Unexpected shutdown within weeks of a trigger · Fatal mistake: Photo storage subscription required $0.37 per user per month in storage costs at average usage; $4.99/month subscription covered costs only at very low usage levels; heavy users destroyed margins
Evaluating only Everpix’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Unit economics as the #1 likely cause. That’s exactly how it died.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
FUNDING
MILESTONE
CRISIS
SHUTDOWN
Full Analysis
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Documented cause
Everpix was founded by Pierre-Olivier Latour and built a photo organization platform using computer vision to intelligently sort and surface memorable photos. The product was critically acclaimed. The company raised $1.8M and reached 19,000 paid subscribers. Storage cost modeling showed that at average user behavior ($0.37/user/month in storage), the $4.99 subscription was marginally viable — but heavy users destroyed the economics. The company shut down November 2, 2013 and the team published a detailed financial post-mortem.
Lesson
“Storage-based subscription businesses must model unit economics at the 90th percentile user, not the average — the heavy users who love you most are often the ones who make you unprofitable.”
Failure anatomy
Collapse type
Sudden Collapse
⚡ HIGH
Hype cycle
None
Moat type
Technology
Fatal mistake
Photo storage subscription required $0.37 per user per month in storage costs at average usage; $4.99/month subscription covered costs only at very low usage levels; heavy users destroyed margins