The Great Fail

Latest Episodes:

Episode 46: Carrian Group Swim with the Fishes May 25, 2022

Show notes

Carrian Group was a tale made for fiction, running the gamut of corruption, human greed, fraudulent accounting, and false profits that spanned across countries.

Despite it being almost 4 decades since the collapse of this huge conglomerate, we still don’t know the full story - but what we do know was that behind this catastrophic failure stood some very fascinating characters-The Prime Minister of Malaysia, a charismatic CEO, several government officials, some high-level executives and between them, all aligning to create a labyrinth of business dealings that would blow up into a high-profile investigation, the murder of an auditor, and a mysterious drowning, eventually ending up as one of the largest bankruptcies in Hong Kong history.

Find out how it went down on Episode 46 of The Great Fail.

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Episode 45: How Jawbone went from Wearable to Terrible May 11, 2022

Show notes

Many regarded Jawbone as one of the pioneers in wearables. After making its mark as a Bluetooth headset maker, it pivoted to capitalize on the new and highly desirable fitness tracking market. This pivot and expansion into a hot new area allowed Jawbone to attract funding from top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firms and helped them amass a world-class board that included Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer and Warner Music Group’s COO Robert Wiesenthal. With all the funding in the place and the right team behind it, it seemed like Jawbone would be unstoppable.

So how did a groundbreaking industry pioneer find itself entangled in corporate espionage, public embarrassment, and a string of unhappy customers? Get the full story on Episode 45 of The Great Fail.

For full show notes please visit www.TheGreatFail.com.

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Episode 44: Zillow Offers, From Flip to Flop Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

In September 2021, Sean Gotcher, a Nevada-based real-estate agent, released an infamous TikTok video that ignited a tremendous amount of attention and criticism after alluding to a real estate iBuyer that may have been fixing home prices and engaging in market manipulation. Although many claimed this to be outrageous speculation, it would be a few weeks later when Zillow announced that it was shutting down its home-flipping business, Zillow Offers, after losing $381 million. Did Gotcher’s video accelerate the collapse of Zillow’s iBuying division? Find out how it went down in Episode 44 of The Great Fail.

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Special Announcement + Encore Episode: MoviePass Roll the Credits Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

Cinephile and film enthusiast, Stacy Spikes sought to reinvent the way people watched movies. His answer was MoviePass, a subscription-based service that allowed people to watch any movie, at any theater, at any time for one monthly fee. It was ground-breaking, well-suiting the Company to disrupt an entire industry. But what occurred next would see MoviePass topple from being a blockbuster hit to a box-office bomb. A special thanks to Stacy Spikes for sharing his experience in founding MoviePass. Get that and more on a special Encore Episode of The Great Fail.

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Episode 43: Ayds Gets a Trim Down Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Since the 1930s, Ayds was a popular appetite suppressant touted by Hollywood celebrities and starlets. Despite being a success and household name for over 40 years, Ayds would find itself at the precipice of a PR nightmare, eventually, “crowning” itself as one of the greatest product flops in history. Find out how it all went down in Episode 43 of The Great Fail.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode 42: Circuit City: Electronic Retail Giant Short-Circuits Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

The rise and fall of Circuit City is a fascinating tale full of ups and downs, when one Company paved the path and dominated the consumer electronics market only to perish after almost 6 decades.

From having the largest selections, the best prices, and the brightest talent, Circuit City went from an all-American retail success story to one of the greatest failures in corporate history. Find out how on The Great Fail, Episode 42.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode 41: Ctrl+Alt+Del, Microsoft’s Mixer Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

On June 22, 2020 Microsoft’s live game streaming service, Mixer, made a stunning announcement. After 4 years of building out its channel for gamers and its beloved community of streamers and fans, they were shutting down. As millions of Mixer active users, and even their own employees were blindsided by the news, it begged the question that was on everyone’s mind- how could this have happened to Microsoft, one of the most powerful and endemic gaming companies in the world?

Featuring special guest Phil Ranta CEO of Wormhole Labs, previously Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook, and the Head of Creators at Mobcrush.

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Episode 40: The DeLorean: Time Machine to Nowhere Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

The DeLorean was one of the most era-defining cars of the ‘80s. Sleek, sexy, and unconventional, this iconic car had much promise-- engineering ingenuity, celebrity fanfare, and media hype. But less than a year after it rolled out its first cars, the Company would collapse in a tailspin of lies, drug scandal, bankruptcy, racketeering, criminal trials, and government conspiracies. Find out what led to the downfall of the DeLorean Motor Company on Episode 40 of The Great Fail.

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Coming Soon: Season 2 of The Great Fail Nov 11, 2021

Show notes

The Great Fail is coming back with Season 2 on February 16, 2022!

In the meantime, enjoy a new show from our friends at Wondery.

During the 1-900 number craze of the Nineties, one company provided the vast majority of phone sex. American Telnet was an empire founded by the man who called himself “The Telephone Pimp.” He ran the company “like General Motors” and got filthy rich doing it. But for the (mostly) women who answered the calls and delivered fantasies 24-7, it was a different story. The powerful stigma against sex work was always lurking just beneath the surface, until it threatened to tear apart the whole company. Hosted by Tina Horn (Why Are People Into That?), OPERATOR is an eight-part series about big ambitions, Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution...and on the front lines of a sexual one.

Listen to Operator now! http://wondery.fm/OP_The_Great_Fail

Special thanks to our partners at AdvertiseCast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode 39: Final Buzzer for Modell’s Sporting Goods Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

On February 21, 2020, Mitchell Modell, CEO of the largest family-owned sporting goods retailer in the United States went on national TV and made a shocking announcement-he asked viewers to help save his company from financial collapse. The 130-year-old brand at one point was a fixture in the northeast U.S. as the premier sporting goods retailer. Find out how Modell’s winning streak came to an end on Episode 39 of The Great Fail.

Thank you to our partners at AdvertiseCast.

https://www.advertisecast.com/TheGreatFail

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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