I just read the Wiki page for it. It said the founders refused to charge for delivery even when their own employees were urging them to do it. I don't see how the F they expected to make a profit.

Clearly, that ended up being the problem!

I was especially interested in the Kozmo story because two friends were going through the exact same dissolution. It convinced me that young whizkid projects are doomed to fail without serious intervention from wiser minds.

Now that you mention it, I remember writing to the company when I heard they were in trouble, saying I would gladly pay a fee for the service to survive.

I blotted that out for some reason.

Is there a reason one can't be a whizkid with enough business sense to stay afloat? Are you saying it never happens, or it's really that rare?

Sometimes the innovation the whizkid is having is the business model, isn't it?

Are you saying it never happens, or it's really that rare?

It does seem rare, though of course not impossible.

I'd point to Gates and Jobs as those whose business models clearly worked.

At the same time, I point to e-Dreams and Startup.com, Riot On! and my friend's company as sad examples of what seems like a common experience.

I was sad when Webvan folded. They did an excellent job of grocery delivery, and in the years since, there's been times when I really needed Webvan or something like it. They did the classic trajectory of trying to get too big too fast and putting in millions of upfront costs without knowing if the market could support it.

There have been times when I'd pay quite a bit for ice cream or homemade soup.

There are just so many successes, all over the web, that it seems weird to call it rare. So many things are done so differently from how they were ten years ago--there are different ways to spend your money and different ways to earn it.

It doesn't feel rare at all. It feels like an interesting place to be.

Yeah. I'd call Etsy a huge success and it was started by a carpenter who was making furniture out of 2x4s. I seem to remember Facebook being started by a college kid. There are plenty of examples of success

Hands in the air, I declare, I replace 'rare' with 'happens.'

Moving on.

I've discovered Lush House on hulu. It's a delightful, calm, creative, cheap and practical version of Fly Lady.

Who knew there were so many uses for the nylon stockings I no longer wear?

I've just learned how to get the sweat stains off my mattress. Now, all I need is to borrow a tennis racket.

So, I bought a car today. Perfectly serviceable Nissan Sentra. No heated seats or sunroof :(. I decided that the universe was telling me something when the two cars I wanted were sold or had an option on them. So, I'll drive this for a year or two, then reassess.

Today is one of those days when I literally am just glad that everyone survived intact. Jesus, Mary, and Elvis. The most poorly organized volunteer effort I've been a part of, without a doubt. 150 HS age volunteers working on one house, with ten adult chaperones, and one trained person. Me. I will never work with the organizer again, and I will do my best to make sure no one I know does, either.

Just... damn.