F.A.Q.s

Who made this website?

Sean Jacobsohn, a venture capitalist and sports memorabilia collector with an interest in historical lessons of failed ventures. (LinkedIn)

What is the purpose of this website?

Our purpose is to discover the main ‘lessons learned’ from failed ideas in business, products, sports and toys.

Are you open to donations?

Are you open to donations of additional items for companies and products already featured in the museum? Yes!

What Company Items for the Museum are you looking for?

Companies that failed like: Color, Cuil, Geocities, TheMan, Enron’s Code of Ethics, Shyp, Theranos’s Centrifuge, Silicon Graphics, Buddy Media, Nikola Motors, San Francisco Cubs, Quibi, Zume, One Kings Lane, Dot & Bo, Fab, Better Place, Iridium, Fast, Bolt, Rockmelt, flying cars, CommerceOne, Blippar, Sidecar, Groupon, Hippo, i2, Celsius Network, R-Zero, Silvergate, uBiome, Plastiq, Veev, Rothenberg Ventures, Bowstreet Software, Olive.ai, Zeus Living, Infarm, Irwin Industries, Pieter Pot, Clubhouse, Asera, Kenosha Maroons NFL team, Racine Legion NFL team, BusinessLand, InVision, Inflection.ai, Lacework, Farfetch, Crinkle

What Product Items for the Museum are you looking for?

Products that failed like: Boeing furniture, Bald guyz head wipes, Colgate frozen entrees, Cosmopolitan Yogurt, Crayola Cereal, Gerber singles (made for adults), Google Orkut, iRobot Lawn Mower, Jolly rancher soda, Kellogg breakfast mates, Kellogg’s Yogurt shampoo by Clairol, Miss Bic pen, Motorola lazer, Salesforce Chatter teeth, Salesforce Do.com, Sugar’s Daddy Barbie Doll, Mirror, Sour Cream and Onion Doritos, Levi’s suits, Tangem ring, Google Wave, Google+, Evian water bras, Google Clips, Google TV, Meebo, Ray Ban by Meta, Moog Concertmate MG-1 by Radio Shack, Palm WebOS, Tanqueray Gin, Heinz senior food, New Balance 1906L, Salesforce’s Social.com, Gel candle by SC Johnson, Mars Electronics, Salesforce NFT cloud, Microsoft spot watch, Life Savers Squeeze-it beverage, Slap bracelet, Spam snacks, Google Wave, Thirsty Cat & Dog drinks, Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancake-Wrapped Sausage, Premier Smokeless Cigarettes by RJ Reynolds, Satisfries (Burger King), Laserdisc, Vio (Coca Cola), Maxwell House Brewed Coffee in a box, Google Lively (virtual world), Frito-Lay Lemonade

Who else is studying lessons of failure?

Samuel West, who runs the Museum of Failure. https://museumoffailure.com

Tom Eisenmann, HBS professor, is author of the book “Why Startups Fail”.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623123/why-startups-fail-by-tom-eisenmann/

Mathieu Guerville: LinkedIN Link Here
Cyncap | Collection (mattmg83.github.io)

Jonathan Becher, President of Sharks Sports and Entertainment.
https://jonathanbecher.com/2014/05/12/famous-failures/

Rohit Bhadange, CEO of Zamp LinkedIN Link Here

Lenny Rachitsky
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

Dan Olszewski, Head of the entrepreneurship program at University of Wisconsin, is studying failure.

Chris Fralic, partner at First Round Capital, is studying failure. @chrisfralic on X

Lindsay Hyde and DJ DiDonna, HBS professors, teaches the course “Avoiding Startup Failure”.

Amy Edmondson, HBS professor, is author of the book “Right Kind of Wrong. The Science of Failing Well.”
https://www.amazon.com/Right-Kind-Wrong-Science-Failing/dp/1982195061

“You learn nothing from success” Video link Here

2023 failed unicorns: TikTok Link Here

17 garbage tech fails: YouTube link Here

Big Flop podcast by Wondery: https://wondery.com/shows/the-big-flop/

American Psychological Association: The Exaggerated Benefits of Failure (apa.org)

Who else do you admire studying success?

David Rosenthal, Podcast https://www.acquired.fm

What products do you expect to fail?

Ball Boy Scented Candle: https://failure.museum/ball-boy-scented-candle/

Eggo Brunch: https://failure.museum/eggo-brunch/

Empirical Doritos: https://failure.museum/empirical-doritos/

Gatorade Water: https://failure.museum/gatorade-water/