It Took 4 Years to Sell My Startup
Shares rank 17 of 25 memoirs by recommenders
Candid, earnest account of a four-year startup sale; readers liked the chapter content. Most common caveat: the prose styling reads as LLM-generated and is tiring to get through.
Candid, earnest account of a four-year startup sale; readers liked the chapter content. Most common caveat: the prose styling reads as LLM-generated and is tiring to get through.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Candid, earnest account of selling
“This seemed very candid and earnest”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “It took 4 years to sell my startup. I wrote a book about it” Content of chapters enjoyable
“I really enjoy the actual content of the few chapters I read so far, but the styling is 100% LLM”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “It took 4 years to sell my startup. I wrote a book about it”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Styling reads as LLM-generated
“I really enjoy the actual content of the few chapters I read so far, but the styling is 100% LLM”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “It took 4 years to sell my startup. I wrote a book about it” “the styling is 100% LLM, and it's so hard to get through multiple pages of the same exact mannerisms”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “It took 4 years to sell my startup. I wrote a book about it” “LLM writing reads like shitty blogs turned into books”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “It took 4 years to sell my startup. I wrote a book about it”
Other memoirs people recommend
The four most recommended other memoirs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Careless Peopleby Sarah Wynn-Williams | 106 | 24 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Man's Search for Meaningby Viktor Frankl | 13 | 2 | 87% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!by Richard Feynman | 11 | 7 | 61% | 6 | — | — |
| Down and Out in Paris and Londonby George Orwell | 9 | 1 | 90% | 8 | — | — |
| It Took 4 Years to Sell My StartupThis page | 3 | 3 | 50% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“LLM writing reads like shitty blogs turned into books”
“the styling is 100% LLM, and it's so hard to get through multiple pages of the same exact mannerisms”
“I didn't realize how poignant of a criticism this could be. Holy hell that hit hard.”
“I really enjoy the actual content of the few chapters I read so far, but the styling is 100% LLM”
“This seemed very candid and earnest”
“I would say that the current format is a 'book' in content, but not a 'book' nor an 'e-book' in form, as you can't manipulate it as a single object.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.