Northvolt was a Swedish battery maker who filed for bankruptcy in 2025 after raising more than $15 billion. The company excelled at attracting customers and political support, but manufacturing at scale proved to be the critical challenge. A slower ...
Released in 2006, the PlayStation Chainsaw Controller featured a built-in sound effect triggered by pulling the ripcord, and a unique, hand-painted blood splatter pattern on every controller. However, the device had an awkward button layout and erg ...
Warrior Custom Golf was a direct-to-consumer golf equipment company best known for aggressive TV infomercials and "free club" promotions in the 2000s and 2010s. Warrior clubs were marketed as premium custom clubs at bargain pricing, but many golfer ...
FlexICs, an early 2000s semiconductor startup, set out to commercialize a technology that could print transistors on a flexible substrate. The initial application was for flexible displays. The core tech spun out of Lawrence Berkeley Labs. They were ...
Founded in 1998, Fogdog tried to become the online version of a sporting goods superstore. It sold athletic apparel, equipment, and gear online during the early e-commerce explosion. Fogdog went public in late 1999 during the peak of the dot-com b ...
ComputerLand was one of the largest personal computer retailers in the world in the 1980s, but it collapsed in the early 1990s. In the early PC era customers needed help choosing and installing computers so ComputerLand focused on distribution thro ...
Launched in 1991, McDonald's soup didn't match the fast, indulgent, and handheld identity people expect. Soup slowed service and takes more labor since it requires heating and holding at the right temperature, ladling and careful handling, and extr ...
In 2026, Saks was the biggest name in high-end retail to file for bankruptcy since the pandemic. For more than a century, Saks served as a gateway for U.S. shoppers to discover coveted European brands. However, consumers can now turn to the intern ...
iRobot depended too heavily on robot vacuums, which became commoditized, and had limited success expanding into adjacent home robotics. Post-Covid demand collapsed, retail inventory piled up, and promotions destroyed margins.
Moxion Power raised $126M to replace diesel generators - used in construction sites, live events, film sets - with clean mobile battery-powered energy storage units. However, they aggressively ramped up production and headcount, as well as committe ...
