I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea

The current ideology of needing to go big fast kills a lot of decent ideas.

Everyone thinks there are two modes for a service: dead or worth $1B+.

Not to like bash you while you are down but you may have been able to do this while working and not spending $40k on contractors.

Not everyone needs to raise $10M, get a flashy office, employ 200 people and have all of the trappings of a "successful" startup founder; if anything, that's antithetical to what you should be doing.

No MVP, no testing their model, just straight to "Next Best Thing". It definitely hurts, I've been there too for my first "next big thing" and I doubt you'll be the last to get burnt by the image VC firms sell.

$40K is not much to put into a business. You'd likely be putting down more than that just to open a convenience store.

Sure you need to spend a lot of money to grow a $1B+ business, but the same is true for a $100M business or a $10M business and even most $1M businesses.

$40K is not much to put into a business but it's a lot to spend before you validate your idea.