The founder of Bebo Messenger built an app that hit #3 globally with a million users in week one, then hemorrhaged them all. It burned through $8 million in investor money over five years before collapsing, teaching him to chase simpler bets instead.
We built a messaging app that got to number 3 in the worldwide charts above Facebook. Incredibly viral, but no retention. I think we got a million users in the first week or something like that, and then a month later they were all gone. What was that one called? That was called Bebo Messenger. So this business I would give a B, and our profit was minus $8 million of investor capital. So we basically were burning something like $1.5 million, maybe $2 million for 4 or 5 years. So this was playing a very hard game. I felt like I was running around with a bottle trying to catch lightning. Since then, I have done the exact opposite. I now look for the most straightforward businesses that are still fun to do, but I think have a high shot of success because I was so scarred from this.
