99% of folks running their own businesses have and are going through this exact same thing. You aren't alone, and like others are saying, you are actually in great shape and growing a ton.

I know very well how depressing and devastating this stuff can be. Email me (nate@inklingmarkets.com) immediately if you need to chat with someone about this stuff and we can talk on the phone.

Also, I know how this stuff you are talking about can lead to depression and then lead people to do some awful things to themselves. If you have any thoughts going down that road about life not being worth living, please, please talk to someone trained to talk about this stuff. Many of us have gone through thoughts just like this, and it will get better. They are just thoughts, and I guarantee you will feel better given some time for your perspective to change.

From what it sounds like you've learned an enormous amount. You probably have getting a great job as a fallback if you need a temporary back stop.

You are definitely on the right track with finding something people want. But it's a very steep climb. Brilliant people fail at finding ideas that 1) actually make money 2) make a dent in the universe or 3) they actually care about in the future.

But the great entrepreneurs know how to move on and start the next thing. And failing and learning is integral to the game. You have to learn to love the game, instead of depending on success of a single idea to value your worth.

It might take a dozen ideas. I know that sounds daunting. A great book that motivates around this point is Little Bets. I'd give that a read. There's some great people mentioned in there who had to try and try and try before finding the right thing.

I like the example of the guys that did Aardvark which they got a bunch of traction with and eventually sold to Google. That was their 6th idea in 6 months.

Keep trying!

I won't get into too much specific advice on Groovy. But I will say you picked a field that is a but more challenging than others to find financial success in my opinion. I remember 10 years ago there was a "meet people close by over instant messaging site", Meetro, that was awesome, had a bit of traction, and led by some smart people. But they couldn't get magic or money it would take to keep themselves going.

I personally prefer creating startups that fit into something someone is already making purchase decisions for. They are already spending money on some kind of pain directly or indirectly. And you drop in with a better product they can spend that money on.

Creating another social network is going to be a very hard challenge. I'm not saying stop. But I just feel if you want something easier, you might want to step back and work with some different problems people have that have different business models than having to rely on a network effect kind of thing.

This got too long. :) Hang in there! You are playing a good game so far. Getting stuff done is better than what 99% of the other folks who want to be entrepreneurs are doing. You'll figure out the rest eventually and hopefully find the perspective to just enjoy this learning process and the entire game of starting and running businesses.