Comments on: 10 lessons from a failed startup http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/ News About Tech, Money and Innovation Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:58:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: xxooxx http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-903039 xxooxx Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:14:42 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-903039 ed hardy <a title="ed hardy" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy</strong></a><br>ed hardy clothing <a title="ed hardy clothing" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy clothing</strong></a><br>ed hardy shop <a title="ed hardy shop" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy shop</strong></a><br><br>christian audigier <a title="christian audigier" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>christian audigier</strong></a><br>ed hardy cheap <a title="ed hardy cheap" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy cheap</strong></a><br>ed hardy outlet <a title="ed hardy outlet" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy outlet</strong></a><br>ed hardy sale <a title="ed hardy clothes" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy sale</strong></a><br>ed hardy store <a title="ed hardy store" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>ed hardy store</strong></a><br>man ed hardy <a title="man ed hardy" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk/mens.html" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>man ed hardy</strong></a><br><br>woman ed hardy <a title="woman ed hardy" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk/womens.html" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>woman ed hardy</strong></a><br>kid ed hardy <a title="kid ed hardy" href="http://www.edhardyworld.co.uk/kids.html" rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"><strong>kid ed hardy</strong></a> ed hardy ed hardy
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]]> By: tiffnay jewellery http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-899899 tiffnay jewellery Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:10:12 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-899899 fixed as much as possible, and then shipped back out). When he complained on the Internet and to the media about the shoddy product and poor customer service, people branded him a cry baby and wrote him off as a statistical anomaly. fixed as much as possible, and then shipped back out). When he complained on the Internet and to the media about the shoddy product and poor customer service, people branded him a cry baby and wrote him off as a statistical anomaly.

]]> By: tiffnay jewellery http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-899898 tiffnay jewellery Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:10:07 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-899898 fixed as much as possible, and then shipped back out). When he complained on the Internet and to the media about the shoddy product and poor customer service, people branded him a cry baby and wrote him off as a statistical anomaly. fixed as much as possible, and then shipped back out). When he complained on the Internet and to the media about the shoddy product and poor customer service, people branded him a cry baby and wrote him off as a statistical anomaly.

]]> By: Keith German http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-894102 Keith German Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:48:29 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-894102 There's value throughout this post. Thanks. I'm working on my second sole proprietorship startup - the first is doing "ok", stumbling though - so I find the timing of your post of value. Cash truly is king! Another challenge is determining what resonates and to whom. There's value throughout this post. Thanks. I'm working on my second sole proprietorship startup – the first is doing “ok”, stumbling though – so I find the timing of your post of value. Cash truly is king! Another challenge is determining what resonates and to whom.

]]> By: Carl http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-879069 Carl Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:40:23 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-879069 'Marketing requires constant expertise' - that's a great line and this is a very illuminating post, thank you! 'Marketing requires constant expertise' – that's a great line and this is a very illuminating post, thank you!

]]> By: Rob Mangen http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856777 Rob Mangen Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:33:43 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856777 The way this guy characterizes this is grossly misleading. Playcafe was a great idea, but extremely poorly executed. They spent $600/$900k of investors money. The set was basicly a couple steel racks from ikea, a pro wrestling table match/school lunchroom table, with a 600 dollar walmart lcd tv sitting on it. The quality of their video was easily eclipsed by a $800 trip to best buy as far as technology goes. They'd often have laziness issues on cam, where the host would just plain forget to have put new/charge the batteries in their mic, causing long delays. Why the talent was left to do anything requiring responsibility past showing up is befuddling. The on cam talent, were either not pretty enough, or just plain out unproffesional for anything close to tv. <br> There would be weeks where the tech would work fine, then they'd try n add some feature noone was clamouring for, seemingly for no reason other than being busy bodies, resulting in weeks of the game being hardly usable. Some weeks they would plain give up n call it a night, no show. Then they'd remove the new tech they tried to add, (mind you this was all done with flash) and claim that coincidently a dos attack etc occured during that upgrade/mess with attemptm causing the issues. Of course the attack would mystically end coinciding with the removal of the tech they were trying to add, every single time. The game / site would then be stable again, only with alot less users due to frustration. <br> Toward the end people would ask, where are you guys promoting, or offer suggestions for promoting it. The playcafe staff would be very snotty about this, with well you go do it then, kind of attitude, basicly acting like the product would sell itself, and relying on word of mouth. Something as simple as putting fliers on telephone poles in the san fran bay area they were based in, would have brought in thousands of users, retaining even a fraction of which would have easily quadrupled their viewership/user base on any given week. It was very clique'y to the point it was obvious on set. There were attempts to bring in new hosts, who were actually proffesional. You could see on their faces they were unamused at the behavior on set etc. You could also see they were unliked by the people already there on cam. None of those people were ever hired. Some of which were actually tv quality good looking people. <br> Quite frankly it's amazing to me that after blowing $600k out of $900k of investor money, none of the investors are suing them, purely to find out where the money went in the discovery phase of the lawsuit. The way this guy characterizes this is grossly misleading. Playcafe was a great idea, but extremely poorly executed. They spent $600/$900k of investors money. The set was basicly a couple steel racks from ikea, a pro wrestling table match/school lunchroom table, with a 600 dollar walmart lcd tv sitting on it. The quality of their video was easily eclipsed by a $800 trip to best buy as far as technology goes. They'd often have laziness issues on cam, where the host would just plain forget to have put new/charge the batteries in their mic, causing long delays. Why the talent was left to do anything requiring responsibility past showing up is befuddling. The on cam talent, were either not pretty enough, or just plain out unproffesional for anything close to tv.
There would be weeks where the tech would work fine, then they'd try n add some feature noone was clamouring for, seemingly for no reason other than being busy bodies, resulting in weeks of the game being hardly usable. Some weeks they would plain give up n call it a night, no show. Then they'd remove the new tech they tried to add, (mind you this was all done with flash) and claim that coincidently a dos attack etc occured during that upgrade/mess with attemptm causing the issues. Of course the attack would mystically end coinciding with the removal of the tech they were trying to add, every single time. The game / site would then be stable again, only with alot less users due to frustration.
Toward the end people would ask, where are you guys promoting, or offer suggestions for promoting it. The playcafe staff would be very snotty about this, with well you go do it then, kind of attitude, basicly acting like the product would sell itself, and relying on word of mouth. Something as simple as putting fliers on telephone poles in the san fran bay area they were based in, would have brought in thousands of users, retaining even a fraction of which would have easily quadrupled their viewership/user base on any given week. It was very clique'y to the point it was obvious on set. There were attempts to bring in new hosts, who were actually proffesional. You could see on their faces they were unamused at the behavior on set etc. You could also see they were unliked by the people already there on cam. None of those people were ever hired. Some of which were actually tv quality good looking people.
Quite frankly it's amazing to me that after blowing $600k out of $900k of investor money, none of the investors are suing them, purely to find out where the money went in the discovery phase of the lawsuit.

]]> By: Justin Downey http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856776 Justin Downey Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:39:18 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856776 Startups are the underdogs and saying it's a tough position to be in is a colossal understatement.<br><br>Being the owner of a small marketing firm, I recently sat down with Paul Flowers, author of Underdog Advertising, to discuss this very subject as it relates to marketing my young, cash-based firm.<br><br>Read more about our discussion at: <a href="http://www.marketinghasevolved.com/tips_underdog-innovation.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.marketinghasevolved.com/tips_underdo...</a> Startups are the underdogs and saying it's a tough position to be in is a colossal understatement.

Being the owner of a small marketing firm, I recently sat down with Paul Flowers, author of Underdog Advertising, to discuss this very subject as it relates to marketing my young, cash-based firm.

Read more about our discussion at: http://www.marketinghasevolved.com/tips_underdo...

]]> By: Audrey Chisholm http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856775 Audrey Chisholm Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:34:56 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856775 Great post! Thanks! Great post! Thanks!

]]> By: Jody Gnant http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856774 Jody Gnant Wed, 27 May 2009 13:21:10 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856774 Mark - <br><br>You are teh awesomesauce. It was an honor to be a guest on PlayCafe... We all loved it.<br><br>If I might humbly add perspective from the user end:<br><br>At the time PlayCafe was hitting the Internet, I myself was just beginning to understand the merging of communities and the Internet. PlayCafe did a really great job of harnessing communities of people to form groups (teams) that would play against other teams as part of the show.<br><br>As it pertains to critical mass, we (if you remember, The Legion Team) always found it very frustrating that there were only a certain number of slots available for each team. In my opinion, it was this limitation that created the bottleneck.<br><br>Of course, scalability becomes an issue; but it's a critical one to place at the top of the priority list. Each week the "ringleader" would have to go back and decide who was getting invites that day, and it ultimately limited participation. Why? Because we were all already part of the same community. We were all already on the same team. We wanted to play with each other, not against each other. It was us against the world, albeit if only 20 at a time.<br><br>But with the inability for all of us to come back night after night, interest waned, and the lure of the Internet equivalent of A.D.D. took hold. ("Oh, look! A chicken!")<br><br>Your words here are nothing short of courageous, and I have the utmost respect for them. This was just meant to shed some insight from a user perspective on why it was hard for us to grow as a PlayCafe community.<br><br>You are amazing, and I would stand proudly to support any future endeavor you in which you take part.<br><br>Thank you for giving us the memories of PlayCafe. You are truly an Internet pioneer.<br><br>Jody Gnant Mark –

You are teh awesomesauce. It was an honor to be a guest on PlayCafe… We all loved it.

If I might humbly add perspective from the user end:

At the time PlayCafe was hitting the Internet, I myself was just beginning to understand the merging of communities and the Internet. PlayCafe did a really great job of harnessing communities of people to form groups (teams) that would play against other teams as part of the show.

As it pertains to critical mass, we (if you remember, The Legion Team) always found it very frustrating that there were only a certain number of slots available for each team. In my opinion, it was this limitation that created the bottleneck.

Of course, scalability becomes an issue; but it's a critical one to place at the top of the priority list. Each week the “ringleader” would have to go back and decide who was getting invites that day, and it ultimately limited participation. Why? Because we were all already part of the same community. We were all already on the same team. We wanted to play with each other, not against each other. It was us against the world, albeit if only 20 at a time.

But with the inability for all of us to come back night after night, interest waned, and the lure of the Internet equivalent of A.D.D. took hold. (”Oh, look! A chicken!”)

Your words here are nothing short of courageous, and I have the utmost respect for them. This was just meant to shed some insight from a user perspective on why it was hard for us to grow as a PlayCafe community.

You are amazing, and I would stand proudly to support any future endeavor you in which you take part.

Thank you for giving us the memories of PlayCafe. You are truly an Internet pioneer.

Jody Gnant

]]> By: Jared O'Toole http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856773 Jared O'Toole Sat, 23 May 2009 01:07:11 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856773 Interesting how you bring up the negatives of focusing on content. I see where your coming from and agree. To consistently push out enough content to stay relevant while keeping it top notch is very time and energy consuming. Find ways to grab the content that is out there and put a new twist on it. Interesting how you bring up the negatives of focusing on content. I see where your coming from and agree. To consistently push out enough content to stay relevant while keeping it top notch is very time and energy consuming. Find ways to grab the content that is out there and put a new twist on it.

]]> By: socialnetworkdesign http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856772 socialnetworkdesign Wed, 20 May 2009 10:22:05 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856772 useful information to tweet url for..doing now! useful information to tweet url for..doing now!

]]> By: Facebook User http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856771 Facebook User Tue, 19 May 2009 08:41:17 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856771 Great article, thanks for sharing. <br><br>If you missed it, a great movie to see is <a href="http://Startup.com" rel="nofollow">Startup.com</a> which I watched in Manhattan in 2000 while doing my first start up (and I did one other "turnaround" after that). Some great insights in your article. Good luck with your healthcare venture. <br><br>All the best, <br><br>Raz Great article, thanks for sharing.

If you missed it, a great movie to see is Startup.com which I watched in Manhattan in 2000 while doing my first start up (and I did one other “turnaround” after that). Some great insights in your article. Good luck with your healthcare venture.

All the best,

Raz

]]> By: Dan Morelle http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856770 Dan Morelle Sat, 16 May 2009 21:32:59 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856770 Appreciate your lessons. Keep failing :) Appreciate your lessons. Keep failing :)

]]> By: techdom http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856769 techdom Sat, 16 May 2009 19:06:27 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856769 "It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes."<br> -- Anne Baxter<br><br>As someone who has been with a number of start-up companies and know quite a few entrepreneurs, I've yet to find anyone with as much insight and honesty about why they failed. Best of Luck to you, I have a feeling you'll do just fine. “It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes.”
— Anne Baxter

As someone who has been with a number of start-up companies and know quite a few entrepreneurs, I've yet to find anyone with as much insight and honesty about why they failed. Best of Luck to you, I have a feeling you'll do just fine.

]]> By: brett1211 http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2009/04/29/10-lessons-from-a-failed-startup/comment-page-2/#comment-856768 brett1211 Wed, 13 May 2009 04:30:43 +0000 http://venturebeat.com/?p=106840#comment-856768 Mark,<br><br>I really can't indicate what a service you have done for entrepreneurs by writing this post. As a student of entrepreneurship (I am working on a Fulbright grant trying to understand entrepreneurial decision making), it is appalling how many ventures fail and how few thoughtful post mortems we have to learn from. I can count the number on one hand.<br><br>I read your article the day it was published but i'm coming back today to let the community know that my good friend jordan just added a post mortem of venture backed startup to my blog. I hope that you and readers of your article find it equally illustrative.<br><br><a href="http://timetogetstarted.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/guest-post-a-post-mortem/" rel="nofollow">http://timetogetstarted.wordpress.com/2009/05/1...</a><br><br>Best of luck, im sure you are tearing it up.<br>Brett Mark,

I really can't indicate what a service you have done for entrepreneurs by writing this post. As a student of entrepreneurship (I am working on a Fulbright grant trying to understand entrepreneurial decision making), it is appalling how many ventures fail and how few thoughtful post mortems we have to learn from. I can count the number on one hand.

I read your article the day it was published but i'm coming back today to let the community know that my good friend jordan just added a post mortem of venture backed startup to my blog. I hope that you and readers of your article find it equally illustrative.

http://timetogetstarted.wordpress.com/2009/05/1...

Best of luck, im sure you are tearing it up.
Brett

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