Bingo, the information was out there but the execs running the show didn't listen. A mentor with gravitas and a track record would likely have talked sense into them. This was 8 years ago though, so many more stories are accessible these days.
Influencing people is a hard game. You can only do so much and the rest is inception. That's why you want the right people with the right skill-set driving the ship to avoid it grounding.