Startups often fail because of timing, not ideas. Startups.RIP is a wiki of 1,700+ YC startups that shut down or got acquired. Our AI research agent writes a detailed post-mortem (what they built, why they failed, what's changed since) and a rebuild playbook with implementation-ready technical specs you can drop straight into your AI coding agent. Every failed startup is a validated market with unfinished business. Shortcut the idea maze. Start with what almost worked.
Hey Product Hunt, I'm Oscar, the maker of Startup.RIP 👋
The best startup ideas aren't always new. They're remixes that entered a market at the right time.
Lyrebird (S17) built AI voice cloning in 2017 and folded. Years later, ElevenLabs hit $11B valuation on the same idea. Multiple YC companies tried prediction markets before regulatory changes enabled Kalshi to go mainstream. It pays to learn from startup history.
Startups.RIP is a database of 1,700+ YC startups that died or got acquired. Our AI deeply researches post-mortem for each one — what they built, why they failed, what's changed — and generates a rebuild playbook with implementation-ready specs you can drop into Claude Code, Codex, or your coding AI of choice.
As covered by Forbes: dozens of YC fintech startups that took teams of engineers years to build can now be shipped in an afternoon using AI.
The first 32 reports are free. Pro ($20/mo) unlocks everything. We're giving 25% off the Pro subscription to our first 100 supporters (use the code PHLAUNCH). We also offer a 50% BUILDER discount for anyone who builds and ships a project inspired by an idea they found on Startups.RIP.
The product is still rough around the edges, so any feedback is much appreciated. Drop a comment; I read everything.
What failed YC startup would you rebuild with AI today?
I love the name, You can maybe include a link to the archive website to see the previous website ?
This provides a great dataset for anyone looking to learn from companies that didn't end up succeeding. One question, if a company was acquired instead of shutting-down, does Starups.rip provide information on what worked and how it went through the steps to get acquired?
Love the 50% BUILDER discount – so if I read about a dead fintech startup and immediately ship the same thing, you'll give me a discount on the tool I used to get the idea. That's a beautiful loop. Does anyone actually do this or is it mostly people doom-scrolling YC obituaries 😆
It seems like I should be able to filter out acquisitions. I.e optimizely isn’t really dead, it just isn’t public or still a startup.
Hah I love that delve is at the top of the list. RIP indeed..
Interesting dataset. Looking at failed startups is always useful.
But I’m not fully convinced by the framing that “every failed startup is a validated market.” Many of them failed because the market simply wasn’t there, or the economics never worked. Timing matters, but sometimes the idea itself was flawed.
Also curious how the AI determines why a startup failed. Post-mortems are messy and often speculative even for humans who were inside the company.
Still, the archive itself sounds valuable. A structured database of 1,700 YC shutdowns could be a great learning resource for founders if the analysis stays grounded in real signals and not just narrative.
Loved the idea and the name, all the best for the launch. Small feedback it would be great if u could add TL;DR for each startup.
lol at Delve being the first featured company hahaha. This is cool to see though. Love that it does so much of the heavy lifting... it's not an aggregated graveyard, more like a treasure trove + AI planning so you can avoid any pitfalls
I always loved browsing this site before I even launched my first product. Absolute gold mine for when you have founders-block
Hey Product Hunt, I'm Oscar, the maker of Startup.RIP 👋
The best startup ideas aren't always new. They're remixes that entered a market at the right time.
Lyrebird (S17) built AI voice cloning in 2017 and folded. Years later, ElevenLabs hit $11B valuation on the same idea. Multiple YC companies tried prediction markets before regulatory changes enabled Kalshi to go mainstream. It pays to learn from startup history.
Startups.RIP is a database of 1,700+ YC startups that died or got acquired. Our AI deeply researches post-mortem for each one — what they built, why they failed, what's changed — and generates a rebuild playbook with implementation-ready specs you can drop into Claude Code, Codex, or your coding AI of choice.
As covered by Forbes: dozens of YC fintech startups that took teams of engineers years to build can now be shipped in an afternoon using AI.
The first 32 reports are free. Pro ($20/mo) unlocks everything. We're giving 25% off the Pro subscription to our first 100 supporters (use the code PHLAUNCH). We also offer a 50% BUILDER discount for anyone who builds and ships a project inspired by an idea they found on Startups.RIP.
The product is still rough around the edges, so any feedback is much appreciated. Drop a comment; I read everything.
What failed YC startup would you rebuild with AI today?