Business Failures for the History Books

What 7 catastrophic mistakes can teach entrepreneurs

Apple, Amazon, Tesla… We like to prostrate ourselves to the altar of innovation. So much so, in fact, that we tend to forget that just one catastrophically bad strategic decision would bring these companies down. It’s happened before, and it will keep happening.

Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, here’s a guide to the biggest strategic failure in the corporate world, and what we can learn from them. There won’t be any reference to Blockbuster in this article; at this point it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

Quibi

The failure

Quibi shut down in late 2020, a mere six months after launching its streaming service. It had raised $1.7B. That’s a short, expensive life for a company which had claimed it would revolutionize entertainment.

Its objective was simple : turn Youtube videos into high-end television. More specifically, creating 10-minute clips that would be watched on mobile, in portrait mode, during commutes.