Good to see someone point out a flaw on basing the success of the site on the dependability of the 1k+ group. They need not all be benevolent dictators (or even interested) in spirit.
Do you realise that although you "lost 2-4 years of your career" you created a few dozen higher quality lives?
I think you have achieved a major life goal already that most in Silicon Valley do not. I don't know if HN is the place to praise such deeds, but you did your small part in hacking the world to make it better. Kudos to you, don't ever let it feel as a wasted effort. That's so wrong a way to think.
There are people who want to help others and their repeated attempts fail. You just went and did something that's working for 7 years.
That's a pretty successful startup in my book. It can't go viral for obvious reasons, but it's mature and stable. And you did it without HN :-)
> The other type is startups that sell something (product / service, one time or subscription), in this case you can have revenue from day 1, so I would recommend this route,
This is good advice. A few years delayed, but slow, steady, stable growth or your mental self as well as your brand and of your team is a pretty good platform to launch something bigger.
This is very helpful. For something as important as how to make money, a long answer and detailed one like this is welcome. I'm currently at a technical skill level between "freelancer" and "consultant" (loosely speaking, that is). This is useful advice. Thanks.
I expect the latter, they aren't known to give up big dreams so easily. Consider for instance that India and Russia have had numerous failed launches for various rockets and / or space probes and both countries continue to try again and eventually succeed. Why would China not try again? I pray they do. Chinese or American or Russian or Indian, I want to see a minimal human habitat on the moon in my lifetime. Our species deserves that much, for all the work done so far.
Suppose China were to send another Rover up in the next 5 years, and it found this one. In theory, could this one be repaired? Or will the "electronics self-destruct" be thorough by then?