Fab
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Fab.com was a design-focused e-commerce site founded in June 2011 by Jason Goldberg and Bradford Shellhammer, selling quirky home decor, accessories, and fashion through flash sales. It became one of the fastest-growing startups of its era: from 175,000 members at launch to over 10 million by December 2012, with 6 million monthly unique visitors and 7 million products sold by mid-2013. Investors poured in more than $330 million, valuing the company at $1 billion in June 2013.
02 / Fab FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Founder Jason Goldberg later summed it up as 'death by 1,000 cuts': Fab grew too fast, went international too fast, and built out warehouses too fast, burning $12–14 million a month at its peak. It lost its curation edge — the best-selling product became a t-shirt with a giant animal print — while co-founder Bradford Shellhammer, who had set the company's style, departed and executives revolved through the door. After revenue shortfalls and round after round of layoffs (700 employees down to 150 by December 2013), Goldberg wound the business down and channeled the remaining capital into a new furniture startup, Hem, selling Fab's leftover assets in a fire sale.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Asset sale
PCH closed acquisition of Fab.com remaining assets at a fire-sale price around $15 million, after a 2013 $1 billion valuation and $330 million raised; Goldberg had already wound down Fab and redirected remaining capital into Hem.
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
Fab.com launched in June 2011 and exploded to 10 million members by December 2012, raising over $330 million and hitting a $1 billion valuation in June 2013.
- 02
The company burned $12–14 million a month on international expansion and warehouses; co-founder Bradford Shellhammer departed and layoffs cut staff from 700 to 150 by December 2013.
- 03
In 2014 Goldberg slashed the burn rate from $11 million to $1 million a month and began building Hem, a high-end home goods startup, inside Fab with the remaining ~$80 million.
- 04
In March 2015 Fab's digital and e-commerce assets were sold to PCH International in a fire sale reported at around $15 million — a fraction of its $1 billion valuation — with 35 employees joining PCH and proceeds reinvested into Hem.