Ask HN: When to quit and when to stick
A bit of background: I'm the co-founder of a small startup/development shop (2 guys). We've been going since 2007 and have had a "meh" response to some of our SaaS offerings, while a couple have been partially successful but would in no way support the company on their own.
The problem: my co-founder is leaving, and continuing the company doing the generally uninspiring paid work which has become the norm does not appeal. Paid work was intended to provide capital for building products of our own - not as an end in itself. And, over the last couple of years, enthusiasm wained for building new services, mundanity crept in, and the company increasingly relied on client work until no aspiration for our own work remained. We're loved by the clients we work for and it's been worth it financially, but I don't find the majority of work inspiring, challenging or worthwhile (sounds bad but I'd love to work on stuff provided real value).
So, by the end of the year, I'm going to be left in control of the company with no clear idea what the next step should/could be.
Has anyone turned their directionless company around when a founder has left? Did you close the company and make a new start? It would be massively helpful to get outsiders' views.
The alternative is get a job which would require moving somewhere with more opportunity and selling the house (done the work-on-my-own thing for too long now and I need to work with real people again!), since where I'm based has zero tech sector/community.
If it comes down to "Suck it up and get a job!" that's fine, and it's quite probably an inane question, but I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks but I'm too "in" the situation to think clearly.
All thoughts and opinions welcome!