If you're well-funded streaming service Quibi, the answer is apparently: about 6 months.
The tech "startup" is shutting itself down after raising huge amounts of capital and launching in April.
What was Quibi: the streaming service promised to shake up the entertainment space with 5-10 minute videos formatted for mobile.
By the numbers:
- $1.75 billion: the amount of capital Quibi raised.
- 72,000: the number of paid subscribers Quibi had.
- 0: the number of hit shows that Quibi managed to produce.
What went wrong:
- Pandemic: Quibi's mobile first videos were made for a world on the move. Their launch coincided with lockdowns that kept people at home.
- Restrictive Format: Quibi videos could only be viewed on mobile devices. After mounting customer complaints this was eventually changed to allow for streaming on computers and TVs, but not for months after launching.
- Crowded market: It's not 2015 anymore. Streaming is an increasingly crowded market, and even at a relatively low $4.99 price point people weren't willing to pay for Quibi's offering.
The big lesson: This is a teachable moment for all entrepreneurs. Quibi was trying to launch a new service, but appears to have never gone through the hard process of validating their offering and finding product-market fit. Quibi burned through mountains of cash developing original programming without first getting traction for its product.
Even with $1.75 billion and top talent behind you, every new business has to make sure people actually want what it's selling. Quibi decided to skip this critical step and paid the price.
