Learning from Failure – Don't Put All Eggs In One Basket

Dine In was a restaurant delivery app whose founder was very focused on getting acquired by a larger player. An incident with an investor led to their downfall.

The founder Evan Graj says in an article - “We knew acquisition was the best course of action,” says Graj. That eventually led to Dine In being approached in February by a major Internet company active in the online food space, and it’s my understanding that by April — and significant legal fees later — a sale had been agreed. Then at the eleventh hour the deal unexpectedly fell through, leaving the restaurant delivery startup “high and dry” and its unnamed acquirer a “no-show”. Adds Graj: “They backed out leaving us with a huge legal bill both for Dine In and myself personally, a huge debt to note holders, and no VCs to turn to. A hard lesson to learn and one I’ll be taking into my next venture.”

Advice – The startup and its growth should be the prime focus on an entrepreneur at all times. Ignoring this for things like funding, getting acquired etc. is a bad practice and must be avoided at all costs.