well everybody welcome back to case
studies at the business dock this week
five examples of just bad ideas bad
companies that didn’t make it people
wanted to know about some companies that
didn’t make it and a little commentary
on why and that’s what we’re going to do
this week and I hope you enjoy it I
enjoyed looking it up because it just
shows you that sometimes really
charismatic people can get in the room
with a beautiful PowerPoint with an
investor and everybody walks out hey wow
this is a great idea and then money
leaves the building
money burns in flames and later we look
at and go oh my gosh what were we doing
reminds me of everybody voted for Jimmy
Carter you’re too young to remember
so we first go with washboard what was
washboard washboard was a service it
says is it terrible to go find quarters
all the time isn’t horrible to go out
and try to cobble them together and and
go look in your ashtray in your car and
that little mug sits on your in your
bathroom with all your change in it oh
what a bummer
I’ve got an idea send us $27 and we’ll
send you $20 of quarters that’s right
you could buy $20 of quarters for $27
that will get shipped to you you know
what I could give $2 to my niece in a
$20 bill and she will return with
quarters this was dumb and by the way
they went out seeking funding absolutely
nobody went after it leading even the
founder to say you know frankly I don’t
see any would invest in this so thank
goodness there weren’t any drunk pcs
around that day because there is a god
nobody invested in wasp board but it
still is the fact that actually made it
to the room with somebody putting
together a proposal to say for $27 I’ll
buy $20 of the quarter Oh
how did you get in that room must be a
charismatic guy that leaves us to be
somebody for those of you that watched
Shark Tank you may remember this be
somebody was actually on Shark Tank and
it was all about finding your passions
about getting together with other people
and getting together with mentors who
understood your passions that were so
uniquely you and then they would take
you on this journey to go and work
through that now you know most of us
call this 50 bucks an hour at the gym to
have like a trainer but this was you’re
into archery
maybe you find some archery expert that
could take you up
to the hills and you could go hunter do
things but really what it really came
down to it this guy first of all got
barbecued on Shark Tank
absolutely roasted but still was very
passionate about trying to make it
happen and this is somebody didn’t look
at the economics so this is stupid
right this was economics when you really
step back and look at it and said wait a
minute to get one-on-one coaching with
this to make a company work first of all
you gotta find enough people to have all
this extra money to not just pay 50
bucks maybe for you know training
sessions at the gym but that really pay
some money to have you know an archery
expert or some expert going with you to
some places one-on-one that’s expensive
and how many people have got that kind
of extra money to be somebody and follow
their passions and so it was DOA dead on
arrival and I was just not well thought
out the economics just weren’t there
then we go to this actually my favorite
on the board here Digi sense a device
sets up next to your computer and as you
go and surf the internet and look at
things the scent is created by the
device seriously twenty million dollars
went into it and by the way that twenty
million dollars and help me if I’m wrong
I think it was Hong Kong what’s that
right was it Hong Kong Hong Kong so
today if we convert it and convert the
Hong Kong dollars it was thirty million
dollars to have a device that sits there
so warning if this is hooked up to your
computer don’t watch frat party puking
fail videos this thing would create the
sin I think but it seemed ridiculous and
yet thirty million dollars in today’s
money was actually put into a device
that would hook to your computer and
make Oromos yeah okay then we come to
shuttle now this one is an example of
just deceptive really really bad
this was advertised to be like an uber
for kids back before there really was an
uber actually but it’s going to be an
uber for kids your skids can be picked
up safely from school and taken to their
gymnastics class or to their soccer
practice very practical and they
promised they’d be running background
checks and everything would be good so
you parents can trust that only good
nice people that have been really
or driving your kids that’s all well and
good that’s what the website said in
reality they were not doing the
background checks and they got busted
and they got found out after 12 million
went in so the example of this is you
come up with an idea you actually get
something behind it do what you say
you’re going to do because the
embarrassment and reputation that comes
letter is horrible and by the way
there’s a happy ending here because this
is actually a good idea and here in
Dallas it’s actually a company called
bubble and they have these white Priuses
that have a blue bubble on top and
they’re driven by off-duty or
semi-retired police officers who had big
background checks and guns and your kids
are very very safe getting driven around
the Metroplex by a police officer and
they also actually offer them some fees
so if you want the police officer to
actually walk your child into the
gymnastics lesson and double check that
really it’s miss Abigail that you know
picks up your child there and things
they’ll do that for another couple bucks
so this really came to being and hope it
works in a thing here in Dallas called
bubble but needless to say deceiving
your investors in doing it this way is
not the way to do it which brings us now
to another one blippi and I love this
and I took notes on this because I
thought it was really this is this has
got bad idea
fail catastrophe everything this is a
lasagna of disaster
blippi so this is what you do your
credit card gets connected to your
Twitter account and when you’re using
your credit card you’re buying things
it’s telling everybody on Twitter what
you did now that maybe that’s ok if you
know bought two tickets the new
spider-man movie or you know went to you
know restaurant and had dinner and a
couple beers okay hey I guess poms over
here having dinner with someone now
that’s interesting because all these
charges would would show up there
probably not so good if you’re heading
to the drugstore at 12:30 at night to
buy a few things that you need for the
nighttime activities it’s probably not
good for that and it’s probably not good
for you know if you’re buying things
like gifts for for someone you know
because your girlfriend gets tweets for
everybody else hey it looks like you
just
fire flowers for your birthday wait it’s
not my birthday whoops so there’s a
variety of places that this might not
work
what really didn’t work was the security
on the servers when it started tweeting
credit card numbers which became a
complete embarrassment in a catastrophe
so suddenly you’re grabbing you’re
suddenly the next thing that comes
across is all these people you know 1995
white black white black white black
white black white black everybody’s
running to get LifeLock subscriptions
because blippi was broadcasting their
credit card numbers so when you look at
things I think there’s a great book
that’s out and I’m going to hold it up
in a minute
and it is on business model development
and not only is it important to have
like a really good idea but business
model development is really one of the
things that helps you refine your idea
because you sit there and go how big is
the market would somebody pay a $7
premium to trade off in certain things
for convenience maybe they would not for
quarters at the laundromat on by the way
laundromats earn had credit card readers
bit-bit no big deal when you step back
to is it really a good idea to project
smells or a smelling device how many
people are going to want that is that
fulfilling a need that’s out there this
is a good idea but do we really have
enough money to do it we say we’re going
to do and run these background checks
and filter it so people can really trust
what if something horrible happened to a
child here and then you go through the
business model of the economics of it
you also come to realities of the
practicality of it you know blippi you
know sitting back there do people need
to have their purchases broadcast you
know mint keeps track of all your credit
card stuff so they can help you with
your taxes but broadcasting what you buy
somebody thought it was okay to go 13
million dollars and that’s the one that
freaks me out the most is some VC people
somewhere thought it was okay to get 13
million dollars to a company that’s
going to broadcast private credit card
transactions thinking that somehow this
adds to the social currency of your life
and I have one word for that damn that’s
dumb horrible how would anybody think
that’s practical so when you step back
at it I think it all comes down to the
business model and I’ve got the book
right here okay perfect
here so
so this business model generation
written by Alex Osterwalder this is a
great book if you have any chance to
pick this up on Amazon and you think of
yourself as an entrepreneur life and
entrepreneurship this bought the can’t
even speak today this book is great
this will take you through building the
business model what’s the difference
here in a business model and a revenue
model and the things you need to know to
help you think through things like this
too so if you got to thinking something
like this and you run it through like
this you’re that much more prepared to
be in front of people that are going to
invest and I highly highly highly
recommend this book and I think that
there’s not enough of them were sold as
evidenced here thank you for watching
this week this has been some flameouts
get a copy of the business model book I
don’t know these guys I don’t have an
interest in this but I know it should be
on your shelf and next week we’re going
to do thorough notes which is a story of
a CEO run amok with a whole bunch of
investor money until then I’m Tom
Ellsworth and I hope I left you better
than I found you and please subscribe to
value tainment
[Music]
you [Music]
studies at the business dock this week
five examples of just bad ideas bad
companies that didn’t make it people
wanted to know about some companies that
didn’t make it and a little commentary
on why and that’s what we’re going to do
this week and I hope you enjoy it I
enjoyed looking it up because it just
shows you that sometimes really
charismatic people can get in the room
with a beautiful PowerPoint with an
investor and everybody walks out hey wow
this is a great idea and then money
leaves the building
money burns in flames and later we look
at and go oh my gosh what were we doing
reminds me of everybody voted for Jimmy
Carter you’re too young to remember
so we first go with washboard what was
washboard washboard was a service it
says is it terrible to go find quarters
all the time isn’t horrible to go out
and try to cobble them together and and
go look in your ashtray in your car and
that little mug sits on your in your
bathroom with all your change in it oh
what a bummer
I’ve got an idea send us $27 and we’ll
send you $20 of quarters that’s right
you could buy $20 of quarters for $27
that will get shipped to you you know
what I could give $2 to my niece in a
$20 bill and she will return with
quarters this was dumb and by the way
they went out seeking funding absolutely
nobody went after it leading even the
founder to say you know frankly I don’t
see any would invest in this so thank
goodness there weren’t any drunk pcs
around that day because there is a god
nobody invested in wasp board but it
still is the fact that actually made it
to the room with somebody putting
together a proposal to say for $27 I’ll
buy $20 of the quarter Oh
how did you get in that room must be a
charismatic guy that leaves us to be
somebody for those of you that watched
Shark Tank you may remember this be
somebody was actually on Shark Tank and
it was all about finding your passions
about getting together with other people
and getting together with mentors who
understood your passions that were so
uniquely you and then they would take
you on this journey to go and work
through that now you know most of us
call this 50 bucks an hour at the gym to
have like a trainer but this was you’re
into archery
maybe you find some archery expert that
could take you up
to the hills and you could go hunter do
things but really what it really came
down to it this guy first of all got
barbecued on Shark Tank
absolutely roasted but still was very
passionate about trying to make it
happen and this is somebody didn’t look
at the economics so this is stupid
right this was economics when you really
step back and look at it and said wait a
minute to get one-on-one coaching with
this to make a company work first of all
you gotta find enough people to have all
this extra money to not just pay 50
bucks maybe for you know training
sessions at the gym but that really pay
some money to have you know an archery
expert or some expert going with you to
some places one-on-one that’s expensive
and how many people have got that kind
of extra money to be somebody and follow
their passions and so it was DOA dead on
arrival and I was just not well thought
out the economics just weren’t there
then we go to this actually my favorite
on the board here Digi sense a device
sets up next to your computer and as you
go and surf the internet and look at
things the scent is created by the
device seriously twenty million dollars
went into it and by the way that twenty
million dollars and help me if I’m wrong
I think it was Hong Kong what’s that
right was it Hong Kong Hong Kong so
today if we convert it and convert the
Hong Kong dollars it was thirty million
dollars to have a device that sits there
so warning if this is hooked up to your
computer don’t watch frat party puking
fail videos this thing would create the
sin I think but it seemed ridiculous and
yet thirty million dollars in today’s
money was actually put into a device
that would hook to your computer and
make Oromos yeah okay then we come to
shuttle now this one is an example of
just deceptive really really bad
this was advertised to be like an uber
for kids back before there really was an
uber actually but it’s going to be an
uber for kids your skids can be picked
up safely from school and taken to their
gymnastics class or to their soccer
practice very practical and they
promised they’d be running background
checks and everything would be good so
you parents can trust that only good
nice people that have been really
or driving your kids that’s all well and
good that’s what the website said in
reality they were not doing the
background checks and they got busted
and they got found out after 12 million
went in so the example of this is you
come up with an idea you actually get
something behind it do what you say
you’re going to do because the
embarrassment and reputation that comes
letter is horrible and by the way
there’s a happy ending here because this
is actually a good idea and here in
Dallas it’s actually a company called
bubble and they have these white Priuses
that have a blue bubble on top and
they’re driven by off-duty or
semi-retired police officers who had big
background checks and guns and your kids
are very very safe getting driven around
the Metroplex by a police officer and
they also actually offer them some fees
so if you want the police officer to
actually walk your child into the
gymnastics lesson and double check that
really it’s miss Abigail that you know
picks up your child there and things
they’ll do that for another couple bucks
so this really came to being and hope it
works in a thing here in Dallas called
bubble but needless to say deceiving
your investors in doing it this way is
not the way to do it which brings us now
to another one blippi and I love this
and I took notes on this because I
thought it was really this is this has
got bad idea
fail catastrophe everything this is a
lasagna of disaster
blippi so this is what you do your
credit card gets connected to your
Twitter account and when you’re using
your credit card you’re buying things
it’s telling everybody on Twitter what
you did now that maybe that’s ok if you
know bought two tickets the new
spider-man movie or you know went to you
know restaurant and had dinner and a
couple beers okay hey I guess poms over
here having dinner with someone now
that’s interesting because all these
charges would would show up there
probably not so good if you’re heading
to the drugstore at 12:30 at night to
buy a few things that you need for the
nighttime activities it’s probably not
good for that and it’s probably not good
for you know if you’re buying things
like gifts for for someone you know
because your girlfriend gets tweets for
everybody else hey it looks like you
just
fire flowers for your birthday wait it’s
not my birthday whoops so there’s a
variety of places that this might not
work
what really didn’t work was the security
on the servers when it started tweeting
credit card numbers which became a
complete embarrassment in a catastrophe
so suddenly you’re grabbing you’re
suddenly the next thing that comes
across is all these people you know 1995
white black white black white black
white black white black everybody’s
running to get LifeLock subscriptions
because blippi was broadcasting their
credit card numbers so when you look at
things I think there’s a great book
that’s out and I’m going to hold it up
in a minute
and it is on business model development
and not only is it important to have
like a really good idea but business
model development is really one of the
things that helps you refine your idea
because you sit there and go how big is
the market would somebody pay a $7
premium to trade off in certain things
for convenience maybe they would not for
quarters at the laundromat on by the way
laundromats earn had credit card readers
bit-bit no big deal when you step back
to is it really a good idea to project
smells or a smelling device how many
people are going to want that is that
fulfilling a need that’s out there this
is a good idea but do we really have
enough money to do it we say we’re going
to do and run these background checks
and filter it so people can really trust
what if something horrible happened to a
child here and then you go through the
business model of the economics of it
you also come to realities of the
practicality of it you know blippi you
know sitting back there do people need
to have their purchases broadcast you
know mint keeps track of all your credit
card stuff so they can help you with
your taxes but broadcasting what you buy
somebody thought it was okay to go 13
million dollars and that’s the one that
freaks me out the most is some VC people
somewhere thought it was okay to get 13
million dollars to a company that’s
going to broadcast private credit card
transactions thinking that somehow this
adds to the social currency of your life
and I have one word for that damn that’s
dumb horrible how would anybody think
that’s practical so when you step back
at it I think it all comes down to the
business model and I’ve got the book
right here okay perfect
here so
so this business model generation
written by Alex Osterwalder this is a
great book if you have any chance to
pick this up on Amazon and you think of
yourself as an entrepreneur life and
entrepreneurship this bought the can’t
even speak today this book is great
this will take you through building the
business model what’s the difference
here in a business model and a revenue
model and the things you need to know to
help you think through things like this
too so if you got to thinking something
like this and you run it through like
this you’re that much more prepared to
be in front of people that are going to
invest and I highly highly highly
recommend this book and I think that
there’s not enough of them were sold as
evidenced here thank you for watching
this week this has been some flameouts
get a copy of the business model book I
don’t know these guys I don’t have an
interest in this but I know it should be
on your shelf and next week we’re going
to do thorough notes which is a story of
a CEO run amok with a whole bunch of
investor money until then I’m Tom
Ellsworth and I hope I left you better
than I found you and please subscribe to
value tainment
[Music]
you [Music]
Please follow and like us: