4 Failed Courses Startups & the Reasons Behind
Countless startups are being launched every day.
Many fail because they did not learn from the success of other companies who've managed to rise above.
We just published this list of 4 courses startups with analyses on why they shut down, and interviews with their founders.
4 Failed Courses Startups
1) Rafter
Rafter was a course material provider for colleges. They had lots of competition and had to deal with logistical, financial, and market challenges.
Details of the startup:
- Founders: Sara Leoni
- Country: United States
- Industry: Education
- Started in: 2006
- Closed in: 2016
- Nº of employees: 50-100
- Funding Amount: > $50M
- Specific cause of failure: Competition
You can read more about their failure here.
2) Adleaf Technologies
Back in 2013, Chetan Vashistth founded his first startup business called “Adleaf Technologies”, a blend of programming bootcamps and software solutions. Business was good for a while, but the challenge of multiple bad business decisions paired with failed money management proved to be the business’s demise. In this interview, we will talk about the lessons Chetan learned the hard way.
Details of the startup:
- Founder: Chetan Vashistth
- Country: India
- Industry: Education
- Started in: 2013
- Closed in: 2014
- Specific cause of failure: Mismanagement of Funds
You can read more about their failure here.
3) NewCo
If you are interested in the no-code movement, you’ve probably heard Ben Tossell’s name. But today we’re not here to talk about Makerpad, one of the leading communities for no-coders, but about Ben’s previous project: NewCo. We want to know what went wrong, what were the lessons learned, and how it led to his success afterward.
Details of the startup:
- Founder: Ben Tossell
- Country: United Kingdom
- Industry: Education
- Started in: 2018
- Closed in: 2018
- Specific cause of failure: Lack of Focus
You can read more about their failure here.
4) Pactero
Wes founded Pactero, a platform to simplify the process of managing income share agreements. He confused the initial launch hype with market validation, but it was vanity. The business made around $180 total after spending $55k.
Details of the startup:
- Founder: Wes Wagner
- Country: United States
- Industry: Education
- Started in: 2020
- Closed in: 2021
- Specific cause of failure: No Market Need
You can read more about their failure here.
