Thank you very much. What's more is that I'm quite well known on Hacker News—not as much as patio11 to have an article written about him, but enough that a good amount of people I meet that read Hacker News say that they know me.

Which makes it more stinging and 500% more embarrassing. But that makes it all the more interesting, huh?

It's interesting. I licensed my technology as an SP to be used with this company, so all of the IP is mostly, well, mine. I have thought about it, but haven't reached a decision.

Don't be embarrassed. It happens; especially in this kind of economy. Unless the failure was due to gross negligence on your part, no one who matters will hold it against you.

Do you remember how the founders of TipJoy and, more recently, NewsTilt were viciously shredded by an angry mob, right here on HN? No? Because failure is nothing to feel bad about unless it becomes a predictable occurrence.

When you've got your breath back and blood pressure is approaching normal, consider opening up about it. While you may not be able to talk about all of it for legal reasons (eg it seems like your partner was rather dubious), sharing what you have learned from the experience, what red flags you saw but why they didn't seem worth stopping for etc. is valuable to many people. I'm easily embarrassed myself, so I know it's difficult; but don't fall into the trap of anticipating only the negative possibilities, and cutting yourself off from the sympathy and support of people who like you.

Now, I don't mean 'Tell HN: OK it was me ohgodImsorry'; you don't need to humiliate yourself! Take a long bath/walk on the beach/whatever, and let go of the situation for a few hours. You poured your own money into it in an attempt to keep things under control, and it was just just bigger than you were. What happens next is in the hands of others, and you can influence but not control it. Then write your creditors, mostly the same letter, and tell them what you told us - you owe this much to these different people, you have lost a bunch of your own money, [EDIT: I misinterpreted the stuff about your co-founder, as if the person had bailed on you.], and you're sorry. Express your willingness to pay it back ASAP, but stress that you wish to do it on a pro rata basis. Of course every creditor would like to be paid first ahead of the others, but making the same information available to all indicates you have nothing to hide and is more reassuring than a non-credible promise to put someone first. If you can afford it, a small check to each, even $25 or something, speaks volumes.You might want to write to the IRS and the city or county that issues your business license too - if you're not sure what to tell them, call and ask what your obligations are. You may be surprised how helpful they can be. you can call them today and get the letters out before you go to bed (go buy some stamps if you need an excuse to get up and walk around). Then, sleep the sleep of the just. Get up tomorrow, eat a healthy breakfast, and start composing your 'How I lost a kajillion dollars and what I learned as my business followed it off a cliff' post , on your existing blog, Posterous, wherever. Throw in a couple of ironically entertaining pictures. It's not a funeral notice because you're not dead - you are now a man or woman of experience, and that experience has a value. Get that up over the weekend, realize people still like you, and on Monday you get back to work.

Your job for the next week is to contact the creditors again, ensure they all have the same information, and politely but firmly stick with the pro-rata approach. Whether they agree or no, ask for their decision in writing so you can send copies to the other creditors. By the way, since it sounds like you're not in debt on your personal accounts, consider dropping by your own bank and asking a manager for advice - since they won't actually be trying to collect from you, they may be more forthcoming about how they evaluate situations like that, and heaven knows they've had plenty of experience lately. Allocate 50% of your time to debt service, and the other 50% to making some new money. That can include chasing consulting/programming work, but your existing business still has value. Call business magazines like Inc. people like Andrew Warner etc., and say you have an interesting story - use your war story post and the feedback you received on it as your raw material. Hell, call Techcrunch, because they can't milk that SuperAngel scandal forever so you might as well work the publicity angle and give them an interview. 'Life after death' is a perennial story and even success junkies need one every so often. How about your startup's business model? Your actual business may have failed, but that doesn't mean the idea itself is without merit. Can you sell the IP, or the brand, or the analytics, or the customer list, or the suspicious transactions list? Some of these may be worth money, some not, but all that information has value in some form. Just pretend you inherited it from Uncle Debtscrewed and find that value. Can you make some value out of the domain? Can you write a book?

Yes. You can do all of that, and more. Because although we all laugh when a clown steps on a banana peel and falls flat on his face, what we applaud is that he gets up again afterwards. So you don't have time to brood; you launch next Monday.

> Do you remember how the founders of [...] NewsTilt were viciously shredded by an angry mob, right here on HN? No?

Well, actually this happened. It was tempered by lots of people being nice, offering condolences, giving good insights, a few job offers, and even some people looking to start up companies together, but lets not pretend the mob didn't come out with their tar and feathers.

That said, I fully agree with the sentiment. Failure is perfectly acceptable, a natural occurrence in a risk-taking industry.

> Allocate 50% of your time to debt service

That may not even be needed.

Dont worry about embarrassment, be upfront about any mistakes and move on.

Well, hit me up if you decide to sell anything. My email is in my profile.

I have to agree. There's almost always _something_ of value the business has, even if you're not sure what that is. (Even your list of customers, however small that might be, has some value.)

I understand why you're reluctant to name the business, but you may want to reconsider since you're probably too close to the situation to clearly identify all of the possible assets.