Argyle Social
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Argyle Social supplied social-media management, publishing and marketing-engagement tools.
02 / Argyle Social FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Argyle Social shut down after failing to keep pace with giant competitors like Adobe, Hootsuite and Radian6. Founder Adam Covati said the team had a tough time keeping up with constant changes in Facebook and Twitter, its attempts to integrate with marketing automation systems were unsuccessful, and no buyer could be found for the startup — a classic case of the 'too hard, too competitive, not growing fast enough to justify raising more' startup death described at the time.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Argyle Social is founded in Durham, North Carolina by Adam Covati (CEO Eric Boggs), offering social media management tools with social conversion tracking for B2B marketers; it raises a $325,000 seed round from IDEA Fund Partners in October.
- Funding
In September 2011, Argyle closes a $1.2 million round led by Madison River Ventures, and integrates with marketing automation platforms Pardot and Marketo.
- Shutdown
In April 2014, Argyle announces it is shutting down its service effective May 31, 2014 after four years in business, employing as many as 25 people and serving thousands of marketers.
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 April 2014, founder Adam Covati emails customers to announce that after four years, Argyle Social is shutting down its service, effective May 31, 2014.
- 02
The company tries to keep the links its service generated active for as long as possible, though its URL redirectors are expected to eventually expire.
- 03
Covati's longer-term focus becomes leading another startup in Durham after wrapping up Argyle.