Wantful
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Wantful was a San Francisco online gift-giving service founded in 2011 by John Poisson. The giver picked up to sixteen curated gifts, which Wantful assembled into a beautifully printed custom gift book; the recipient chose the one they wanted, and Wantful wrapped and shipped it. The company ran a drop-ship system with some 650 retailers, built a 4,000-product assortment, and even launched its own print magazine.
02 / Wantful FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Wantful failed to achieve the 'highly accelerated' growth that post-Series A e-commerce venture capital demanded. Founder John Poisson said the company never generated the growth curve required for later-stage funding. The fatal blow came when a planned follow-on investment from strategic partner Nordstrom - with whom Wantful had launched a joint gift venture - fell apart just a week before the shutdown, leaving no time to find alternative capital.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
John Poisson founds Wantful in San Francisco; the personalized gift-giving service launches.
- Series A
Wantful raises $5.5 million in Series A funding led by Polaris Venture Partners, with Harrison Metal, Greylock Partners, Forerunner Ventures and angels including Dave Morin and Matt Mullenweg.
- Layoffs
Early 2013: Wantful lays off 9 of its 26 employees to 'focus on what works well'; it also launches a joint gift venture with Nordstrom.
- Shutdown
In September 2013, Wantful suspends operations after losing a planned follow-on investment from Nordstrom; the deal fell apart a week earlier, leaving no time to secure alternate capital. Nordstrom puts up $100,000 in last-minute cash for the 16 remaining employees.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In September 2013, founder and CEO John Poisson announced in a blog post that Wantful was suspending operations after losing a planned follow-on investment from strategic partner Nordstrom.
- 02
The Nordstrom deal had fallen apart only the week before, leaving the company no time to react or secure alternative capital.
- 03
The 16 remaining employees lost their jobs; Nordstrom provided $100,000 in last-minute cash to help them.