Zulily - Failure Museum

Zulily

Zulily, an online retailer dedicated to offering consumers low prices, is one of Amazon’s victims after peaking at a $7B valuation. Zulily struggled to meet customer expectations for shipping times, among other issues, as it competed against Amazon and other e-commerce giants. Some customers also complained about the amount of items Zulily was adding to its site as it expanded rapidly from mainly selling children’s items to other categories, such as home accessories and women and men’s clothing.

Wilma Mankiller - Failure Museum

Wilma Mankiller Barbie

Wilma Mankiller was the Cherokee Nation’s first woman principal chief and was known as an education and healthcare champion. The 2023 Barbie toy is missing Cherokee details, such as indigenous symbols and traditional moccasins instead of the black shoes worn by the doll. One of the Cherokee language symbols on the packaging translates to “Chicken,” rather than “Cherokee.” Also, Mattel did not work directly with the tribal government’s design and communications team to secure the official Seal or verify it.

YouSendIt - Failure Museum

YouSendIt

After raising $117M, YouSendIt sold for $20.5M in 2018. YouSendIt moved large files for users of Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail and thought they were its most likely competitors. The company wasn’t prepared to compete against Box, Egnyte, and Dropbox when the market moved from sending files to sharing them.

Hopin - Failure Museum

Hopin

Virtual-events startup Hopin raised $1.16 billion and peaked at a $7.8 billion valuation in 2021 after only 2 years of being founded.  So many VCs, more than 60, were keen to invest in Hopin that none ended up with an influential stake.  Meanwhile, the founding CEO cashed out $195 million before this pandemic fueled business was no longer essential.  As vaccinations arrived and the travel restrictions eased, demand for Hopin’s platform waned leading to 3 rounds of layoffs and selling the core business to RingCentral for $50 million in 2023.

Juul - Failure Museum

Juul

After having raised $17B at a peak valuation of $38B, Juul’s mission was to improve the lives of the world’s 1B adult smokers. Meanwhile, lawsuits claimed Juul planted the seeds for a youth addiction epidemic that would make nicotine cool again after years of historic declines in cigarette smoking. They claim Juul purposely designed its stylish, flash-drive-like devices and flavored nicotine e-liquids to appeal to teenagers. In 2019, about 27.5% of high school students and 10.5% of middle-school students said they had vaped some sort of e-cigarette in the past month.  As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned many flavored vaping products that could appeal to teenagers, while Juul paid over $3B to settle lawsuits.

Sony PSP - Failure Museum

Sony PSP Go

Launched in 2009 and discontinued in 2011, PSP Go was a mobile gaming device.  Sony tried to launch a product that needed retail support to sell units, then cut them out of the value chain by selling games directly to consumers.  The retailers rebelled.  Meanwhile, the coincided with the meteoric rise of smartphones as a gaming device.

AeroMobil

AeroMobil

In 2023, after being founded 9 years earlier after promising humanity a flying car since 2014, shut down as it was unable to secure enough money to continue operating.

Northridge

Northridge Mall (Wisconsin)

Crime around the general area increased to a smaller extent, while suburban shoppers chose other options with easy freeway access such as Mayfair, Brookfield Square, and newly developed power center shopping options in Mequon, Menomonee Falls, and Grafton. The final blow to the mall was the early 2000s recession, which saw a number of tenants pull out after their lease expirations and the mall’s owner unable to find new ones outside of local small businesses. The mall eventually closed in 2003.

Furby - Failure Museum

Furby

Launched in 1998, Furby was a furry, talking, animal-like toy—equal parts gerbil, owl, and gremlin. The Furby represented one of the first attempts at domestic AI mass production. With built-in sensors and infrared detectors, the Furby could learn from and adapt to its environment, which allowed it to respond to shifting conditions. However, a year later and after having sold 14M units, Furby was banned as the National Security Agency viewed it as a security threat for its alleged potential for espionage, echoing a growing unease surrounding technology at the time.

Sony Portable TV - Failure Museum

Sony Portable TV

Sony launched a portable TV in 1960 and discontinued it in 1962. It was priced high as it was innovative in many ways, so, to the average consumer it was something of a luxury item and not a practical buy. Additionally, this television was rather prone to malfunction, which led to it being called Sony’s “frail little baby”.