How to Kill Your Business: Learn From Real-World Failure
We are back. And by popular demand: We are finally doing this on a Friday!
For Event #4, we’re flipping the script. Forget the best practices. This time, we're focusing on worst practices. We’ll dissect real business failures through three lenses: legal, psychological, and marketing. Decisions that looked smart on paper, passed approval, and still detonated.
We’ll revisit familiar disasters like Theranos and Fyre Festival, then go deeper into lesser-known, more uncomfortable cases and even scandals including global brand implosions and local examples like Shrooly.
This isn’t about laughing at failure. It’s about understanding how smart teams convince themselves bad ideas are good ones, and learning how to spot the moment everything starts going wrong.
The Agenda & What You'll Learn
Three angles, one goal: Make sure you don't end up on this list next year.
17:45: Arrive, grab a drink (it's Friday!), and connect.
18:00 – 18:15: How NOT to run your business (legal angle). We look at the structural red flags that sink ships. From the valuation hallucinations of WeWork to the Honey scam and local hardware flops like Shrooly. We’ll cover how to mismanage cash, ignore the law, and implode your company from the inside out.
18:15 – 18:30: How NOT to gain customers (marketing angle). “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” is how this always starts. Then the backlash hits. We’ll break down campaigns that went viral for all the wrong reasons - from Pepsi and Bumble to Bud Light and Apple - unpacking how rebrands, stunts, and culture-driven ads cross the line from attention to alienation, and how brands lose their audience because of some 'viral' ideas.
18:30 – 18:35: 🎁 A super secret surprise
18:35 – 18:50: How NOT to handle customers (psychological angle). Users don’t leave when something breaks, instead they leave when something feels off. We’ll explore dark UX patterns, manipulative design, and behavioral shortcuts that quietly cross ethical lines from friend.com and other platforms that optimized engagement until users turned hostile. This is how loyal users become your loudest critics.
18:50 – 19:00: A very special announcement
19:00 – 20:00: Genuine networking & conversations with quality food and drinks.
20:00 onwards: We are heading to a nearby bar. Since nobody has work tomorrow, we expect the conversation to go late.
Who Is This For?
This is for freelancers, digital nomads, and founders in Budapest who want to disaster-proof their work. Join a community of curious, open-minded people for an honest conversation. No corporate fluff, just genuine connections. If you want actionable takeaways on what not to do, this is for you.
Location
We'll be hosting at the fantastic KLUSTER Coworking space.
The Legal Bit
Our imaginary lawyers (who are currently panicking about this event topic) wanted us to mention that we'll be taking some photos. By attending, you consent to this.
Thanks for reading, see you on the 20th!
Bence & Marguerite & Nándi