As 2017 come to a finale , it ’s as unspoiled a clock time as any to reflect on how the yr went for some of the most attention - grabbing technical school companies , ordered here conveniently from most screwed to least make out .
For brevity , I ’ve give plenty of tech companies out of this lean . Across those listed below there are uncouth threads . They all made big newspaper headline this year while also facing some existential challenges . As a result of their circumstances now , many seem wholly doom , while others are only somewhat lie with . But no matter how grim things seem , all of these businesses will certainly make it out of 2017 live ( RIPJuicero , RIP Jawbone ) . permit us recount this year ’s tragedy before the holidays end and these companies all begin fucking shit up again in 2018 .
methodological analysis : We have quantified each company on this list with a scientific “ Screwed Score ” that is not , in any manner a random or arbitrary number .
Snap: 666% Screwed
Hoooo boy . How long has it been since Snapchat ’s parent company go public ? It feels like an infinity , but Snap only started trade on the New York Stock Exchange in March . Since then , its stock price has fallen by more than 40 percent as it has dish out dose after dose of letdown to investors . Snap ’s revenue hascontinuouslyfallen shortof analysts ’ estimation , it ’s lost atremendous amountof money , Mark Zuckerberg is hell - bent on destroying it ( and his strategy seems to be slowing Snapchat ’s growth ) , and unmistakable disinterest in Snap ’s most exciting project ( Spectacles ) has cost the companymillions — specifically , a least $ 39.9 Million . Snap ’s apps , Snapchat and Bitmoji , may still bepretty damn democratic . But Snap , the companionship , is fucked .
Twitter: 240% Screwed
Approximatelyone good thing happen on Twitterall year . Great . Now that ’s out of the way . In April , Twitter report its first everquarterly taxation decay . In July , the social web ’s executive revealed thatbasically nobody had fall in Twitter for months(net electronegative development ) and thatrevenue had fallen again . In October , Twitter allow in toaccidentally balloon its user growth for three years , and again reporteddeclining gross . Often Twitter ’s solutions to its growth problems and horribly toxic biotic community fall back on seemingly unrelated production tweaks — the latest:240 - character tweets . And we have n’t even gotten to the2016 US presidential election propagandayet . Or thehordes of Nazis .
SoundCloud: 99.9% Screwed
Way back in January , SoundCloud ’s chief executive officer warned that the once industry - extend music service was on track to run out of money in 2017 . And after this memo go away live , investor did not trace up to save it . To buy itself some time , SoundCloud study out a$70 million loanin March . Then in July , it lay off about40 pct of its staffand keep out down offices in London and San Francisco . SoundCloud washanded a $ 170 million lifeline in August , but seemingly at the expense of its future mainstream relevancy . The new infusion of cash will keep SoundCloud around , but its aspiration have reportedly shrunk : “ SoundCloud will refocus its business around selling tools for instrumentalist and other content Creator , ” according toBloomberg . SoundCloud may find steady revenue by selling hooey to its artists , but the party as we ’ve known it — the one that sought to equal Spotify , YouTube , iTunes / Apple Music — that company , like wad of otherstreaming services , is totally fucked .
Essential: 97% Screwed
Starting a successful ironware business from scratch these twenty-four hour period isnearly impossible . But competing in the smartphone business organization against Apple , Samsung , and Google ? You ’re practically doomed from the get - go . For Essential , the troupe ’s first smartphone going this twelvemonth wasplaguedbydelaysandoverhypedto the extent that no matter what the company released , people were going to wind up disappointed . Anddisappointed we were . Then , we learned the companionship was handed a case forallegedly stealing wireless connection technology . Then the company ’s founder , Android Lord Andy Rubin , take in a leave of absence from Essential . This newsworthiness arrive with a report that said Rubin had left Google in 2014 because of an “ inappropriate relationship ” with a subordinate . He has sincereturned to Essential .
Magic Leap: 72% Screwed
VR has not taken over the world like Facebook , HTC , and Sony have hope it would , but throughout an intact cycle of first - contemporaries VR hardware releases , Magic Leap has sat on the hobby , insist it has some sort of incredible mixed - realism experience in the works .
Blue Apron: 68% Screwed
Lots of party have go after Blue Apron this class . AmazonandWhole Foods . Walmartand … Buzzfeed . Albertsons and Plated . HelloFresh . Blue Apron beat out lot of similar military service in 2016 as the repast outfit style exploded , but today it’shard to imaginethe ship’s company successfully contend with Amazon ’s ruthless supply chain . Last month , Recodecalled Blue Apron “ the worst - performing major U.S. IPO this year . ” To day of the month Blue Apron ’s stock Mary Leontyne Price has flow about 60 percent since the fellowship went public in June .
Nest: 50% Screwed
For now Nest is a standalone ship’s company under the Alphabet umbrella , the group that owns Google . But Nest ’s independence may not last . If the rumor thatAlphabet might fold the company into Googleis accurate , we may wind up up seeing Nest regress from standalone organisation to subordinate firebrand within Google ’s sassy home hobby concern . How far was a smart thermoregulator go to carry the company anyway , after six years ? The expectations everybody had for Nest old age ago seem totally deflate today . Nest ’s big musical theme for 2017 was remarkably politic : rest home security measures .
Fitbit: 30% Screwed
2017 was the year Fitbit mislay its principal as the number one wearables party , albeit so far just for the first half of the year . Fitbit had successfully outpaced Apple in gross revenue , harmonize toresearch business firm IDC , until this past June , when both Apple and Xiaomi knock it down to third place . This , after the company announced it would lay offsix per centum of its stafflast January after “ softer - than - expected ” vacation sales . The troupe ’s descent has flatlined all year , down drastically from 2015 highs .
Fitbit ’s big launching this year was the Fitbit Ionic , its first existent smartwatch — but wehated almost everything about it , aside from great battery aliveness . If Fitbit ’s future repose on sell smartwatches , then the company ’s in fuss .
Uber: 24% Screwed
Really , Uber should be the most have it away company on this tilt , but with more than $ 11 billion raised , reportedly at a nearly $ 70 billion valuation , and an mad lead on its competitors across most of the human race , Uber may simply be too big to give out .
Tesla: 3% Screwed
Tesla has yet to try out it can revolutionise driving for more than just ample the great unwashed . It ’s facingModel 3 yield issues . Its production floor is allegedly a “ hotbed for antiblack behavior ” ( Tesla has rebut this claim ) . The company has recentlylaid off or fire as many as 1,200 employee . But time has show that it does n’t count to investors if Elon Musk ’s companies are in “ estimable ” or “ unsound ” shape . look on who you ask , Tesla could be the most or least fucked company on this list . Tesla is not profitable today , but the society reportedrecord deliveries of the Model S and Xin November . As long as investor have faith that their investments in Musk will someday pay off , he can fundamentally do whatever he wants . He can grease one’s palms a solar vim company . He can start atunnel - bore company . He can announcewhatever novel vehicleshe wants before delivering on the Model 3 . He can even waste his timeselling lid .
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