Stats for nerds
1recommend
3mentions
2people
2021–2025years
33% recommend67% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The best writing I’ve found on the experience of failure and how painful it can be, is “Eating Glass” by Mark D Jacobsen. A lot of sample chapters can be read here: https://markdjacobsen.com/eating-glass/
I highly, highly recommend this book. I have no connection to Mark but I did find his book through a comment of his on HN.
- My own experience presiding over startup failure was excruciating. I had a serious personal breakdown that took a couple years to recover from. There was the burnout, but also a deep sense of guilt, weakness, and personal failure. Articles like this can inadvertently heap on guilt, insinuating that a founder "stopped trying" or "lost heart", as a if a better or stronger soul might have prevailed. But sometimes, closing the doors is the right thing to do.
For other failed founders out there... I found very few resources that could help me navigate the aftermath, so I wrote the book I wish I'd had. It's a passion project, so I give it away for free. It's titled "Eating Glass: The Inner Journey Through Failure and Renewal."
Amazon/Audible link: https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Glass-Journey-Through-Failure/...
Free copy: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/arauyfnkwwezbbk0cbvdp/eating-...
- I'm a two-time failed founder. The first was a humanitarian drone nonprofit, and the second was a software development team internal to government. The first failure absolutely wrecked me. Your comment resonated because nothing prepared me for the unique experiences and traumas of presiding over a startup failure. I truly felt like I was on my own, trying to navigate the prolonged journey through failure, healing, and renewal.
I ended up writing a book to help other failed founders, titled "Eating Glass: The Inner Journey Through Failure and Renewal." Book here [0] and 60-pg sample here [1]. I plan to share it via "Show HN" soon, but given your plea for resources, I'd love to send you a free digital copy. Just send me an email address at mark@markdjacobsen.com. My passion with this book is really just to help other failed founders on their journeys.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Glass-Journey-Through-Failure/... [1] https://markdjacobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Eating-...
