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Contract-review AI opened · CLOSED after 1 yr 6 mo

Wu Hsiao-han, 34 · 1 yr 6 mo

“Contract-review AI speedrun. Next time: lower rent, smaller dream smh”

I closed after 1 year and 6 months. No debt remained, just 2 customers.

On the last day, you posted the shutdown notice and turned off the servers. Cash $41,931, debt $0, 0 employees, 2 customers. You settled the last bills and closed the laptop. The business failed, but that time did not disappear.

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How it went

  1. 2026 · preparing to openWu Hsiao-han, 33. You have decided to try starting a company in Chicago. No idea, no product yet. Savings $93,228, employed ($3,952 a month).
  2. 1/2026: what now?Start a business: «Contract-review AI» — You are going with «Contract-review AI». Still no company, no product. Now find out whether the idea is real.
  3. 2026 · year 1 beginsChinese Demand Cooled
  4. 2/2026: what now?Interview 20 people — 8 of 20 said they would pay. 6 only said it would be "nice to have".
  5. 3/2026: what now?Decide to build it — You decided to build. Validation ends here.
  6. 3/4 · A competitor movedA big company bolted a similar feature onto its product, free. More customers now ask, “How are you different?”
  7. 4/2026: what now?Build it yourself — You settled on how to build it.
  8. 5/2026: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
  9. 6/2026: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
  10. 7/2026: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
  11. 7/15 · Your mentorAn old mentor called. “What scares you most right now?” they asked.
  12. 7/23 · Down sickDay three of a cold that will not lift. No time to see a doctor.
  13. 8/2026: what now?Quit your job — You quit. The next morning, not having to go to work felt strange.
  14. 9/2026: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
  15. 10/2026: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
  16. 10/12 · A competitor movedA company solving the same problem announced a funding round. Nobody in the comments mentioned you.
  17. 11/2026: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
  18. 12/2026: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
  19. 1/2027: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
  20. Chinese Demand CooledA prolonged slump in Chinese domestic demand and real estate lowered Asia's export outlook. Clients who bought raw materials cut orders, and domestic consumption turned cautious as well.
  21. Year 1 closeRevenue $0, loss $15,730. Cash $70,589.
  22. 2027 · year 2 beginsA chargeback lands
  23. 1/27 · Global growth forecasts fellWith the IMF and World Bank forecasts diverging, global growth came down to 2.2%. Replies to overseas inquiries got slower.
  24. 2/2027: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
  25. 2/9 · Funding costs rose againThe US 10-year yield rose to 5.26%. Investors recalculated valuations, and the bank asked for more collateral.
  26. 3/2027: what now?Launch — You pressed launch. 1 sign-ups on day one. You refreshed ten times.
  27. 3/10 · Down sickA sore throat and a fever. You got through the day in a mask.
  28. 3/23 · Covered in an articleAn industry outlet wrote about the product. Sign-up inquiries rose a little.
  29. Give a project bottleneck an ownerDefer for free — You spent nothing and will reconsider at another opportunity.
  30. 4/15 · Service outageThe payment processor went down for two hours. Not your fault, but you wrote the apology.
  31. 5/2027: what now?Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
  32. 5/17 · Your mentorYour mentor sent a link to an article. “This sounded like you.”
  33. 6/2027: what now?Apply: Angel SAFE — The investor said, "Let’s reconnect at the next stage." That usually means no.
  34. 6/20 · An investor showed interestAn investor asked for a meeting next week. “I want a closer look at who is building this,” they said.
  35. The numbers are inShut it down — You posted the shutdown notice. Nobody commented.
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