Ram Gangisetty

Great on you for being vulnerable.

If I may, what caused each of these projects to fail?

Ideally both but if I have to choose one then I’d go with distribution coz you can test, iterate and get feedback faster to improve the product.

Startup Obituary : Astra The AI sales agent that couldn't close its own deal

Startup Obituary : Astra

AI sales startup that couldn’t close its own deal

startupobituary.com/p/astra

Experiment Boldly, But Plan for Profit
🚀 Sip’s innovative curation captivated users, but lacking a clear revenue model led to its downfall. Build your vision with a plan for profit!
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/sip
#StartupLessons #Monetization #Innovation

Your Best Feature Can Be Replaced
📞 Free international calls made Skype famous, but WhatsApp & FaceTime made it easier. Never rely on a single unique feature.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/skype
CompetitiveEdge #ProductStrategy #StartupLessons

Startup Obituary : Essential Essential Products: The Rise and Fall of Andy Rubin’s Smartphone Vision. Inside the PH-1’s Bold Design, Record-Breaking Funding, and the Corporate Missteps That Doomed a Silicon Valley Unicorn

📣 “Execution > Pedigree.”
Even the inventor of Android couldn’t save Essential.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#founderlessons #startup

Every startup should aim for balance: Marketing, product development, and customer experience ALL matter. ⚖️ InVision’s imbalance was its undoing. #StartupSuccess
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/invision

Tomorrow's Startup Obituary post is about AI company that had great mission, founder and backing and success- yet it closed down. Find out about L1ght in tomorrow's edition of StartupObituary

Startup Obituary : Essential Essential Products: The Rise and Fall of Andy Rubin’s Smartphone Vision. Inside the PH-1’s Bold Design, Record-Breaking Funding, and the Corporate Missteps That Doomed a Silicon Valley Unicorn

💥 Raised $330M
💎 Unicorn status pre-launch
📦 Sprint-only distribution
End result? Shutdown in 2020.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#founderfailures #startup

Andy Rubin invented Android.
Then he raised $330M to reinvent the phone.
It was beautiful. Bold.
And then—Essential shut down.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#startup #hardware #founderlessons

Hardware isn’t just hard.
It’s brutal.
Essential proves that beauty alone can’t sell devices.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#hardware #tech

Startup Obituary : InVision The Rise and Fall of a Design Collaboration Pioneer

“When the competition is innovating faster than you, you’re already losing. ⏳ InVision’s V7 delays opened the door for Figma’s success. Speed matters! #TechLeadership #Execution
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/invision%E...

🔥 🔥 Just published 🔥 🔥

Startup Obituary : Olive

AI Must Work, Not Just Sound Good
🤖 Olive AI promised full automation, but human intervention was still needed. Don’t overhype tech—deliver real value.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/olive
#AIHype #ProductExecution #StartupLessons

Experiment Boldly, But Plan for Profit
🚀 Sip’s innovative curation captivated users, but lacking a clear revenue model led to its downfall. Build your vision with a plan for profit!
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/sip
#StartupLessons #Monetization #Innovation

Startup Obituary : Essential Essential Products: The Rise and Fall of Andy Rubin’s Smartphone Vision. Inside the PH-1’s Bold Design, Record-Breaking Funding, and the Corporate Missteps That Doomed a Silicon Valley Unicorn

👎 Bad camera at launch
🧩 No app ecosystem
📣 No marketing muscle
📦 Weak carrier support
That’s how unicorns die.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#startupexecution #VCfailures

Zume had a robot named Pepe. Another named Marta.
But no one cared—because the pizza sucked.
👉 UX > gimmicks.
startupobituary.com/p/zume
#ProductFirst #StartupAdvice

The team behind Essential built one of the most admired devices in Android history.
But no one bought it.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#startuptruth #founderfail

Startup Obituary : Essential Essential Products: The Rise and Fall of Andy Rubin’s Smartphone Vision. Inside the PH-1’s Bold Design, Record-Breaking Funding, and the Corporate Missteps That Doomed a Silicon Valley Unicorn

📱 The Essential Phone launched with a titanium frame, ceramic back, and the world’s first notch.
Sales? Just 150,000 units.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#startuplife #productlaunch #techhistory

The product was personal.
🙏 Faith. Family. Filtered content.
VidAngel built around deep values.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/vidangel
#Startup #Founder

The market turned.
Investors ghosted.
The burn rate didn’t stop.
Reali collapsed in months.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/reali
#startupcrash #vc

Startup Obituary: Fast How a One-Click Checkout Startup Burned $124.5 Million in Pursuit of E-Commerce Glory

🎯 Lesson: Validate before you scale. Fast’s rapid growth without solid market fit strained operations. What startups can learn 👉 startupobituary.beehiiv.com/p/startup-ob... #StartupAdvice #Growth

Essential’s PH-1 had the first notch.
Apple copied it.
But Apple sold 200M phones.
Essential sold 150k.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#startuphype #techfail

Essential’s PH-1 had the first notch.
Apple copied it.
But Apple sold 200M phones.
Essential sold 150k.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#startuphype #techfail

Startup Obituary : Essential Essential Products: The Rise and Fall of Andy Rubin’s Smartphone Vision. Inside the PH-1’s Bold Design, Record-Breaking Funding, and the Corporate Missteps That Doomed a Silicon Valley Unicorn

Essential raised from Amazon, Tencent, and Playground.
Unicorn status in year two.
But execution?
Never got past the prototype stage.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#venturecapital #startuplessons

Lesson's from Sam Altman's first startup, Loopt, in tomorrow's newsletter at StartupObituary .com

📈 Byju’s went all-in on acquisitions, buying Aakash and WhiteHat Jr. But integrating these businesses proved costly and complex. The lesson? Scale smarter, not faster.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/startup-ob...
#StartupGrowth #LessonsFromFailure

Startup Obituary : Essential Essential Products: The Rise and Fall of Andy Rubin’s Smartphone Vision. Inside the PH-1’s Bold Design, Record-Breaking Funding, and the Corporate Missteps That Doomed a Silicon Valley Unicorn

The anti-iPhone, built by Android’s creator.
Essential was sleek, open, pure Android—and unsellable.
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/essential
#techfail #smartphones #founderlessons

🛑 Anonymous platforms are powerful but risky. Kik learned this the hard way—should you?
Details: startupobituary.beehiiv.com/p/startup-ob...

If your robot costs $249 and Amazon’s Alexa is $49…
You’re not selling utility. You’re selling wonder.
And wonder is fragile. ✨
🔗 startupobituary.com/p/anki