Palm Treo - Failure Museum

Palm Treo

Palm Treo was developed by Handspring, which Palm acquired in the early 2000s. Palm, one of the earliest makers of smartphones, was unable to follow up its success in the personal organizer business. The company was slow to realize that consumers wanted wireless voice and data from the same device. Palm couldn’t find the formula for over-the-air synchronization with Microsoft Outlook, which business users demand and RIM nailed with its BlackBerry device. Palm also suffered from multiple product delays.

Crazy Crab - Failure Museum

Crazy Crab mascot of the SF Giants

With fans not having much reason to show up to Candlestick Park in 1984, the Giants and its copywriters introduced the Crazy Crab, a proto-Gritty crustacean designed to be hated. The season’s tagline was “Hang in There” was they were the worst team in baseball with a 66-96 record. In 1996, the Giants introduced their current mascot, Lou Seal, while they added a Crazy Crab sandwich station when Oracle Park opened in 2000.

OpenView - Failure Museum

OpenView Venture Partners

9 months after OpenView raised its largest fund ($570M) in March 2023, they abruptly laid off staff and stopped making new investments after two of its 3 leaders left the firm.

Kelly-Moore Paints - Failure Museum

Kelly-Moore Paints

In 2024, after 78 years in business, Kelly-Moore Paints shut down and closed its 157 stores nationwide.

For over 30 years, the company had been grappling with thousands of asbestos litigation claims related to the company’s past use of asbestos in cement and texture products under prior ownership, a practice that was discontinued in 1981. Through the cumulative cash drain caused by legal settlements and the cost of defending ever-continuing case filings, the company’s ability to reinvest in the business – including investments needed to address historical supply chain challenges that were exacerbated by the pandemic – had been severely constrained for an extended period of time. Despite paying out approximately $600 million over the past 20 years to settle asbestos claims, a study commissioned by the company estimated future asbestos liabilities exceed $170 million.

Largely due to the asbestos litigation overhang, it was impossible to attract any additional funding or interest to recapitalize, restructure or reorganize the business. Ultimately, the company’s leadership team determined with the assistance of outside advisors that the company was financially unable to continue operations.

Sports Authority Field - Failure Museum

Sports Authority Field

Sports Authority signed a 25 year, $6 million per year naming rights deal with the Denver Broncos in 2011. The deal was forfeited when Sports Authority shut down in 2016. The current stadium name is Empower Field at Mile High.

Sports Authority was a very over-leveraged company, and it had $1 billion in debt coming due over the next two years. Meanwhile, competition from omnichannel merchants, as well as brands themselves, made it difficult for Sports Authority to stand out in the marketplace. Big box stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, as well as Dick’s and brands such as Nike (which has its own stores), pushed Sports Authority towards irrelevancy.

Beyond.com - Failure museum

Beyond.com

Beyond.com, a career network that connects job seekers with employers through career channels, was a casualty in the dot com bust.

Racine Legion - Failure Museum

Racine Legion

From 1922-1924, the Racine Legion was an NFL team in Racine, Wisconsin. Despite performing well, the team failed because of finances due to small home crowds. In it’s inaugural season the team finished in 6th place in a league of 18 teams.

Avaya Stadium - Failure Museum

Avaya Stadium

In 2014, Avaya signed a $20 million, 10-year deal for naming rights for the home of the San Jose Earthquakes. Once it filed for bankruptcy in 2017 it was renamed PayPal Park.

In 2023, Avaya, the one-time networking and unified communications industry stalwart, filed for bankruptcy a second time and was delisted by the NYSE. At a time when both the collaboration and contact center markets were been red-hot, Avaya’s $3.4 billion massive debt obligations prevented it from executing in these areas.

National Car Rental Center - Failure Museum

National Car Rental Center

In 1998, the Florida Panthers new home was called the National Car Rental Center. It’s now called Amerant Bank Arena.

In 1996, National was acquired by Republic Industries (later renamed AutoNation). AutoNation spun off its car rental properties as ANC Rental in 2000. ANC filed for bankruptcy a year later; its properties were sold to Vanguard Automotive Group in 2003. On August 1, 2007  Enterprise Rent-A-Car assumed control of Vanguard Automotive Group.