CLOSED

Class & attendance SaaS for academies opened · CLOSED after 1 yr 4 mo

Tyler Brown, 36 · 1 yr 4 mo

“Investors said “love it, keep us posted.” Every single one.”

I closed after 1 year and 4 months. No debt remained, just 3 customers.

On the last day, you posted the shutdown notice and turned off the servers. Cash $35,416, debt $0, 0 employees, 3 customers. You settled the last bills and closed the laptop. The business failed, but that time did not disappear.

How it went

1. 2026 · preparing to openTyler Brown, 35. You have decided to try starting a company in Midwest. No idea, no product yet. Savings $45,293, employed ($7,239 a month).
2. 8/2026: what now?Start a business: «Class & attendance SaaS for academies» — You are going with «Class & attendance SaaS for academies». Still no company, no product. Now find out whether the idea is real.
3. 2026 · year 1 beginsChinese Demand Cooled
4. 9/2026: what now?Interview 20 people — 2 of 20 said they would pay. 6 only said it would be "nice to have".
5. 9/23 · HeatwaveA heat warning. The air conditioning ran all day. The electricity bill is on your mind.
6. 10/2026: what now?Decide to build it — You decided to build. Validation ends here.
7. 11/2026: what now?Build it with no-code tools — You picked a template. By lunch there was a login screen.
8. 12/2026: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
9. 12/13 · Your mentorAn old mentor called. “What scares you most right now?” they asked.
10. 12/31 · Your partner lost their jobHannah was let go. Unemployment benefit will last a few months, but less is coming into the house.
11. 1/2027: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
12. 2/2027: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
13. 2/3 · A competitor movedA company solving the same problem announced a funding round. Nobody in the comments mentioned you.
14. 3/2027: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
15. 4/2027: what now?Keep building — Another month the same way. Progress crept up.
16. 4/5 · FamilyAt dinner nobody brought up work. You understood that was a kindness.
17. 5/2027: what now?Keep building — What you built today, you fixed tomorrow. Progress still went up.
18. 6/2027: what now?Keep building — You crossed three lines off the list. Two new ones appeared.
19. 7/2027: what now?Quit your job — You quit. The next morning, not having to go to work felt strange.
20. 7/27 · Your mentorYour mentor sent a link to an article. “This sounded like you.”
21. 8/2027: what now?Launch — You pressed launch. 0 sign-ups on day one. You refreshed ten times.
22. 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.
23. Year 1 closeRevenue $0, loss $6,809. Your salary put in $18,222; cash $56,319.
24. 2027 · year 2 beginsUS Rates Rose Again
25. 8/16 · Server bill spikeThe free cloud credits ran out. From this month the bill is the real number.
26. 8/17 · Global growth forecasts fellWith the IMF and World Bank forecasts diverging, global growth came down to 2.4%. Replies to overseas inquiries got slower.
27. 9/2027: what now?Run ads ($2,900) — 3 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
28. 10/2027: what now?Spread the word through communities and content — 1 new customers this month. Few enough to know each one by name.
29. 10/16 · Covered in an articleAn industry outlet wrote about the product. Sign-up inquiries rose a little.
30. Give a project bottleneck an ownerDefer for free — You spent nothing and will reconsider at another opportunity.
31. 11/17 · A competitor movedA big company bolted a similar feature onto its product, free. More customers now ask, “How are you different?”
32. The numbers are inShut it down — You posted the shutdown notice. Nobody commented.

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