“Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.” - Coco Chanel
The road to megabucks is paved with failed inventions.
The chances of having a great idea that generates unicorn-sized returns is negligible. Vanishingly small, mind-bogglingly tiny.
Estimates vary between needing 300, 500 or 3000 initial ideas to find the one that hits paydirt. Whichever is more accurate, that’s a fraction of a per cent.
Great companies with great products don’t have a license to better odds. Google+ anyone? Check out this site of all Google’s “Graveyard”, and this is the tip of the iceberg as these are the products that were launched.
There’s a touring “Museum of Failure”, showcasing product fails from well-known brands.
So, why is it so hard?
As a friend said the other day, “You can’t calculate how many people are going to use a bridge by counting how many people swim to the other side.”
Or, as Clay Christensen said in the Innovators Dilemma, “Markets that don’t exist can’t be analyzed.”
But, just for fun, here are some of my favourite graveyard ideas…
Bic for Her Pen
Marketed for women, it’s a pen. Read these Amazon reviews of the now-defunct product for entertainment.
New Coke (1985)
The new product launch reversed after a couple of months, but perhaps all publicity is good publicity.
Sinclair C5
Was this before its time?
And finally …
Clippy
The digital assistant everyone loved to hate. BTW Clippy is now available as stickers inside Microsoft Teams.
What’s your favourite product failure?
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