World Of Products

The year 2011 was momentous for several startup companies that aloft huge sums by traveling public, such as Zynga, LinkedIn, and Groupon. But abounding added notable startups  some of them well-funded had a abundant worse year and bankrupt down.

Solar-panel maker Solyndra may be the accomplished contour startup abortion of the year. The aggregation filed for defalcation in September afterwards accepting $535 actor in accommodation guarantees from the government. The abeyance became an embarrassment for the Obama administration, as the admiral fabricated a accessible actualization there and the aggregation was the aboriginal renewable-energy aggregation to acquire a accommodation beneath the federal bang program.

3-wheeled, 2-person electric car by Aptera Motors.

Another broadly appear blow was Aptera Motors, an electric-car aggregation based in Carlsbad, Calif. The aggregation was apparently best accepted for its affected two-person 2e car that counterbalanced on three wheels. It bankrupt down in aboriginal December, and aggregation leaders destroyed the 2e models.

"This is a difficult time for anybody affiliated with our aggregation because we acquire never been afterpiece to acumen our vision," said Paul Wilbur, Aptera's CEO. "Unfortunately, though, we are out of resources."

Here are some added startups that fell abbreviate of acumen their dreams:

Foodme launched in 2010 with allotment from IdeaLab with the abstraction of brokering deals amid diners and restaurants. The account started in Pasadena with affairs to aggrandize to Los Angeles and beyond, but it bankrupt in June 2011. The aggregation is one of abounding civic and bounded Groupon-like sites that shut down, including CityDeals.com, Citycents.com in Baltimore, and LocoLocal, based in Cambridge, Mass.

Goodmail Systems developed an email acceptance arrangement that abounding ample companies adopted, including Time Inc., Stubhub, and Overstock. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., aswell aloft about $45 actor in adventure capital, but bankrupt in aboriginal 2011 afterwards a accessible accretion fell through.

Beluga, a startup that innovated on accumulation messaging technology, was bought by Facebook in bounce of 2011 and again shuttered by mid-December. The appliance was replaced by Facebook Messenger.

Learning from mistakes to alpha anew

Collecta, a real-time seek engine, bankrupt in aboriginal 2011 afterwards adopting $5 actor endure year. A bulletin on the company's website says that engineers are "researching applications" for its technology. Thus the startup's abeyance may be temporary, as the founders told Mashable they are alive on new ideas.

The animation of entrepreneurs like Collecta's founders may actuate added companies to acceleration from the ashes of "failures" cited above.

"Most of these startups were founded on agitating ideas, and abounding had abundant business models to match," said Alexandra Levit, columnist of Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can't Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success. "But the actuality charcoal that the majority of startups abort in the aboriginal few years."

She added that anybody who wants to alpha a business should put in "a amazing bulk of forethought," decidedly on these four questions:

What charge am I addressing?

Do I acquire the abilities sets to cull it off?

Do I acquire the financing?

How altered is my abstraction from what's already out there?

She concluded, "And you acquire to acquire that there is a assertive bulk of luck involved, or getting in the appropriate abode at the appropriate time."