Why Laugh At Quibi's Failure?

There seems to be a fundamental misconception of why people are enjoying Quibi's demise. Startup vets seem to believe it's making fun of people who took a big swing and failed.

But it's far from that. It's not just that Quibi was a terrible idea, a lot of products begin as terrible sounding ideas and then take off. There were a ton of jokes about Snapchat's disappearing messages when it first launched.

The joy of Quibi's demise has more to do with seeing numerous bad decisions have an unsurprisingly poor outcome.

Authenticity

Consumers want authenticity. Not just from art but from the products they use and the creators behind them. From its inception, Quibi failed the authenticity smell check. It had a ton of funding. Executives with decades of experience. And a splashy launch that few can afford. Shows from big-name creators and actors didn't help either.

It all felt like some huge media company trying to shove its product down our throat. A lot like a notable failure they seemingly never heard about, go90.

Rather than take the approach of a startup to validate their idea they went full steam ahead assuming they knew exactly what people wanted.

Why Even Exist?

If you're going to create a new product you better be able to convince people there's a reason it should exist. Most products solve some problem. Maybe a problem people weren't fully aware of before. Quibi never seemed clear on what it was solving.

Looking for shortform content? There's Youtube & TikTok. Content on the go? Youtube, TikTok, Instagram. Content while at home? Netflix, Disney+, etc. Why would anyone pay for Quibi with all these free alternatives available?

Poor Tech

This is probably the most inexcusable aspect of it all. You raise all that money, hire a bunch of people, and still don't at least have a great app. Not being able to share clips. No TV support. Not even screenshot support. How did anyone miss those? Creating good content is difficult and failing at it can be excused. Netflix took years to reliably create good content. But failing at the basic aspects of your product is embarrassing.

Schadenfreude

All these decisions (and a bunch more) put together painted Quibi as a company run by arrogant execs who thought their experience meant they knew better than their audience. And that advertising alone would be enough to create a successful product.

Seeing so much money wasted made laughing at their downfall easy. The internet values authenticity and will always ridicule hubris. Quibi's money couldn't make it go viral but their execs terrible decisions have done it with ease.