// startup autopsy

Pageflakes

A promising start-page swallowed by a toxic acquisition

acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Sold to LiveUniverse, an acquirer that lacked the competence and intent to maintain the platform, effectively killing a product with millions of active users.

Founded	2006
Closed	2009
Country	USA
Sector	Consumer

50%

Key Events Timeline

2006-01-01

FOUNDING

Pageflakes launches as a customizable web start-page aggregator, competing in the fast-growing Web 2.0 personalization space.

2007-03-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Platform reaches 1 million users, raising its profile against competitors Netvibes and Google's iGoogle.

2008-01-01

FUNDING

Pageflakes raises $4.1M in funding to accelerate growth and compete with well-funded rivals.

2008-09-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Pageflakes is acquired by LiveUniverse; founder later alleges the acquirer deliberately neglected and sabotaged the platform.

2009-06-01

SHUTDOWN

Pageflakes shuts down under LiveUniverse management, ending the service for its millions of users.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

Pageflakes was a personalized start-page platform that gained significant traction with approximately 4 million users, positioning itself as a direct competitor to Netvibes and Google's iGoogle. However, the co...

mpany's trajectory changed dramatically following its acquisition by LiveUniverse in 2008. Rather than providing a foundation for growth, the acquisition proved to be a turning point that led to the p

Verified lesson

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€7.4M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

Pageflakes raised €4.1M before sold to liveuniverse, an acquirer that lacked the competence and intent to maintain the platform, effectively killing a product with millions of active users. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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