
Ask HN: What are the most epic startup fails you know? - alexxtomsk
I&#x27;d like to compose an article with the most epic fails, kind of Darwin Startups Award :)
======
ibz
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.

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Grue3
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.

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julienmarie
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.

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abd12
Clinkle: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-
up-i...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/01/22/clinkle-up-in-smoke-
as-investors-want-their-money-back/#74b7b662138d)

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danieltillett
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
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
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.

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jacknews
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com)

~~~
dmitri1981
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.

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mhotchen
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil)

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

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mads
[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/)

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Inke09
[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...

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caboteria
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.

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onion2k
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan)

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rmchugh
Uber

~~~
alexxtomsk
already or is that a prediction? =)

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

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gaius
Theranos

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skoperst
Sirin Mobile.

16,000$ for a fat-ass phone

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urahara
Theranos and Color

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hawkilt
Springpad

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hawkilt
Color

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bobosha
theranos

aereo

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god_bless_texas
pets.com

