Some of the key signs that competition is the cause of failure includes: trying to disrupt competitors who are well-entrenched, entering a crowded market space with an undifferentiated product, and/or a new competitor offers a better or cheaper way to solve the same problem.
AltaVista launched in 1995, which was two years before Google. Google focused solely on search, while AltaVista built a graphic-rich portal with live news & sports, shopping, and search. AltaVista’s search results pages were filled with irrelevant display ads as they were focused too
In 2023, San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing, who was the oldest craft brewery in the U.S., ceased operations after 127 years. Revenue declined by two-thirds since 2016 due to changing consumer habits and a rebrand that pivoted too far away from it’s classic look.
AOL peaked at a $200B market cap; they didn’t want to cannibalize their dial-up business leading to their demise in 2009.
In 2005, IAC acquired the company for $1.85B; pivoted to be a real-person Q&A site just before Google crushed them
Launched in 2018, AWS discontinued DeepLens in 2024. It was the world’s first deep-learning enabled video camera for developers. It was designed to help users grow their machine learning skills through hands-on computer vision tutorials, example code, and pre-built models. TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn, Keras,
Introduced in 1975, Sony hoped that the video cassette tape industry and all other manufacturers would adopt the Beta Tape as the standard industry format. Unfortunately JVC, a Japanese-owned rival brand, decided to create their own format, VHS, in 1977. Betamax had a marginally
Founded in 1979 and shut down in 2010, BIC Sport was one of the world’s leading windsurfing manufacturers and had best-selling boards on the planet.
In September 2023, Bird was delisted from the NYSE after being valued at $12M. After a 1-for-25 reverse stock split, Bird wasn’t able to achieve a $15M market cap for 30 consecutive days. Bird peaked at a $3B market cap in the public market
Excessive focus on enterprise over consumer tastes and preferences led to it’s downfall in 2016. At its height, BlackBerry controlled 45% of the cellphone market.
