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Whats the best way to end a web-app based startup?

I am a single non-tech founder who taught himself to code to put together a minimal viable product to test the market. The web app is functional but was enough to show that after 9 months there was not enough traction.

Its time to kill off the startup which is quite simple to do as no-one else is involved, no investment and there are not many users but I want to know the best way to end this with some credability. I could just kill this and pretend it never happened. I could open source the code to the community so someone could take this further, however, my code is ‘just’ good enough so not sure if this would be seen negatively? I could kill this and write a blog post about the experience and what I have learned but I dont want to seem too self centered.

I guess I am just looking to make the best from the end of this experience.

  • You could (if you’re open to it), use that code base as a portfolio sample to try to get a junior developer job. And maybe in a few years, do another startup, this time as a tech founder. Of course, this is an option if you’re interested in programming.

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  • Get some blog somewhere however obscure to write about you (one that won’t shut down of course). So later you can refer to it as evidence you were the CEO/Founder of XX company.

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  • Thanks for the answers so far. I guess my main concern about releasing the code is its quality. Does the fact that I put something functional together out weight the undoubtedly horrible code that I have written? I am never expecting to get a job as a programmer but also don’t want to be seen as someone who is happy with poor quality work. In this instance my code was the only way to push the project forward and I was always expecting to replace it should this have been a success

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    • I think open sourcing will have more benefits than drawbacks. The people who can tell good code from bad are more likely to appreciate that you taught yourself enough programming to get something working out – no small feat.

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    • I don’t think anyone will even take a look at the code if you merely dumped it into github. If you really want it to have some use, you should think hard about the components you created and how it can be used generally and perhaps uploading modules of it into github.

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