Startups Anonymous Est. 2013 · Read-only archive
Questions

If you were me, what would you do with your startup assets?

I had a startup that was 'something' not too long ago. Had investors, a ton of press, built a sizeable social media following and a registered database of nearly 20,000 sign-ups. The product was shut down and the codebase isn't worth much of anything anymore. The value is in the brand, domain, email database and social accounts. 

Here are the options I'm considering:

1. Auctioning off the assets listed above on Flippa or something similar.

2. Try to convert the database/social accounts to my next project.

3. Work with a company that would pay for conversions from the database. 

4. Walk away and do nothing (not really a consideration, but it is an option). 

There is about $15k in debt, which I'd like to pay off. Trying to figure out the best way to get the most value from what we have left. 

Struggling to figure it out. What would you do? 

8 answers from the community

AAnonymous· Aug 1, 2014

Could you get a competitor to "acquire" the company for the database of signups?

Why is the code not worth anything? And why did the company fail?

Ddana· Aug 1, 2014

<p>OP here: We went down the path of a acquisition, but after 3 months, the deal fell through.</p>

<p>The product was never fully baked. Original concept would need to be rebuilt. Still believe in the ultimate vision, just had operational issues.</p>

AAnonymous· Aug 1, 2014

Creator of the iOS app "send-me-pix" here. I could use some social accounts for my app, I find it really hard to get people to sign up and play. Do you think your user base could be "recycled"? Any ideas?

AAnonymous· Aug 2, 2014

This post was brought to you by Flippa.com

spam.

AAnonymous· Aug 2, 2014

yup

Ddana· Aug 2, 2014

<p>I'm the OP, and I'm not from Flippa. Honestly.</p>

AAnonymous· Aug 3, 2014

I'm on flippa waiting for your junk

AAnonymous· Aug 28, 2014

What would I do?

1 Investigate a potential sale - but don't lose sight of the moral considerations toward those who've provided their contact details.

2 Update the website to make clear 'we had a half-assed idea which needs more work, so that's being done'.

3 Keep your existing/future contacts (list and social) actively in the loop.

<a href="http://glvr.com" rel="nofollow">I'm happy to not be anonymous, and welcome sensible contact.</a>