6 ms·

Ask HN: What are the most epic startup fails you know?

18 points by alexxtomsk 9y ago

I'd like to compose an article with the most epic fails, kind of Darwin Startups Award :)

onion2k 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan
jacknews 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com
- dmitri1981 9y ago
  For those interested in more details, I recommend the book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boo-Hoo-Dot-Com-Story/dp/0099418371 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boo-Hoo-Dot-Com-Story/dp/0099418371 . One of my favourite parts includes an investment banker plotting the IPO aboard a private jet only to learn that the company does not exist as a legal entity yet.
- mhomde 9y ago
  The company that signaled the start of the Dot.Com collapse in Sweden. The Jante law glee when one of the founder, in later years, was found to have been reduced to owning a hot dog stand was off the charts :)
god_bless_texas 9y ago
pets.com
ibz 9y ago
Color http://mashable.com/2012/10/17/color-shuts-down/ http://mashable.com/2012/10/17/color-shuts-down/ I never quite figured out what that app was supposed to be or how to use it.
gaius 9y ago
Theranos
mhotchen 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil
- nrrd 9y ago
  +1. For all the hype that Cuil (pronounced 'Cool') created, it was a spectacular failure :-(
julienmarie 9y ago
Friendster.com ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster ) , without any hesitation ( inventing Social networking, becoming #6 biggest site in the world, to nothing ). – Disclaimer: I worked there.
bobosha 9y ago
theranos aereo
rmchugh 9y ago
Uber
- alexxtomsk 9y ago
  already or is that a prediction? =)
Inke09 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place I still regret Better Place went down the spiral. Shai Agassi, the CEO, was a spectacular salesmen...
danieltillett 9y ago
You are going to get all the usual suspects listed here. What would be more interesting to read is the companies that should have succeeded, but failed for some crazy reasons. I will give you a personal anecdote of my company. We failed (not ending in bankruptcy thankfully) because 9/11 caused all our customers to freeze and not be able to make a decision. We end up in the situation where everyone said yes on an intellectual level, but they just couldn’t sign on an emotional level because they were too uncertain about the future. A year later they were over this, but it was too late.
- alexxtomsk 9y ago
  That makes sense, but your story doesn't deserve to be listed in Darwin Startups Award. It's a sad one actually... I'm looking for some stupid things that were made by the management team that caused startup to die.
  - danieltillett 9y ago
    Considering we are not dead and have gone on to far great things I hope we don’t end listed on any Darwin Startups Award list - that is for the future :) More seriously the real failures I have personally seen have never had a single cause. All the ones I know of are a combination of a lack of resources (money can buy you out of a lot of mistakes) and inexperience.
InYan 9y ago
What about Color and Its $41 Million? Very funny story.
caboteria 9y ago
CueCat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat The idea was to give away cat-shaped barcode scanners to make it easier to scan URL's. $185M down the drain.
Grue3 9y ago
Digg was the most dramatic I've seen. Digg v4 rollout managed to completely annihilate the user base within a few days and it ended up being sold for pennies a few months later.
- british_india 9y ago
  Also, Kevin Rose is douchebag of the first water.
  - dang 9y ago
    Personal attacks and name-calling are two things we ban accounts for, so please don't comment like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
abd12 9y ago
Clinkle: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-up-in-smoke-as-investors-want-their-money-back/#74b7b662138d https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-up-i...
urahara 9y ago
Theranos and Color
mads 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot-E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot-E There is a documentary about them also: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427783/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427783/
skoperst 9y ago
Sirin Mobile. 16,000$ for a fat-ass phone
hawkilt 9y ago
Color
hawkilt 9y ago
Springpad

18 points by alexxtomsk 9y ago

I'd like to compose an article with the most epic fails, kind of Darwin Startups Award :)

onion2k 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan

jacknews 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com

dmitri1981 9y ago
For those interested in more details, I recommend the book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boo-Hoo-Dot-Com-Story/dp/0099418371 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boo-Hoo-Dot-Com-Story/dp/0099418371 . One of my favourite parts includes an investment banker plotting the IPO aboard a private jet only to learn that the company does not exist as a legal entity yet.
mhomde 9y ago
The company that signaled the start of the Dot.Com collapse in Sweden. The Jante law glee when one of the founder, in later years, was found to have been reduced to owning a hot dog stand was off the charts :)

god_bless_texas 9y ago

pets.com

ibz 9y ago

Color http://mashable.com/2012/10/17/color-shuts-down/ http://mashable.com/2012/10/17/color-shuts-down/ I never quite figured out what that app was supposed to be or how to use it.

gaius 9y ago

Theranos

mhotchen 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil

nrrd 9y ago
+1. For all the hype that Cuil (pronounced 'Cool') created, it was a spectacular failure :-(

julienmarie 9y ago

Friendster.com ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster ) , without any hesitation ( inventing Social networking, becoming #6 biggest site in the world, to nothing ). – Disclaimer: I worked there.

bobosha 9y ago

theranos aereo

rmchugh 9y ago

Uber

alexxtomsk 9y ago
already or is that a prediction? =)

Inke09 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Place I still regret Better Place went down the spiral. Shai Agassi, the CEO, was a spectacular salesmen...

danieltillett 9y ago

You are going to get all the usual suspects listed here. What would be more interesting to read is the companies that should have succeeded, but failed for some crazy reasons. I will give you a personal anecdote of my company. We failed (not ending in bankruptcy thankfully) because 9/11 caused all our customers to freeze and not be able to make a decision. We end up in the situation where everyone said yes on an intellectual level, but they just couldn’t sign on an emotional level because they were too uncertain about the future. A year later they were over this, but it was too late.

alexxtomsk 9y ago
That makes sense, but your story doesn't deserve to be listed in Darwin Startups Award. It's a sad one actually... I'm looking for some stupid things that were made by the management team that caused startup to die.
- danieltillett 9y ago
  Considering we are not dead and have gone on to far great things I hope we don’t end listed on any Darwin Startups Award list - that is for the future :) More seriously the real failures I have personally seen have never had a single cause. All the ones I know of are a combination of a lack of resources (money can buy you out of a lot of mistakes) and inexperience.

InYan 9y ago

What about Color and Its $41 Million? Very funny story.

caboteria 9y ago

CueCat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat The idea was to give away cat-shaped barcode scanners to make it easier to scan URL's. $185M down the drain.

Grue3 9y ago

Digg was the most dramatic I've seen. Digg v4 rollout managed to completely annihilate the user base within a few days and it ended up being sold for pennies a few months later.

british_india 9y ago
Also, Kevin Rose is douchebag of the first water.
- dang 9y ago
  Personal attacks and name-calling are two things we ban accounts for, so please don't comment like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

abd12 9y ago

Clinkle: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-up-in-smoke-as-investors-want-their-money-back/#74b7b662138d https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-up-i...

urahara 9y ago

Theranos and Color

mads 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot-E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot-E There is a documentary about them also: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427783/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427783/

skoperst 9y ago

Sirin Mobile. 16,000$ for a fat-ass phone

hawkilt 9y ago

Color

hawkilt 9y ago

Springpad