More Tech Start-Ups Call It Quits (opens in new tab)

(online.wsj.com)

18 pointscondor17y ago13 comments

13 comments

12 comments · 2 top-level

tptacek17y ago· 7 in thread

Reactrix took 75MM (!) to project video games on the floors of malls, with an ad-supported (!) business model. 'twas ever thus.

Music startup Fuzz Artists couldn't get enough traffic to sustain a business model. So the founder blames the market, which in "better" times would have afforded him access to $10MM in capital to put his reckoning off by a couple of years. Shouldn't he instead be happy to have his life and his career back?

Or how about nTag Interactive, which sold RFID nametags for conferences. Not a crazy idea at all. But they hadn't had a news update since July '08, well before the market crash. What does this have to do with the current climate?

This is an incredible easy, lazy story for any journalist to write. There are always a collection of companies with a sob story to write about. When that collection includes Facebook, LinkedIn, or (hell) Twitter, maybe the story will have teeth.

dantheman17y ago

Unrelated question why do you put "MM" instead of "M" I've seen this before but don't know why it's done like that.

bobbyi17y ago

It's because M is the roman numeral for a thousand and a million is a thousand thousand. (Although it wouldn't actually be expressed that way with the real roman numeral system; MM would be two thousand).

pg17y ago

Probably because M is already an abbreviation for thousand, e.g. CPM.

1 more reply

tptacek17y ago

I don't know, I cargo-culted it from the m-team types in my last couple companies. ;)

FlorinAndrei17y ago

M&Ms.

They were working for "peanuts".

mtkd17y ago

I suspect History won't look favorably on the last decade.

dhimes17y ago

Yeah but playing on the floor of the mall is a fookin' blast!

ijntybvrt17y ago· 3 in thread

More tech start-ups funded (and controlled) by VCs are shutting down as VCs try to get their money out. Startups started by people who have a business plan to actually make money ,sell real product to real customers, rather than just attract VCs and cash in are doing rather nicely thank you.

DaniFong17y ago

Our business model couldn't be much simpler: build machines that save people and utilities energy and money, sell them at a profit. But it's still tough raising money.

MrGunn17y ago

We've had troubles raising money, too. Our core business is making real things, we have technology no one else has, it fits a under-served and well-defined market niche, and there's tons of customer interest. The deals that were available before just aren't there.

nostrademons17y ago

It's harder to sell real product to real customers now, as real customers don't have as much money to buy things with as they did a few months ago.

It's certainly possible, but recessions are all about averages, and it's a lot tougher for the average business right now.

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