by stevenjgarner on 12/2/23, 4:27 PM

  Am I missing something, there appears to be no context to this article? When it says "543 startups shut their doors", that is 543 of which population of startups? Are they just referring to companies with SEC filings? There have been millions of companies started in the US this year, given "the US Census Bureau shows that 5,044,748 new businesses were started in 2022" [1]

  [1] https://www.commerceinstitute.com/new-businesses-started-eve...

• by troupo on 12/2/23, 4:17 PM

  It's only "dismal" because the unlimited free money has run out.

  Silicon Valley "innovation" is "run for years losing millions or even billions of dollars every year without as much as a plan to become profitable".

  Maybe now companies will start creating actual sustainable businesses?

• by cedws on 12/2/23, 3:14 PM

  There will be an even bigger graveyard of GPT wrapper companies soon.

• by dopeboy on 12/2/23, 4:26 PM

  Sad to say my startup is part of this grim statistic. We raised capital in October of 2021 and were unable to raise follow on capital. I laid off all staff and we shut down two months ago.

  Founders today are conserving cash. Gone are the days of raise money, build a big team, and grow grow grow. Now it's all about doing more with less, with slow and steady growth.

• by baron816 on 12/2/23, 3:32 PM

  I wonder how many were crypto startups

• by ushakov on 12/2/23, 3:38 PM

  "Declared bankruptcy" typically means a company couldn't make product somebody wants to pay for

• by tcgv on 12/2/23, 3:28 PM

  Off topic: It's really annoying and distracting when they put these "related videos" that automatically start playing while I'm reading an article. Really bad UX.

• by Log_out_ on 12/2/23, 7:07 PM

  I wonder how many in percent are actually in lung fish survival mode, just trying to get by with a different buisness until the market returns.

• by tlogan on 12/2/23, 3:41 PM

  Not just startups are affected.

  I have feeling that economy (or maybe just spending?) has contracted by approximately 10%, coupled with an additional 10% inflation rate.

  So a typical small business in the technology sector might experience a reduction in revenue of about 10%, while simultaneously facing a 10% increase in operating costs.

• by Dudester230602 on 12/2/23, 3:27 PM

  Are there any start ups that are like charities founded to achieve something obviously monetizable and backed by multiple billionaires?