August 8, 2005 at 4:52 pm
C|Net ran a list of the top 10 biggest dot com flops. I never bought from any of these guys, but I thought that MVP.com and Webvan were good ideas. It just proves that you do need some business acumen to run a company. Not that it guarantees success or that you don't need some luck, but you can't just spend money on everything to solve problems.
MVP.com was a high profile startup in Denver because of John Elway's involvement. I'm sure they sold lots of merchandise in Denver. Actually they're still alive as a part of CBS Sportsline, but it's not the high profile athlete spot. It seems however, that they somehow felt that 3 major athlete, Elway with Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky, was enough to run a business without providing any other benefits. No lower prices, quick shipping, great selection, etc. I almost bought from them, but I kept waiting for them to be a much larger sporting good store, like Amazon.com. But it never got there and there wasn't a compelling to choose MVP.com over the local guys here in Denver.
The Webvan idea is still around, and actually it's based on an older model. When I was a kid, for like $5 you could choose your groceries and have them delivered to your house. With me at 6 and my little brother 2, my Mom used that a few times at our local grocer. My local supermarket, King Soopers, is actually offering this service. And it's a good one, albeit a little expensive, but if you want delivery for your office of some supplies and food, or you're laid up at home, sick, etc., it's not bad. The problem with Webvan, IMHO, was that they tried to do it themselves. They could have made this a nice business by partnering with the grocers, coordinating the orders and running the cart, and letting local guys make the deliveries.
Being in business myself, we're always faced with build v buy type decisions and they're tough. I readily admit that, but I think you can use some guidelines and make decisions based on cash flow and ensuring your business will survive. I think that's one of the big things that many companies have forgotten these days. Everyone wants an exit strategy, some way to get out of the business.
Me? I want to build something that will survive in the long term.
Steve Jones
August 9, 2005 at 6:51 am
Joel Spolsky wrote an excellent article on the subject of Build vs. Buy.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000007.html
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog
August 9, 2005 at 2:28 pm
The thing is it wasn't just the .com startups that got into difficulty, it was the infrastructure guys as well.
British Telecom decided that what Britain needed was a high speed link across the Atlantic to support all the American business that never happened. OK hindsight is 20:20 but I would have invested in high-speed lines actually in Britain itself that way Broadband would have happened 5 years earlier.
It has taken Amazon a long time to become profitable. I seem to remember one of their CEO's favourite jokes revolved around amazon.org!
If you want an example of the mother of all CEO F^$%&$ ups have a look at GEC Marconi. The guy who built it up left one of the worlds most cash rich corporations in the world. Within 18 months his successors took the company from blue chip to basket case.
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