Facebook will fail within three years.
Foreword: I already know that this article will be the basis of strong discussion. I know that, but I am still convinced of what I just wrote.
Because if the world’s most popular social network does not drastically change, in three years, five max, it will no longer exist or at least it will no longer exist as we know it now.
Looking at it, it seems like a simple toy, a toy dinosaur.
Well, it definitely is a toy. But why are we talking about it in this blog?
In reality Pleo is a robot designed and engineered to mimic the movements and appearance of a baby Camarasaurus of a week old (bear in mind, of just a week!). It was created by Caled Chung, the co-founder of Furby, cute little soft toys that move and do a thousand things (the modern version can also be managed through smartphones).
The story could be told in the 308 and 1970 followers, the last of which was more than 13 months ago.
AT Shaker, the app that enabled you to live directly through your Facebook profile, within rooms/virtual zones, has disappeared into thin air. Have you seen it anywhere?
If, in a previous article, we talked about the end of a brilliant startup due to a lack of passion, this time we shift the focus to a case that is diametrically opposed. The example of Everpix, in fact, is full of passion.
This startup, founded in San Francisco in 2011, will definitively disappear from the web on December 15th, 2013. And this is all despite the enormous efforts made by Pierre -Oliver Latour, its creator, to keep it alive. Yes, because once the abundant initial sum of nearly $2 million paid by the investors (including Index Ventures and 500 Startups) was gone, to avoid collapse Latour tried the only two solutions that were possible: find other financing or sell. And he tried. And tried again. And tried again and again. But his efforts, unfortunately, did not bear fruit, so… bye-bye Everpix!
Who doesn’t know Airbnb, the famous portal that allows anyone to “sell”, for one or more nights, their personal home in exchange for a fee?
Born in 2008 in San Francisco , by the intuitive genius of Nathan Blecharczyk , Brian Chesky (now CEO of the company ) and Joe Gebbia , Airbnb is essentially an online bazaar of rooms, apartments, villas, castles: a virtual storefront with strong social components that in a few years has literally revolutionized the way we travel. Not for nothing is it now considered the main competitor to sites such as Booking and Trivago, which sell “traditional” hotel rooms.
Catch Notes, the popular competitor of the Evernote app, designed and created to take notes, has permanently closed its doors on August 30th, 2013.
To say that the sudden disappearance of this app has amazed fans is very little. The news of its closure, in fact, blew a huge and general “What the hell!”
In these months the start-up incubator that Wish Days launched has received around 100 application by candidates who have “The Idea” but who are still looking for someone to invest on it.
As far as I’m concerned, and I wish to make clear that my opinion is personal and grounded on my experience, I think that the concept of entrepreneur (that is to say “running a business”) has been progressively distinguished from that of “running a start-up”. Why do I say this?
I think I’m saying nothing new by observing that the mortality rate of new businesses in any sector is very high.
Dear All,
during these years I’ve read thousands of stories about start-ups from all over the world. I’ve noticed the growth of attention towards this phenomenon which has almost become a trend.
When I launched my start-up in 2006, little was still known on technologies, difficulties and best practices in the field. At the time I would have probably made less mistakes if there had been all the information it is now available on this topic.
Dear All,
I am an Italian entrepreneur which started up a blog in Italy discussing about histories of startups which weren’t able to succeed in the market.
This Italian blog is having an unbeliveble (for me) success and lots of people were suggesting to write also an English version, so here I am.
My goal is just discussing about histories of startups which weren’t able to succeed in the market. I believe, as an entrepreneur, that these stories could be of a great interest for those wishing to start up a business or for those who are already entrepreneurs.
That’s why I will try to share these interests with you, I hope you will enjoy!
Of course I will welcome all contributions and suggestions.
Thanks, ciao
Andrea
Ps
The Italian version of this blog is here.
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