failed startups

to learn from failures

The New 101

On the importance of a focused ICP: "We allowed our ICP to fray, replaced by a focus on a competitor. In our fight to prove that we could win against Alteryx, we over-rotated on any customer that might be interested in switching or considering alternatives. While being responsive to customers sounds good, being responsive to any customer creates a ... See more

Lenny Rachitsky • Tweet

sari

Looking Back On Helm

giri.co

andrea

From @MorningBrew: "e-scooter company Bird, which became the fastest startup ever to land a $1 billion valuation, was delisted from the NYSE and is now worth $7 million. That’s less than a third of the $22 million its founder paid for a Miami mansion in 2021."

Tom Shea x.com

aandrea

something is deeply flawed

To Let A Good Thing Die - Closing down a company

Leah Tharin open.substack.com

AAlara

No amount of Gross Margin will keep a business running once the fire is out.

on-demand childcare startup poppy shuts down

Avni Patel Thompson geekwire.com

sari

But we underestimated two things: the amount of product we would need to build to start repeatably winning, and how high switching costs would be for many of their customers. We didn’t have a clearly identifiable market force at our back, other than broad trends around collaboration and cloud-based solutions. Those trends helped enormously, but we ... See more

Lenny Rachitsky • Tweet

sari

F'D Companies: Spectacular Dot-com Flameouts

Philip Kaplan • 2 highlights

amzn.to

Cover of F'D Companies: Spectacular Dot-com Flameouts

Jason Levin

Ness - Epilogue

nesswell.com

AAlara

note - shutting down