Need more data. What type of service? What type of users? Having 9,000 enterprise customers is HUGE. Having 9,000 small biz owners is GOOD. Having 9,000 12 year old gamer-kids is not all that good. How indispensable is your service to your users? How fierce is your competition? How much do you still love your idea? How improvable is it?
Might want the check out "The Dip: Knowing when to Quit and When to Stick" by Seth Godin...
One short measure you can decide on is uptake. If there is little or no uptake you know you are in trouble. But I agree there is a lack of information. Startups are designed to stumble all the time. Is keiretsus` startup stumbling? Is the lack of a compelling idea holding it back? Is the product something that "customers want"?
Not enough axes to make such a decision. What was your break even number, what was your monetization strategy, what was not working with your marketing strategy, what things did you implement around mid-year that didn't work...
Death of a startup is due to cumulative losses, not one factor. If you'd like to build a better scenario I'll throw some change in. ;)
