An innovative idea. Funding. Hype. Positive press. Kick-ass leadership, and a talented technical team. All of these things are vital for startup success. But they don’t guarantee it.
There are lots of companies that looked promising, but ultimately collapsed under the weight of their own aspirations, or because they lacked a decent business model.
Hoping to serve as a memorial to these late companies is the Startup Graveyard. Scroll through it and you’ll see some names you’ll recognize, like RDIO, 99dresses, Exec, and Secret.
Click through, and Startup Graveyard gives you a bit of biographical information about the company, like what it did, how much it raised, its competitors, and who founded it.
It’ll also give you a list of reasons why the company ultimately failed, taken directly from the founders themselves. No conjecture, and you learn hard lessons without having to pore through countless Medium posts.
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I rather like the idea of there being a permanent record of these companies, largely because someone put their time, money, sweat, and reputations into building them. It feels appropriate that something should memorialize them, despite the transient and ephemeral nature of the Internet.
But I also appreciated the tone of the site. Previous takes on this, like Fucked Startups (which can still be reached on the Internet Archive) and Valleywag had a particularly acerbic tone. But Startup Graveyard treads a compassionate path. It feels almost academic, and doesn’t relish in kicking companies while they’re down.
Check out Startup Graveyard here. And if you’re so inclined, you can check it out on ProductHunt here.
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