Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to My 4th failed startup (2nd due to user acquisition costs)
Hello HN, Later today I'll be shutting down the servers and moving on. This is my 5th startup and the 4th failure. The reason is very simple: I understimated the cost of user acquisition. This is the second time this happened. The dozens of users actually love the software and are using it on a daily basis. I'm ruthless when it comes to coding and money. So, if you are building a startup: do not ignore how much money you will have to spend to get a user. If you are not able to find that number, something could be wrong with your model. Maybe someone smarter than me could write something…
Condoly was a developer tool that shut down due to unsustainable user acquisition costs. Though its small user base actively used the software daily, the founder determined the cost to acquire each customer exceeded… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. My 4th failed startup (2nd due to user acquisition costs) launched in 2012; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
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Overlead▲146Here's the problem: I launched two products. I wrote blog posts. I posted on X, built in public. I tried running ads. And you know what actually got me customers? Replying to someone on Reddit who asked, "What's the best tool for this?" One reply. Three signups. I felt like an idiot for not doing it sooner. But here's the issue: I don't have time to refresh Reddit all day looking for these posts. I have products to build. Bugs to fix. Emails to answer. Life to live. So I built Overlead to do the searching for me. Overlead scans Reddit, Quora, and Hacker News (and many more to come) for…
Feb 2026 · overlead.co · its alternatives →
- 3
FoundersWall▲35I used to be just a blogger. Now I build internet products, still without code, using AI, design, and taste. I was building in public on X for last 2 months. And honestly, I got tired of how it became performative and started to feel fake. I shipped 2 products. Both failed to get any real traction. I kept sneaking into popular builders’ profiles, hoping to learn how they do it. One thing I kept seeing everywhere, product launch directories. I thought here is the scope. So I started building one. Same UI like the rest. Nothing special. Suddenly one day when it was half built, I realized…
2025 · founderswall.com · its alternatives →
- 4MS
A little history first. Back in Jan 2011 I quit my day job after saving up my $ for a year and began my first startup, a hardware + SaaS business. It was exciting and at the end of 14 months I had a handful of customers but not enough incoming to keep me going so I went back into the workforce full time, running it on the side. Naturally my time is pretty limited. Users kept signing up and I had to constantly print and post them unique welcome forms, direct debit forms, post out monthly invoices etc, the list goes on. The paperwork alone took me hours. I'd have just coded up each form into a…
2013 · its alternatives →
- 5MA
Hi there, So a buddy a couple of days ago came up with the idea for a new SaaS product regarding gpt and image generation. We did a quick MVP that barely works, it breaks almost 50% of the time but we still wanted to validate the idea before going all in. We have almost 1k followers on Twitter together. Did a quick post describing the idea with a stripe link in the comments with a 5$ value, no landing page, and no shipped product. In exchange, the buyers become beta users. Around 30 mins later we got our first sale next 30 mins another 5$ and so on. Do we consider the idea validated? The…
2023 · its alternatives →
- 6WD
Hey everyone! We spent the major part of the year preparing an idea we had for the YC application. At last minute, we decided not to go through with YC. I mean, we've had our fair shares of failed startups and this was one of those make it or break it scenarios. We took everything we've ever learned and strived to make an app that we were proud of. We spent so much effort into making this app that we couldn't bear stopping short and applying to Y Combinator. (Mind you, there's nothing wrong with YC.) We didn't want to apply to Y Combinator at the last minute because if we had really gone…
2012 · prsna.me · its alternatives →
- 7
I was a software engineer at a late stage startup and was caught in a layoff this January. When I looked into exercising my options or getting liquidity, I realized the secondary market is a total black box. Liquidity funds spend a fortune on Google Ads just to find people like us. Those high marketing costs eventually come out of our pockets in the form of higher fees and worse terms. I built StrikeRates to change that. The site is meant to be a central resource for anyone navigating this. I included a Liquidity 101 section that explains the different financial vehicles because that…
Mar 2026 · strikerates.com · its alternatives →
- 8IV
Hey my name is Ivo and I'm a developer and a startup entusiast. My girlfriend was out of the coutry for the weekend and I decided to do something cool like building a startup. I've done a few startups over the years but that's the first I actually released, I would love to hear your feedback on it.
2024 · craftlynow.com · its alternatives →
- 9LS
We built this using investor tools. I really wanted to know which startups to work for. Are we on the right track? PS - there's a paywall but if you want to explore more, just DM me your email and I'll give you free access in our db!
2023 · usemassive.com · its alternatives →
- 10IM
Hey HN, I'm Aydin, a 13-year-old developer and indie maker looking to improve the world with my small startups. Recently, I built 2 micro SaaS projects. I spent days & weeks coding features, always telling myself that after coding one more feature I was for sure to get traction. This never happened. The reason: I never launched. With IndieReq, you can launch your startup fast and get real user feedback so you know exactly what features to ship and improve. All you have to do is sign up for free, create a feedback board, and share the public link with your users. It's that easy! If you've…
2025 · indiereq.com · its alternatives →
- 11
Hey HN, I’m 14 and I’ve been obsessed with startups for a while. I noticed one big problem: most of us (especially first-time founders) waste months building something that nobody wants. So I built Startup Solve — an AI-powered platform that helps you stress-test your startup ideas before you write a single line of code. It includes six tools: ~ AI Co-Founder → brainstorms with you like a smart partner. ~ Startup Oracle → pressure-tests your idea and asks the brutal questions VCs would. ~ Funding Predictor → gives an estimate of whether your idea could raise funding. ~ Idea Incubator → helps…
2025 · startup-solve.lovable.app · its alternatives →
- 12UO
When I see what some HN members have done in a weekend on their projects, it makes it hard to confess that it has taken us 1 year to get to this stage. I kept trying to make things perfect, but finally I have seen the light - it will never be perfect and even in its current state, I see so much we need to improve, but it's something. Instead of delaying even more, I thought I would release it to the best critics out there - HN say hello to MyProperty.com Hope to hear your feedback, criticism, thoughts.
2011 · its alternatives →
- 13GS
I'm building a startup every 4 weeks. Startup #1 is a service where you can hire a virtual assistant for $2 per task, http://JFDI.ninja. For more about my project: http://4weekstolaunch.com
2017 · its alternatives →
- 14GA
I am announcing the private beta of my first web app (http://getfounder.com). The beta will launch in just one city, which will be determined by the number of entries on the location-aware sign up page. As this is my first public release, I'm looking to the HN community to offer me feedback on what I should/shouldn't be displaying on the homepage. I'd be grateful for any advice you had to offer. Thanks, and I hope to see some of you in the private beta! Colin
2011 · getfounder.com · its alternatives →
- 15MS
For years, I have struggled to understand my cash flow and save for the future. In addition to that, my wife has many credit cards and accounts that complicate matters. I am building a tool that connects all our accounts, helps us create a budget, and tracks and adjusts expenses on the fly. I am also sprinkling some AI magic on it for financial suggestions. I am looking for feedback on the implementation. More importantly, I am looking for more beta testers to improve the product.
2023 · financemadelovely.com · its alternatives →
- 16FA
Hi HN, I’ve been building www.founderly.xyz — a tool to help founders turn ideas into actual products. The problem: a lot of people have startup ideas but get stuck because they don’t have a technical cofounder or the resources to hire one. The approach: Founderly acts like an AI cofounder. Instead of being just one “assistant,” it spins up domain-specific agents (tech, design, marketing, legal) to guide you at different stages: • From rough idea → actionable plan • Plan → MVP • MVP → launch and early traction We are opening early access soon. If you’re curious, you can join the waitlist…
2025 · its alternatives →
- 17UI
We built this database using the same software investors use to discover startups. My friends and I really wanted to know which startups to work for. Are we on the right track? PS - there's a paywall but if you want to explore more, just DM me your email and I'll send you a free access code! Thank you so much.
2023 · usemassive.com · its alternatives →
- 18IS
I'm tired of seeing founders building stuff for months and years that nobody would ever pay for. They just don't see it, like most other founders learn to do. Business validation = making money, and nothing else really. If you really wanna make money this year, I can help you do it.
2025 · validatedsaas.com · its alternatives →
- 19IB
I’ve been studying real-world SaaS ideas — some that took off, others that failed hard. I turned it into a small side project: StartUp or Flop? You get two real startup ideas. One became successful, the other didn’t. You guess which is which, then you get the actual answer plus a short explanation of what made it work (or not). It’s a lightweight way to learn from real startup outcomes, uncover the patterns behind success and failure, sharpen your product instinct — and maybe even confront some of your own startup biases along the way. It’s surprising, humbling, and kind of addictive. Would…
2025 · startuporflop.com · its alternatives →
- 20IM
orignally shared this on startup school... i thought id' share it here. i'm using a `nocode communication tool` (a web-based interface... a single browser tab!) for all of these things: 1. landing page — the landing page is the product and i wanted for folks to feel "transported" right into the app without having to walk through a shitty b2b marketing-style content. this is akin to my experience back in the `BBS` days of the mid-90's where you were immediately into the app, community, and tool. no terms of service, no privacy policy. just pure, immediate value. 2. building community — we…
2021 · its alternatives →
- 21
Hey HN, I started my career as a finance manager, transitioned into product management, and now I’m building my own products. Back in my finance days, while managing a £6M budget, I uncovered a £15k leak hiding in plain sight: FX fees. Today, I see solo founders making the exact same mistake. I realised most founders are quietly losing 2-5% of their revenue to what I call the Lazy Tax: - Stripe's ~2% auto-conversion fee on inbound revenue, - plus their local bank's ~3% spread when paying for global SaaS tools (AWS, Claude, Ads). So I built FixMyFX to show founders their exact leak and how to…
Apr 2026 · fixmyfx.com · its alternatives →
- 22MF
Promptly is my first SaaS Project. I built it because I wanted to refine my dev skills and also to have a central place to store my prompts for GPT, Midjourney, and other AI platform and systems. Would love some feedback on the website itself, as well as advice on how I should go about the marketing
2023 · promptly.host · its alternatives →
- 23
(Spoiler: $3,600+ pure profit in 1 month)
2018 · timkock.de · its alternatives →
- 24
Drop your URL and it will call out your BS (with profanity).
Feb 2026 · shipordie.club · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →