It is tough to see one's project(s) fail but in hindsight, I wonder if the author could have gotten feedback from customer even before writing a single line of code to do the meta-analyses (let alone paying contractors). This is on the lines of "simple but not easy" but here goes anyway:

1. Identifying "who am I solving this for"

2. Identifying "who might pay for this"

3. Prototypes , mockups of the solution

4. Getting out of the building (GOOB) and talking to the end customers (the ones who will pay) and validating 1 & 2 before going full steam ahead