I wonder why on earth someone would burn through $500k in less than a year to develop a class notes sharing site, given the developer abstractions available tod

I wonder why on earth someone would burn through $500k in less than a year to develop a class notes sharing site, given the developer abstractions available today. Maybe he tried to launch a blitzkrieg marketing plan in many different universities at once, with little testing or compartmentalizing? Maybe just too much staff?