--- title: Ph.D in failure, Masters in getting back up | daily.dev description: A developer and engineering manager chronicles 10 failed side projects and ventures spanning 2010–2026, from semi-pro gaming to recipe sites, crypto utilities,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ph-d-in-failure-masters-in-getting-back-up-hlxvdwq6m twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Ph.D in failure, Masters in getting back up | daily.dev og:description: A developer and engineering manager chronicles 10 failed side projects and ventures spanning 2010–2026, from semi-pro gaming to recipe sites, crypto utilities,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ph-d-in-failure-masters-in-getting-back-up-hlxvdwq6m og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/hLXvDwq6m.png og:image:alt: Ph.D in failure, Masters in getting back up og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Ph.D in failure, Masters in getting back up **[Trevor Lasn](https://daily.dev/sources/trevorlasn)** · 7 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A developer and engineering manager chronicles 10 failed side projects and ventures spanning 2010–2026, from semi-pro gaming to recipe sites, crypto utilities, a podcast voting platform, fashion brands, a dating app, a developer hiring platform, an engineering metrics dashboard, and an AI learning recommender. Each entry distills a concrete lesson about distribution, monetization, passion, market timing, and competitive positioning. The author is currently all-in on 0xinsider, an intelligence layer for prediction markets, framing all prior failures as tuition for this current bet. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Being kicked out of the tech industry](https://daily.dev/posts/being-kicked-out-of-the-tech-industry-nhyua14ty) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [20 Lessons From 20\+ Years in Tech](https://daily.dev/posts/20-lessons-from-20-years-in-tech-zoxewprcw) · Tech World With Milan · 19 upvotes · 3 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#entrepreneurship](https://daily.dev/tags/entrepreneurship) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ph-d-in-failure-masters-in-getting-back-up-hlxvdwq6m) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Ph.D in failure, Masters in getting back up","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ph-d-in-failure-masters-in-getting-back-up-hlxvdwq6m","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ph-d-in-failure-masters-in-getting-back-up-hlxvdwq6m"},"datePublished":"2026-06-06T22:23:09.623Z","dateModified":"2026-06-06T22:23:31.746Z","description":"A developer and engineering manager chronicles 10 failed side projects and ventures spanning 2010–2026, from semi-pro gaming to recipe sites, crypto utilities,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--OHB84bZF--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2010","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--OHB84bZF--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2010","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Trevor Lasn","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Trevor Lasn","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--vhIp_5Zj--/f_auto/v1732206964/logos/trevorlasn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/trevorlasn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ph-d-in-failure-masters-in-getting-back-up-hlxvdwq6m","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"startup,career,entrepreneurship","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trevor Lasn","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/trevorlasn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ph.D in failure, Masters in getting back up"}]} ```