Startup Postmortem: Two founders share why they shut down their business

In 2022, friends Danielle Dietzek and Julie Griggs quit their full-time jobs in healthcare, became roommates to save money, and started to work on their vision together: a double-dating app they named Fourplay.

Initial success came quickly. The two first-time founders signed up users with viral videos on TikTok and raised almost $800,000 in pre-seed and seed rounds. But, stronger headwinds were to come.

Social media content started to lag. Competition for investment increased with the rise of AI startups. Investors changed their tune.

After an unsuccessful attempt at raising another round, the company was on life support. In the fall of 2025, Dietzek asked Griggs for a sit-down talk in their Upper East Side apartment: She’d be leaving the company and suggested sunsetting the business altogether. Griggs agreed.

Now, they’re moving on from their business, with Griggs planning on moving on from their apartment. The two have both returned to healthcare roles and are experiencing an “exhale” post-founder life.

The duo shared with Founder Brew how it all ended—why they shut down, how much money they should’ve raised, the hidden job function of every founder, and what kind of personality it takes to make it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you shut down your company?

Danielle Dietzek: As an app in the dating industry, it is very difficult to monetize unless you have a very large number of users.…When we got to our final round of raising, it felt as though we finally felt a lot of pushback that our user base wasn’t large enough.

Julie Griggs: We weren’t an AI company, and we were literally raising against all AI companies…I don’t think AI is the way to go in [the dating] industry, but that’s just my own personal beliefs…Looking back now, I can say honestly that we just missed the window. There was a window where, had we raised more the first time, we had enormous potential.

How much did you raise? How much more did you need?

Griggs: I think it was a little under $800,000...But we really needed to raise $1.5 million to $2 million.

Danielle, why did you tell Julie it was time to shut down the company?

Dietzek: To make it healthcare related, I felt like Fourplay was getting palliative care. At some point you have to say, and I did say, “You’re keeping the patient alive. We have to do the right thing, and we can’t keep the patient alive forever.”

Griggs: This is why you don’t let family operate on family, right?

Dietzek: I felt the only way the business would be able to pass peacefully would be if I told her I was leaving, and that is exactly what happened.

Griggs: Had Danielle not resigned when she did, and had I not started that process when I did, we would have been screwed.

How much did it cost to close the company?

Dietzek: Between $10,000 and $15,000. I definitely think it’s worth it for founders to know that. It’s not free to shut down your business.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you tell yourself?

Griggs: I feel like the biggest thing that I would tell myself is you kind of have to be an asshole to be a successful founder…I would tell myself that, “If you’re going to do it, you need to be okay with conflict. You need to be okay with letting people go. You need to be okay with not sparing feelings.” That was something that I wish I had done sooner.

Can you remember times where you felt like it wasn’t the right fit?

Dietzek: We both constantly felt like we were making things always look better than they really are, but neither one of us is really comfortable with doing that. But you do have to do that as a founder…The reality is that’s what everybody’s doing.

Griggs: Everybody. Everybody.

Dietzek: Everybody’s faking it, so stop comparing yourself to every other founder and every other business, just know that everyone is making it look better than it really is, because that’s what you have to do.

Griggs: Founders need to know from day one that if you don’t like sales, you are not going to like being a founder.

What didn’t you like about being a founder?

Dietzek: It feels like you can’t really let your guard down and be completely honest, even just personal venting to anyone, because they might know someone they would tell to invest in the company…You just always have to have the founder hat on. It feels like no interaction can ever truly be authentic.

What do you love instead about your new roles?

Dietzek: I learned through being a founder that I actually don’t love being in the decision-making role, and I would rather just execute and then be able to walk away at the end of the day.

Griggs: There’s stability, there’s job security, and there is this feeling of, on a day-to-day basis, I am seeing the outcome from my work.

So that day-to-day feeling of accomplishment sounds very important to both of you.

Dietzek: That’s absolutely right. Even just little mini wins throughout the day feel better than this delayed gratification that you get with being a founder.

Griggs: It’s also very clear that Danielle and I have an inherent, natural passion for being in a caretaker role and wanting to take care of people. We both ended up in healthcare for a reason, and our startup was so not related to that at all…It took us both some time to figure out how to become passionate about this idea of catering to singles and dating. It really wasn’t until we looked at the the data and the loneliness epidemic that we got ourselves emotionally invested…If I were to ever do another startup, it would only be because I am living, breathing so deeply passionate about what I am building, not just like, “‘Oh, that’s a good idea.”