How to Kill a Unicorn: Fab.com

“Shit, this is a big problem,”

Jason Goldberg wrote in a letter to company executives. His unicorn had run away and was heading directly towards a cliff.

But he was no rookie. In fact, he was an accomplished entrepreneur. By 2013, when he sent the letter, his creations included Jobster, Socialmedian, and Fabulis, which eventually became Fab.com.

The e-commerce company was founded in 2011, and in two years, it had raised $336MM. But, by October 2013, they had already spent more than half of it.

Even after spending $200 MM, Fab.com hadn’t tested their business model and they didn’t know exactly what their customers wanted to buy.

Fab.com was a flash sales site that offered items curated by the unique taste of Bradford Shellhammer, Goldberg’s partner. And, for a moment, it was successful, reaching a $1 BN valuation.

But, it ended up selling for no more than $30MM. How did this happen? This is Company Forensics: Fab.com

Origins

In 2010, Jason Goldberg and Bradford Shellhammer originally created Fabulis as a dating social network mainly for gay men.