PodTech sells for $500 k

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6 commentsFriday, July 18, 2008

The (One-Sided) Anatomy Of A Startup Failure

PodTech sells for $500 k

6 Comments

By Aaron (WPN reader) - Mon, 07/21/2008 - 00:26

Wow! Those Seven Habits of

Wow! Those Seven Habits of Highly Effective Startups certainly rang clear and true. For example: The ones who bring in the money should be the ones in charge; and listen to your star players. Those were just 2 rules a certain family business didn't follow. After I joined their small company, it grew by 4 times in 2 years. Then they (the owners) thought they were invincible, and fired me. It subsequently shrunk to it's former midget size. They went downhill so fast that some weeks ago I saw one of the co-owners working for a fast food outlet. Wearing a cap like a junior. He hid his face when I approached, so I walked on, sparing him the embarrassment.

By Richie (WPN reader) - Sun, 07/20/2008 - 10:13

Aussie Site

In saying that there is a long form video site in Australia that is making in-roads into the online long form video space in WasabiTV they seem to have it going right...

By Susan (WPN reader) - Sat, 07/19/2008 - 07:43

What a Student Loan

''Sometimes there are better lessons in failure than in success."

The lesson cost a lot of money... 7.5 million

By Joe (WPN reader) - Fri, 07/18/2008 - 15:06

Scoble's rules

Highly, highly disagree with #2--

>>2. The ones who bring in the money, should be the ones in charge.<<

A rainmaker is not necessarily a great manager. In fact, rainmakers are often shitty managers. Further, giving rainmakers management authority may dilute their value at rainmaking because they have less time to devote to it. The trick: keeping rainmakers happy WITHOUT allowing them to grab the ship's controls. I found that compensation talks often even more than control. Can you say performance based stock options?

By Peter (IMC) (WPN reader) - Sun, 07/20/2008 - 11:25

Don't disagree too much

I do agree that the invester shouldn't be in full controll, but at the same time they should be able to set some principle rules that can not be ignored.

I'd go for rules like:

As soon as you have the product ready for sales, START SELLING it and DON'T WASTE TIME making it even better. (you can do that also while you´re already selling)
Get a marketing director that knows how to test what works and what doesn't work. (in marketing AND sales)
Use feedback from sales, marketing and customers to improve the product
As soon as you start getting revenues, focus on SUSTAINABILITY

Investers should not be involved in the creative process though. That's what they invested in in the first place. They´re good at recognizing creativity and interest in the (potential) result of that creativity, not in being creative them selves.

By Guest (WPN reader) - Fri, 07/18/2008 - 12:52