Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017

Re:Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 by Ethereum on Sunday July 09, 2017 @06:04PM (#14731972)

“This is a sad time for Beepi and everyone involved. We set out on an ambitious mission to build a massive company and radically transform a decades-old industry, and stopped well short of the goal line. We take full responsibility for that." -Former Beepi CEO

You can't help but feel bad for these guys. You know they must have poured their heart and soul into these companies. I guess that's corporate Darwinism for you though.

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Re:Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 by mysterydip on Sunday July 09, 2017 @06:14PM (#14732020)

At the same time, there's people that pour their heart and soul into mom n pop companies with nowhere near the visibility or valuation of these kinds. So while it sucks, I don't feel especially bad for someone who got their shot at the stars and missed.

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Re:Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 by ScottBurson on Sunday July 09, 2017 @08:17PM (#14732514)

Yeah, my wife and I bought a car from Beepi and it was a great experience. If anything, I thought it was a little underpriced -- given everything they did for us, we probably would have paid another $400. I don't really know why it didn't succeed.

ETA: well, here's a post-mortem (about halfway down): https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/25/anatomy-of-a-managed-marke...

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Re:Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 by brogrammernot on Sunday July 09, 2017 @08:55PM (#14732658)

They had an inherently flawed model in an industry that has a high barrier to entry and requires significant cash resources.

Just take a look at Carvana's most recent earnings, they lost something like 40M in the first quarter on revenue of $160M. They're still spending a ton of money to compete.

Beepi had a flawed model, and ran out of money.

I find it hard to be sad for them as this is what is supposed to happen when you don't have a sustainable business model.

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Re:Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 by defined on Sunday July 09, 2017 @09:04PM (#14732692)

I am sad for all the people who lost their jobs as a result of these failures, though.

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Re:Startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 by brogrammernot on Monday July 10, 2017 @10:51AM (#14736433)

That's fair. I've been through 2 "failed" startups, one somewhat success and one that looks promising but you come out the other side of these things alright.

They learned a super valuable lesson about market for, and it will help them all in the future having this experience.

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