Why Being a Media Darling Might be a Death Sentence for Your Company
Volume 10
Why Being a Media Darling Might be a Death Sentence for Your Company
By Rick Smith , Founder of TASER Int ’ l , Courtesy of The Mission
Feb 2017 Edition
We were even recognized as one of the top innovations at CES that year , which is saying something when you remember that a then littleknown video technology called “ DVD ” debuted at the same event .
The DVD , though , had the last laugh . The AUTO TASER — the darling of the conference , the envy of the competition , the tool that would end car theft forever — was a cataclysmic flop .
The AUTO TASER — the darling of the conference , the envy of the competition , the tool that would end car theft forever — was a cataclysmic flop . ( Image Credit : AutoTaser BlogSpot )
In 1997 , my company debuted a product at CES to the kind of acclaim that most entrepreneurs dream about .
The product — the AUTO TASER — was designed to end car theft as we knew it . During the mid- 1990s , car theft was an enormous public problem , and we thought we had built a brilliant solution .
We weren ’ t the only ones who thought so . Though we had only built a prototype , the AUTO TASER still thrilled the crowds at CES .
Reporters fought among themselves to write about the product . Conference-goers lined up 10 people deep to see it . Sharper Image announced they wanted us for their catalog , and Pep Boys , the largest mass retailer in the market , wanted it for their stores .
( Apr 1 , 2009 – Original ‘ AUTO TASER ’ report . Courtesy of Spy Centre Security and YouTube )
Less than a few thousand devices ever shipped . The boxes of unsold inventory stacked up in our warehouse — millions of dollars worth — physical testimony to our overconfidence .
The company ’ s finances were in tatters . My team was exhausted , and I , the CEO , was crushed . How could this have happened ? Hadn ’ t we conquered CES and generated hype ?
Yes , we had . And that ’ s precisely why we missed the product ’ s failures . Beware of hype .
When you get media attention , you have answered a question : Am I interesting enough to be worthy of media coverage ? That can be an important thing .
But it doesn ’ t automatically follow that you have an answer to the more important question : Have I made a useful enough product that people will pay good money for it ?
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