California tech startup once worth $1B shuts down

I don't see how giving away stuff is a good business plan. I guess they gave it all away and are now forced to close.

The bubble years did some really bad things to folks.

They were made to believe that money was free and would be free forever. Just think, if you were a kid in the Bay Area from 2006-2021 you knew nothing but free money with ZIRP.

Fast forward to today. These kids are now startup founders and they have a warped view of the world. ZIRP is over and simply pitching VCs isn't a viable business strategy anymore.

Growth and engagement.

I’m sure that during its heyday plenty of product managers, marketers and engineers boasted about lines going up.

Unfortunately it turns out there is no magic bank where you can drop all that engagement and get real money for it. These guys found out the hard way.

Customer acquisition always has a cost. Nothing wrong there. Advertising, handing out products or handing out cash. The fine article mentions 16.5 million users. Even if that's somehow inflated, that had a cost. Was this customer acquisition worthwhile, the right strategy? Who knows. Was it profitable? clearly not.