Browse Case Studies

Readership was a visual analytics tool that analyzed Twitter accounts to identify content patterns and interests. Despite solid product-market research and launch efforts through Product Hunt and PR outreach, it failed because it provided no real-world value—it was cool to look at but didn't solve any actual marketing problem. The founder received hundreds of free sample report requests but zero paid conversions, teaching him a hard lesson about listening to customer feedback over personal product attachment.

newCo was Ben Tossell's video tutorial platform for learning no-code development, which reached 90 paying customers and $8k in total sales but generated only ~$700 MRR due to lifetime payments rather than recurring subscriptions. The startup ultimately failed due to lack of focus, trying to build too many features simultaneously while juggling video content creation, consulting, and platform development. Ben shut it down after realizing he had lost sight of what the product actually was, but lessons learned directly informed his later success with Makerpad.