// startup autopsy

Kluster

Collective intelligence couldn't collectively pay the bills.

marketfitAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Built a crowdsourced innovation platform ahead of enterprise willingness to pay for collective intelligence tools.

Founded	2008
Closed	2011
Country	USA
Sector	Saas

50%

Key Events Timeline

2008-01-01

FOUNDING

Kluster founded in 2008 with $1M in seed funding to build a crowdsourced innovation platform.

2008-09-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Kluster launches its collective intelligence SaaS platform, attracting early interest from innovation-focused enterprises.

2010-01-01

PIVOT

Unable to scale enterprise revenue, Kluster pivots its go-to-market strategy in a last attempt to find sustainable growth.

2011-06-01

SHUTDOWN

Kluster is acquired and absorbed, ceasing independent operations after three years of struggling to monetize.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

Kluster was a crowdsourced innovation SaaS platform founded in 2008 that operated during the early wave of collective intelligence and crowdsourcing enthusiasm. The company faced fundamental challenges in monet...

izing its enterprise adoption model despite initial market interest around collaborative innovation tools. While the platform generated early buzz in the crowdsourced intelligence space, Kluster strug

Verified lesson

“...”

Unlock full lesson →

€1.8M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

Kluster raised €1M before built a crowdsourced innovation platform ahead of enterprise willingness to pay for collective intelligence tools. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

Unlock full analysis →Create free account

See all plans·Analyst plan — €149/mo