Second that. I have been in the same boat. Built a niche search engine from scratch learning through open source projects and academic papers. Shut it down after 2 years when it became really difficult to manage operations, UI, testing, SEO.
Although promising in concept, I just could not polish it to a point where lots of people would be interested. Tried to bring in a co-founder later in the game, but its really difficult to find someone with the same amount of passion for your idea.
In hindsight, I should have just contracted out non-critical portions and maintained a more reasonable budget. I did learn a lot in the process though. So don't regret it as much.
Although promising in concept, I just could not polish it to a point where lots of people would be interested. Tried to bring in a co-founder later in the game, but its really difficult to find someone with the same amount of passion for your idea.
In hindsight, I should have just contracted out non-critical portions and maintained a more reasonable budget. I did learn a lot in the process though. So don't regret it as much.