6. Choose an organization or business in your city that has recently closed, and analyze why it failed. Could the organization have been turned around? Why or why not?
Solved Essay! 6. Choose an organization or business in your city that has recently closed, and analyze why it failed.
Expert Answer
Company – iParents.com
Nature of business – A social network for parents and families, based in Wyncote, Pa., iParents.com opened in 2008.
Business closed date– January 2010.
Background – Don Milley founded iParents.com when Facebook was still gaining traction with middle-aged people. iParents was a place where family members would be able to interact with each other online, share schedules, news, photos and coordinate activities. Nine months after opening, the site had 70,000 members and venture capitalists were interested in investing about $3 million — if the network could get to 100,000 members.
Reasons for its failure – Too much time and money were spent on enhanced functionality, like text-alert reminders about appointments and the ability to turn family photos into refrigerator magnets. “All the bells and whistles diluted our premise — to be a community for parents and families,” Mr. Milley said. In late 2009, he hired a marketing company in Florida to do online outreach and run a photo contest to try to get to 100,000 members. He paid $18,000 for the work and never heard from the company again. “That was the death knell for us,” he said.
Conclusion – The business can be turned around rather than closing if there had been more working capital investment. Although Facebook was a competitor, Mr. Milley felt there was ample room for iParents, too. In November, Mr. Milley started PerDiemDeals.com, which sells Groupon-style coupons to small-business owners.
