Five Startups that Exploded Epically

In his latest book, Michel Gelobter explains how startups for social change need to be lean and prepared for the inevitable chaos that is part and parcel of any enterprise launch.

There are countless well-intentioned startups that had noble or positive goals that crashed and burned spectacularly, though, because having a good vision does not ensure success. Here are five such failures:

1. GovWorks: A startup so spectacular that it had a documentary made about its failure. It was originally meant to be a site where everyday citizens could interact with their local governments. Childhood friends started the company and soon learned why business and friendships can clash. With ongoing challenges and obstacles fueled by dueling egos and expectations, the promising venture imploded and filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

2. DrKoop.com: Reagan-era surgeon general Dr. C. Everett Koop was one of the most highly respected and recognized (thanks to an impressive showing of facial hair) surgeon generals ever and lending his name to the site gave it great credibility. This site offered great medical advice and news but soon started advertising and endorsing some questionable and unethical service-providers. They went from having 1.4 million unique visits a month to shuttering their doors in 2001 in just four years.

3. Better Place: Found in 2007 and liquidated in 2013, Better Place was in the business of creating battery-charging and battery-switching stations for electric care. Better Place wanted to encourage the use of electric cars by being for them what gas stations are to regular cars. It was a noble idea, but global infrastructure proved to be far too expensive--even with $850 million in funding. Further compounding the problem was the slower than anticipated growth of the electric vehicle market. CEO Shai Agassi anticipated that there would be 100,000 electric cars on the roads by 2010 in Israel (a major testing ground). There were in fact less than 1,000.

4. Shweeb: There are countless startups that offer alternatives to traditional modes of transportation by offering human-powered options that are better for the planet and for our health. Shweeb wasn't one of them. Shweeb's concept was of a single, long monorail with human-sized pods attached to it. Inside the pod was a cycling machine and you would ride this strange vehicle by pedaling and moving along the monorail to the other side of a river or even a city. Yes, pointless and rather silly, but Google invested $1 million in the venture just the same.

5. One Million T-Shirts for Africa: Founder Jason Sadler (who had never been to Africa nor ever worked in aid or development) decided to create an enterprise that would send a million free shirts to Africa. Criticized for his incompetence and lack of awareness, Sandler threw in the towel in 2010. For one thing, garments are available for almost anyone in the developing world and a free t-shirt is not going to make a difference. Also, the costs and labor to produce, pack, ship, and distribute them over an entire continent would be more expensive than the shirts themselves. Before you start laughing too hard, remember that global aid powerhouse World Vision distributed 100,000 NFL Superbowl t-shirts (celebrating the non-winning Pittsburgh) on some poor village in Zambia.