Occasionally, we get emails from people about a startup or service shutting down (usually because they were users and received an email notification about the impending death of said company or product). We don’t always write a post about those, because, well, the majority of startups in this world happen to die trying to make a difference.
That said, we got multiple ones today, so here’s a rundown of three recent deadpool entries:
#1 – HireHive
HireHive, a Y Combinator-backed startup that let companies create lightweight video questionnaires to screen job candidates, is changing course.
The word:
The short: We’re shutting down HireHive, and we’ll be launching a new, different service soon. We’ve turned off new signups as of today, but you can continue to use the service for free until Jan. 4, 2011, at which point we’ll be taking the servers offline.
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Offer ends March 13.San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026The long: We’re working hard on a new product which we’re super excited about. There are only so many hours in the day, and we don’t think we can give both HireHive and our new project the attention they deserve. The last thing we want to do is let HireHive languish, or worse, not be able to give you the support you need. So we’re going cold turkey on HireHive and focusing exclusively on our new product.
#2 – SellIt
SellIt, a service from Phoenix-based startup Cartfly, was unceremoniously discontinued. The primary reason according to the company: “some of our partners made drastic changes to their API that would have made the majority of users unable to utilize their accounts without considerable development work” (read: Ning screwed them).
The word:
Thank you for using Sellit. We’ve greatly enjoyed building it, and working with you to improve it over the last few months. However, due to recent market changes we have decided to put our time and efforts elsewhere and have discontinued our services.
#3 – Rudder
Yet another ill-fated personal financial management tool hits the dust as Rudder will be shut down shortly. The fact that the startup inadvertently exposed other people’s bank account info to some of its users last year probably didn’t help much.
The word:
Thank you for using Rudder. Over the last 2 years, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed building Rudder.com and especially enjoyed incorporating the feedback received from our users.
However, after working hard to make this product as useful as possible in helping consumers manage and plan their finances, we are sad to announce that we will be closing down Rudder. Rudder as a business has simply become unsustainable and we have had to make the hard decision to shut down.
Any other deadpool entries (or candidates) we should know about?
