So you’re living in New York, looking for a job. Someone suggests finding a tech startup, and you figure it’s worth a shot. Why not? Startups have become a hot destination for employees in recent years. On the East Coast, NYC startups have become one of the top categories of employers. But before you seek out tech startup jobs in NYC, be aware: Not all startups are destined for greatness. For every company like Facebook or Groupon that flourishes with success and makes its employees rich, there are startups that see no success.
These are four startups that failed. Whether it was wasting funds, mismanagement, or some combination of both, these companies experienced massive failures. In some cases, even corporate ownership couldn’t save them from tanking.
govWorks.com
Of the hundreds of tech startups that have failed, govWorks.com is one that landed so hard on its face that a movie was made about it. The company came about in the late 1990s and was intended to be a platform that citizens would use to interact with their local governments. As the film Startup.com documented, govWorks was horribly managed. Clashes over the best strategy for the company did significant damage from its onset, as well as a laughable squandering of the company’s startup capital.
The failure of govWorks and the documentary about it serve as something of a blueprint on how to not run a startup. It was founded on a shaky concept from the beginning and that original vision only became more muddled as time went on. When the best thing to come from your startup is a film documenting its failure, you know your tech startup was an epic failure.
Yahoo Buzz
Even though Yahoo Buzz was owned and operated by Yahoo, its fall was just as spectacular as any startup. The failure of Yahoo Buzz could even be viewed as worse than any startup, considering that Yahoo had the benefit of a massive user base and years of experience in related areas. So how did Buzz fail?
As the world was picking up on social media, a number of companies decided they wanted in on the action. One of those companies was Yahoo. Buzz was launched as a social medium for sharing stories, but never really reached the right demographic. Just as if Facebook were to launch a news website, Buzz was reaching an audience that wasn’t asking for the product being delivered. Glitches in the service and overregulation by Yahoo led to the demise of Buzz just three years after its initial launch. The failure of Buzz helped propel Yahoo further towards the problems It currently faces.
Knack For Teachers
Knack For Teachers had a fairly simple premise. It was a tool for teachers to track student grades and get informative feedback about how their classes were performing. The site shuttered fairly quickly despite having a ton of support from its developer, Jarrod Drysdale.
In pinpointing the reason that Knack For Teachers failed, there are a few things that come to mind. The tool wasn’t free, instead charging teachers individually for access to the service. This was a curious decision, but one that the company felt was the right decision. A small section of the website even discussed the decision to make the service use a pay-for-play model rather than advertisements.
Ultimately, this ended up being one of the catalysts behind Knack For Teachers’ failure. Despite a large amount of flowery language that essentially described Knack as a revolution for the classroom, it never caught on in the mass numbers needed to sustain operation. By September of 2011, Knack announced its closure.
Wesabe
Mint.com has taken off in the past few years, becoming a one-stop money management resource for individuals. It lets users plan for the future, and even allows them to track and stick to a budget by linking their financial accounts to the mobile app. On top of all of this, it’s easy.
That last differentiating factor, easiness, is what led to Wesabe’s downfall. Wesabe brought a lot of functionality to its users, but it was hard to get used to and even harder to learn. While Mint.com is straightforward, Wesabe made users jump through hoops. It never managed to catch on, and ultimately closed. While it’s been reborn as something of a community tool, its original incarnation is long gone.
These companies should serve not as deterrents to working for startups, but just as cautionary tales. Working for NYC startups can certainly be more exciting than working for a number of companies in the city. All that’s suggested is that you be cautious in evaluating New York startup jobs, so you don’t end up working for a company that could qualify for this list.
Any tech startups we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
