Akimbo
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Akimbo was a San Mateo video-on-demand company founded in 2002 by Steve Shannon, a former ReplayTV executive. It let subscribers download television shows, movies, and other video to a set-top box (the RCA Akimbo Player) on demand, later shifting to PC software and a white-label VOD platform for content owners.
02 / Akimbo FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
AfterDawn reported on 25 May 2008 that internet VOD startup Akimbo confirmed it was closing because it had not been able to raise enough capital to remain profitable; CFO Peter Chantel said 24 employees had been laid off in the prior month and a skeleton operation remained while the company sought a buyer for remaining assets.
The company confirmed it could not raise enough capital to remain profitable.
CFO Peter Chantel said 24 employees were laid off in the month before the report, leaving him as the only remaining executive.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Akimbo is founded in San Mateo, California, by Steve Shannon; it previously operated under the names StaticTV and Blue Falcon Networks and grows to about 80 employees at its peak.
- Launch
Akimbo demonstrates its product at the Demo 2004 conference in February, launches in October 2004 with Amazon as its official retailer, partners with AT&T Homezone to offer content through its set-top boxes, and releases the RCA Akimbo Player.
- Hardware exit
Akimbo stops selling hardware and discontinues service to existing set-top boxes as of August 1, 2007, repositioning as a PC-based software service.
- Pivot and shutdown
In February 2008, Akimbo reinvents itself as a white-label VOD provider and takes new funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Kleiner Perkins, and Zone Ventures, bringing total investment to about $56 million. In May 2008, it ceases operations, keeping only a skeleton crew to sell remaining assets, and goes out of business on June 2, 2008.
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 May 2008, Akimbo ceased operations and pared down to a skeleton crew, including CFO Peter Chantel, to try to sell what was left of the company; former COO Neil Goldberg confirmed the shutdown and asset sale.
- 02
On June 2, 2008, Akimbo went out of business after investors including AT&T, Cisco, and venture funds had poured more than $56 million into it over nine years.