Launch House
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Launch House was a venture-backed founder community, launched in May 2020 in Tulum, Mexico by Brett Goldstein, Michael Houck and Jacob Peters as a co-living, co-working experiment where founders lived together, built in public and networked nightly. It grew into month-long residency programs in Beverly Hills and New York, raised a $3 million seed round and a $12 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, and launched a $10 million venture fund, House Capital, to invest in member founders.
02 / Launch House FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors
Co-founder/CEO Brett Goldstein wrote that after a 2022 Vox-era 'hit piece,' team departures and layoffs, Launch House's 2023 company pivot failed, after which the company shut down.
Goldstein stated the 2023 company pivot failed before shutdown.
He linked the period to a 'terrible hit piece' followed by team quits and layoffs.
Some of the team quit and others were laid off after the hit piece.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Operations ended
Co-founder Michael Houck said Launch House has been shut down aside from the venture fund; CEO Brett Goldstein separately wrote he shut down Launch House in 2023 after a failed pivot, and in Apr 2024 noted it had been about a year since he shut it down in LA.
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 2022 a widely covered investigation surfaced misconduct and harassment allegations; several investors publicly distanced themselves and the company commissioned an independent third-party investigation.
- 02
Operations wound down afterward; the company record marks the shutdown in 2023, though no formal public shutdown announcement was found.
- 03
No public loss or restructuring figures were disclosed.