Startup Failure Database

Learn From
$46 Billion in
Startup Failures

Real funding data. Verified timelines. Specific root causes. Study what went wrong so you can build what goes right.

10+
Case Studies
$23B+
Funding Lost
10
Industries
Explore Case Studies
Why Startups Fail
Fraud2 (20%)
Ran Out of Cash2 (20%)
Outcompeted2 (20%)
Scale Too Fast2 (20%)
No Market Need1 (10%)
Bad Product1 (10%)

93% of startups fail. The top three causes — no market need, running out of cash, and being outcompeted — account for the majority of all startup deaths. These case studies show exactly how it happens.

10 of 10 cases

FTX

Fraud

The crypto exchange that lost $32 billion in a week

$1.8B raised$32B peakCrypto & Web33 years (2019–2022)
94

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: Corporate governance is not bureaucracy — it is survival infrastructure. Even fast-moving startups n...

WeWork

Ran Out of Cash

The coworking startup that burned through $11.5 billion

$11.5B+ raised$47B peakReal Estate & Coworking13 years (2010–2023)
89

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: Unit economics must work before you scale. If you lose money on every customer, growth just accelera...

Theranos

Fraud

The blood-testing startup built on a lie

$945M raised$9B peakHealthcare & Biotech15 years (2003–2018)
97

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: If your technology does not work, no amount of storytelling will save you. Faking it until you make ...

Quibi

No Market Need

The $1.75 billion streaming service that lasted 6 months

$1.75B raised$1.75B (at launch) peakMedia & Streaming2 years (2018–2020)
86

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: Do not raise more money than you need to find product-market fit. Quibi raised $1.75B for an unvalid...

Jawbone

Outcompeted

The fitness tracker pioneer that lost to cheaper rivals

$930M raised$3.2B peakConsumer Hardware & Wearables18 years (1999–2017)
82

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: In hardware, quality is everything. Software can ship buggy and patch later. Hardware that does not ...

Peloton

Scale Too Fast

The $50 billion fitness darling that crashed after the pandemic boom

$1.6B raised$50B (market cap) peakFitness & Consumer Hardware12 years (2012–2024)
78

Risk Score

High

Key Lesson: Never build infrastructure for peak demand. Build for sustainable baseline demand and use flexible c...

Zillow Offers

Bad Product

The algorithm that lost $881 million buying houses at the wrong price

N/A (division of public Zillow, ~$1.5B allocated) raised$45B (Zillow overall at peak) peakReal Estate & PropTech3 years (2018–2021)
80

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: Algorithms built for one purpose should not be repurposed for higher-stakes decisions without fundam...

Fast

Ran Out of Cash

The one-click checkout startup that burned $120M with almost no revenue

$120M raised~$580M peakFintech & E-commerce3 years (2019–2022)
91

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: Revenue is the only validation that matters. Fast had Stripe's backing, 400 employees, and a celebri...

Katerra

Scale Too Fast

The SoftBank-backed construction startup that blew $3 billion trying to disrupt building

$3B+ raised$4B+ peakConstruction Tech6 years (2015–2021)
88

Risk Score

Critical

Key Lesson: Vertical integration is an endgame strategy, not a starting strategy. You must prove that your appro...

Vine

Outcompeted

The short-video pioneer that Twitter killed through neglect

$30M (acquisition by Twitter) raisedN/A (Twitter acquisition) peakSocial Media4 years (2012–2016)
75

Risk Score

High

Key Lesson: Creator platforms live or die by creator economics. If creators cannot make money on your platform, ...

Why Study Startup Failures?

93%

of startups eventually fail. Understanding patterns gives you an unfair advantage over founders who only study success stories.

42%

fail because they build something nobody wants. The most expensive mistake is not running out of money — it is building the wrong product.

29%

run out of cash before reaching profitability. Every case study in this database shows exactly where the money went and why it was not enough.

23%

fail due to wrong team dynamics. Co-founder conflict, missing expertise, and governance failures destroy more startups than bad markets.

Sources include SEC filings, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, The Information, and founder interviews. Funding data reflects publicly reported figures. Estimated values are marked accordingly.

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