Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Jewish Business News

StartUps

Chutzpah Destroyed Agassi’s Better Place

63nd IAA - International Motor Show

Shai Agassi thought he was going to transform the world by 2020 with electric vehicles. In fact, his company went belly up way before then. Daniel Wesley of Entrepreneur takes a look at what was the cause of the failure of Better Place.

If Wesley’s analysis could be summed up in one word, it is “chutzpah.” One employee said, “Everything we needed to go right went wrong, ” but that wasn’t mere happenstance. The company suffered from its extravagant promises, underdelivery, mismanagement and complacency. And it didn’t help that founder of the Israeli company, Shai Agassi declared, “If we go down, we’ll make a noise.” Well that noise might have been a mere honk.

Please help us out :
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.

First, the company did not understand its customers. It started in the Israeli market where people don’t want to be bothered hanging around charging stations chatting with their lattes. Agassi made huge declarations about deliveries that never occurred. While it had support from Shimon Peres, it didn’t have sufficient government backing to get moving. While Better Place raised plenty of capital, it got complacent and stopped innovating.

In business as in life, unbridled chutzpah can destroy a better place.

Newsletter



Advertisement

You May Also Like

World News

In the 15th Nov 2015 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:   ·         A new Israeli treatment brings hope to relapsed leukemia...

Life-Style Health

Medint’s medical researchers provide data-driven insights to help patients make decisions; It is affordable- hundreds rather than thousands of dollars

Entertainment

The Movie The Professional is what made Natalie Portman a Lolita.

Leadership

Jews are disproportionately represented on the roster of the richest business people, with 10 Jews among the top 50 (20%), and 38 (19%) Jews...