This article really captures the risks of a rebuild. I’ve been through a number of them, all but 1 abject failures. The one success was driven by the executive understanding that the company would fail without a rebounds, and it was still 6 months late, resulted in one of the cofounders being fired, an extremely painful rollout, and the company still failed, due to other problems.
My firm belief is that when you need a rebuild, you are already well into a fail state as a company. Not to stay there can be no recovery, but it is an indication of some deep problems for the company, beyond anything the engineering department alone can resolve... and if the rebuild is not coming from the executive leadership, it is an even bigger issue as it will more likely lead to bigger problems than it will solve.
My firm belief is that when you need a rebuild, you are already well into a fail state as a company. Not to stay there can be no recovery, but it is an indication of some deep problems for the company, beyond anything the engineering department alone can resolve... and if the rebuild is not coming from the executive leadership, it is an even bigger issue as it will more likely lead to bigger problems than it will solve.