How many failed startups have you launched?
A Hacker News user asks how many failed startups others have launched, defining a startup as having launched a website, turned on Stripe payments, formed an LLC, started paid advertising, gained at least one paying customer, or raised outside funding. The user claims to have launched 14 failed startups under this definition.
Background
This is a discussion on Hacker News (a tech-news forum run by Y Combinator) where founders share how many failed startup attempts they've made. The poster defines "launch" concretely — buying a domain alone doesn't count, but turning on payments, forming a legal entity, running ads, getting a paying customer, or raising outside money does. The question taps into the startup world's cultural norm: that repeated failure is expected and even valued as a learning experience. Y Combinator, which hosts HN, is the same startup accelerator behind companies like Airbnb, Stripe, and Dropbox, and has popularized the "fail fast, try again" ethos that makes this kind of self-deprecating count normal among its audience.