No, I think he was right. After that year he still has zero revenue - not a single person has actually signed on for his service. I think he has made a wise decision by realising that the market that he expected is simply not there.

I wouldn't have expected that it takes several years for most startups to see revenue. Profitability, sure, that's a harder thing, but for something like this you would surely expect to have a few customers after a year if it was going to work?

Persistence is a great thing, but surely there has to be a point where you realise that you're selling fridges to penguins and therefore it's time to try something else?