// STARTUP COMPARISON
Redbooth Chile vs Carillion
Redbooth Chile failed in 2019 due to Competition. Carillion failed in 2018 due to Unit Economics. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.
| METRIC | 🔥 Redbooth Chile | 🔥 Carillion |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | SaaS | SaaS |
| Country | Chile | UK |
| Founded | 2012 | 1999 |
| Died | 2019 | 2018 |
| Raised | $30M | Public company |
| Peak | 5M users globally | £5.2B revenue · 43,000 employees |
| Primary Cause | Competition | Unit Economics |
// WHY EACH FAILED
🔥 Redbooth Chile
Competition
Redbooth (originally Teambox, founded in Barcelona with Chilean co-founders) grew to 5M global users. The product-market fit eroded as Slack captured real-time collaboration, Asana dominated task management, and Trello won visual boards. Redbooth was caught in the middle without a defensible position. The company was acquired by Planview in 2019 at a fraction of its peak valuation.
// LESSON
Being second in three categories is worse than being first in one. In collaboration tools, users choose the category winner in each paradigm, not the most feature-complete tool. Specialize or be acquired.
Being second in three categories is worse than being first in one. In collaboration tools, users choose the category winner in each paradigm, not the most feature-complete tool. Specialize or be acquired.
🔥 Carillion
Unit Economics
Carillion was the UK's second-largest construction and services company with £5.2B revenue and thousands of government contracts. It carried £1.5B in pension deficits and £900M in debt. Three profit warnings in 2017 exposed structural insolvency. It entered compulsory liquidation in January 2018 — the largest ever UK trading liquidation — leaving 43,000 employees and thousands of subcontractors unpaid.
// LESSON
Revenue is not solvency. A company with £5.2B in revenue and £2.4B in combined pension and debt obligations is not viable — it is a zombie awaiting a trigger event.
Revenue is not solvency. A company with £5.2B in revenue and £2.4B in combined pension and debt obligations is not viable — it is a zombie awaiting a trigger event.
// EXPLORE FURTHER