Jun 14, 2024 - Business
Corporate failure has its own "museum"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Sean Jacobsohn's job is to invest in promising enterprise software startups. His hobby is to focus on failures.
Catch up quick: Jacobsohn, a partner with Norwest, is founder and "chief historian" of something he calls The Failure Museum, a collection of artifacts from capitalist calamity.
- For example, a Juicero machine. Or an opened bottle of Mazagran, a carbonated concoction launched in 1995 by Pepsi and Starbucks (the problem, Jacobsohn explains, is "they couldn't get people to drink it a second time).
- He is a firm believer that "failure is healthy," despite some recent research to the contrary, and has been asked to speak about it at some of America's top business schools.
Axios spent some time on the Zoom with Jacobsohn. Highlights:
When did you begin doing this?
- "In November of 2022 I went to a [Golden State] Warriors game when they were giving out Jordan Poole bobbleheads, and I see it's sponsored by FTX — which was imploding. I blogged about it, which hundreds of thousands of people viewed. The Warriors even sent me a second one ... I had grown up collecting sports cards and memorabilia, so it was kind of natural for me to start collecting failure memorabilia."
When you speak to biz schoolers, what's your message?
- "Don't fear failure or taking risks. Even some of the most successful companies have had to pivot. For example, I worked at Cornerstone OnDemand, which had to pivot from B2C to B2B."
Your job is to back winners. How do you try to identify potential failures?
- "I've identified six forces of failure, and tagged at least one to every company in my collection, but obviously that's not obvious when companies are starting. So, before I make an investment, I go on lots of sales calls with the founder.
- Can they sell to someone new, rather than just to their friends? Is the product mission-critical vs. nice-to-have? Could I see myself be a successful CRO at the company? Even if a CEO doesn't come from a sales background, they need to be able to sell — to customers, to talent, and to investors."
How has your hobby impacted your job?
- "I'm doing the Failure Museum because it's really fun for me, but my deal-flow has also grown significantly. It's the sort of thing that people really want to discuss."
Favorite item in your collection?
- "An unopened bottle of champagne from Webvan's IPO."
What do you want most that you don't yet have?
- "Maybe something from when Boeing got into furniture. Or Jolly Rancher soda. Or the ESPN mobile phone, or anything from Shyp. There's a lot of very interesting stuff out there."
