Successful Tech Companies That Still Went Belly Up [Infographic]

It has been said that if you have a good idea and stay dedicated to realizing it, there is no end to what you can achieve. We have seen people rise to success with the simplest of ideas time and time again. Some people have found success through the Internet, and some with gadgets and accessories that change the course of life as we know it. Innovation has always been one of the most vital parts of our existence. But sometimes a brilliant idea that seemed to have unlimited success can get caught in its own wheels and ultimately succumb to its own weight. Unfortunately, we have seen that plenty of times. It’s even happened with some things that have changed the world forever. So why is it that these successful tech companies go belly up despite their success?

The most common reason is of course dwindling revenue streams. Where there is no revenue, a business can’t be sustained. That’s just common sense and should come as no surprise to anyone. We hear people complain about ads on websites and even how people try to come up with ways to get rid of them with the help of all kinds of plugins and hacks. What they don’t understand is that those are the reasons why some popular websites go belly up, due to stripped revenue, which in turn makes it impossible to pay for employees, servers and everything else. The result of that is that the websites these people so furiously tried to browse without being prompted with ads ceases to exist altogether.

Some successful tech companies have managed to dodge several scares by coming up with new revenue streams. Google, Facebook and even Twitter are great examples of that. When it comes to world changing successful tech companies like Napster, the fairytale quickly turned into something of a horror story. But what exactly happened?

As we all know (or at least the ones who keep up with the news within the tech business) Sean Parker, Napster’s founder, isn’t exactly broke after managing to acquire 4% of Facebook (estimated to be worth around $3.4 billion). But the fate of Napster was sealed long before that. It’s now in the history books, and as a tech geek, it might be worth knowing exactly what happened to some of these successful tech companies and what made them go belly up.

In a fresh infographic from Total Bankruptcy called Tech Companies That Started Something Great (And Then Went Bankrupt), we are reminded just how easy it is for a company to go out of business. We can all learn from these mistakes by looking at previously successful tech companies that still went bankrupt so we don’t fall into the same traps.

For people with innovative ideas, this should be a great little way to always make sure you are taking care of your startup or company. Growing a successful tech company takes time and dedication, and you constantly need to nourish and reinvent the way you approach your idea. That’s what Google, Facebook and Twitter have been so good at. Do you know of any other companies that steered their way to becoming a successful tech company only to succumb to their own errors?