Shasta Ventures — portfolio autopsies

The edtech startup that renamed itself twice and still couldn't crack university LMS procurement

Pioneering US digital bank acquired by BBVA for 117 million dollars in 2014 and quietly killed seven years later when the acquirer decided it no longer fit the strategy.

The smart battery that made old smoke detectors intelligent—beaten to death by a $12 Wyze sensor.

Unilever paid $1B for subscription razors — then sold the business 7 years later for approximately 15 cents on the dollar

Argentina's BCRA regulations and a parent company pivot ended Simple before it could prove its model.

Anonymous confessional social network raised $61M from Sequoia. Peaked at 25M monthly users in 2014. Reddit and TikTok absorbed the use case. Shut September 2022.

The original neo-bank — killed not by the market but by the acquirer.

WiFi SD cards that automatically uploaded your photos — until smartphones made cameras irrelevant

A $118M drone empire that collapsed overnight with zero severance.

The original gig economy marketplace — saved by IKEA after a near-fatal pivot nearly destroyed it.

Dave Morin's "thoughtful" private social network raised $60M to fix Facebook. Sold to Kakao for a nominal sum. Shut down in 2018.

The $99 Kickstarter gaming console that briefly made the industry nervous — then disappeared.

The graphic design unicorn almost died at seed stage. 100 investor rejections.

Gowalla built the better check-in app. Foursquare built the better network. Facebook acquired Gowalla for the team.